Good afternoon, everyone:

In his final article (the February 26th edition) for the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Drew Lindsay penned a fascinating and insightful article about how several foundations are seeking to tie relocation of their headquarters to broader objectives of community health, vitality, and economic mobility. Lindsay uses the Cleveland Foundation’s efforts – which I’ve written about previously – as a point of departure. But he also discusses efforts at the California Endowment, the Kauffman Foundation, and the Pittsburgh and Milwaukee Community Foundations. He also directs attention to Kresge’s relocation planning.

I’ve attached the entire article – entitled “A Grant Maker Opens Its Doors — and a Bar — for Its Community,” it is well worth reading, and I hope you will.

But I wanted to underscore a number of items from the piece.

First, the programming within the public-facing floors of these foundations is imaginative and bold, including “third spaces” where community members can feel at home, safe, and engaged.

The California Endowment’s Los Angeles office has long been a community gathering spot, with public access both inside its meeting facilities and on its gardens and grounds. The Cleveland Foundation has dedicated half of its ground floor to a cafe, a neighborhood regranting organization, an art gallery, a dance studio, and other creative arts activities. The Greater Milwaukee Community Foundation has relocated from downtown to a renovated former department store on the northside, where the first floor will become a hub of community activity, including a cafe, a blood donation center, an early childhood center, and a workforce nonprofit. The Pittsburgh Foundation has dedicated the first floor of its new headquarters to community use.

Second, foundations aren’t limiting their investments to their headquarters buildings, but instead are investing in neighborhood-based infrastructure.

The Cleveland Foundation has created an entrepreneurial (“collaboration”) center that includes a jazz club and a brewery, the Cleveland Art Institute Interactive Media Lab, a private firm investing in small businesses, a diabetes clinic, and other uses. The California Endowment will break ground next year on a mixed-use development including affordable housing as well as a community kitchen and space for community organizations providing health, job, and other forms of counseling.

Third, each of the featured foundations has elevated the importance of making its headquarters available for larger public convenings.

Perhaps the earliest example is the Kauffman Foundation, which created 40,000 square foot conference center (a third of its building) in Kansas City, MO for grantees and others working in its priority areas of education and entrepreneurialism. The California Endowment makes its conference centers in three locations available for public use at no charge.

Lindsay quotes me as observing: “[These are philanthropies that] are trying to live into what it means to be place-based organizations.” We at Kresge are on a path that may give even deeper meaning to that aspiration.

Rip

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