Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

Confessions of a Focused Philanthropist

I have a confession to make:  being a focused grantmaking organization can be no fun at all.  This thought became strikingly clear to me last week when the Foundation hosted a reception for about 60 leaders of some of the most successful Atlanta-area nonprofits.  We gather this group several times a year to provide them a peer-to-peer opportunity to discuss the issues they are facing, the shared challenges, and (perhaps) find new and creative ways to partner and collaborate.

These leaders represent a broad cross-section of charitable organizations: some work in housing (the Foundation’s focus),  others in youth development, the arts,  and education, and still others work to end domestic violence, preserve historic sites  and provide legal assistance to people who couldn’t otherwise afford it.   While we don’t talk about it much,we know that each one of these organizations provides an essential piece to the puzzle that can become a livable, thriving community.  And now more than ever, each one of them is looking for - and truly needs - additional financial resources.  In the past, they were seeking donors to build new buildings or expand their services.  Today, some of them are asking for donations to keep their doors open.

These leaders represent organizations that we respect.  In this relatively small community, they are our friends.  And when your friends are in trouble, you naturally want to help.  (I believe that’s part of what defines human nature.)  Unfortunately, in the real world of limited dollars and cents, we can’t help everyone, and we certainly can’t help everyone to the extent they need.  I believe that these nonprofit organizations know it is a stretch, but it’s their jobs and they ask for additional support.  I see the disappointment when it doesn’t come.

I think that’s where the words “focused” and “disciplined” start rearing their ugly heads.  We have to decide the area in which we are going to support our communities’ organizations so we can have a real impact.  If we are “scatter shot” about our grants, we won’t be able to create a measurable difference; we won’t really help much at all.

This explanation absolutely makes sense from a rational, thoughtful point of view. I fully understand the importance of thinking strategically and ensure that we are leveraging our investments and catalyzing change.  I just can’t help thinking, though, that it would be much more emotionally satisfying  - and a lot easier - if we could stop keeping track of the budget for a while and just tell everyone “yes.”

Posted in Philanthropy, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

When Being Too Nice is a Sin

I read a thought-provoking piece in the New York Times today about Ursula Burns, the new CEO of Xerox.  It’s a little bit of a puff piece about the first African American woman to run a major American company.  It tells about her early life in a poor New York neighborhood and the influence of her tough, single mother.

The article also talks about the culture in Xerox - and that’s what really struck me.  According to Burns, one of the issues that the company needs to overcome is being too nice.  That’s right.   She doesn’t talk about the cut- throat culture of this corporate icon; no criticisms of the dog-eat-dog world.  Instead, she talks about what she calls “terminal niceness” and how she wants the employees to “take more initiative, become more fearless and be more frank and impatient with one another to ratchet up performance.”

This article might have caught my eye because Ms. Burns sounds like a kindred spirit.  I have been accused of being direct and impatient.  I have no doubt that those are “nice” ways to say … something else.

Be that as it may, I do feel a sense of urgency to help families address issues related to affordable housing and stable communities.  I believe that it is essential that each of us is challenging ourselves, our employees, our partners, our grant recipients and our leaders to take some risks, rethink our strategies and ensure that we are working as efficiently as we can to address the real issues we face.

We recently completed half-day review meetings with each of the Foundation’s national partners to discuss what we have accomplished together, where we want to go and how we can work more strategically to get there.  Essentially we were asking “How can we be smarter about what we are doing?”  The dollar amounts we were discussing are probably not going to go up anytime soon, which is all the more reason we need to be sure we are investing wisely and deriving the best possible returns in our communities.

In 2010, my refrain has become looking out for lost opportunities.  I have absolutely no doubt that the work of The Home Depot Foundation benefits thousands of families and communities every year.  None.  But what more could we do?  Are we challenging ourselves and others to be our best?  To achieve the most we can?

During this fortnight of the Olympics, I can’t help but think of how Apolo Ohno thinks about what he is putting into his training.  He said every night he asks himself if he truly did everything he could that day to make himself the best he can be.  He said that on most days it’s hard to honestly say yes to that question, which I’m sure is why he’s one of the best athletes in the world.

Each night, he’s asking himself if he missed an opportunity to improve, to do better.  Perhaps we should ask each other that same question and avoid being too nice to answer honestly.

Posted in Environmental Responsibility, Healthy, Affordable Housing, Philanthropy | Leave a Comment »

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

Charity Begins at Home - at The Home Depot

There’s quite a lot going on around the world - now and every day - that makes me pause and remember how fortunate I am to have a healthy family, live in a warm house and have a good job.  If you do a quick scan of the newspaper, and really think about what the reports are telling us about the lives other people are living - think about them in not in terms of numbers, but in terms of individuals with families, friends and emotions - it can get overwhelming fairly quickly.   All of this sounds cliche, I realize, but if you come at it rationally, you might come to the conclusion that whatever you do is never going to be enough.

Another way to come at it, as many have done for centuries, is to take care of your own first.  Often that means your family.  I think in many ways that makes good sense - a family takes care of itself and then doesn’t need to look outside for help.  You also know your family, so perhaps you are better able to see what will be most helpful to them.  At The Home Depot, that’s exactly what we do.  And we have a lot of people in our family, about 300,000 in fact.

Because we are so big, we had to create a structure for our home-grown charity, and we call it The Homer Fund after the company’s mascot, Homer (you may remember him - overalls and baseball cap with a big nose).  The Fund is an amazing demonstration of how a company’s values, such as providing outstanding customer service and giving back to our communities,  can remain core to its culture, even as it grows at an astounding rate.  Our core values include taking care of our associates, which means taking care of our family.

The Homer Fund provides emergency assistance to our associates when they need it - when they can’t pay their basic living expenses because of an unforeseen situation, like an illness or accident or a natural disaster.  Grants from the Fund provide a bridge for our associates to help them get over the rough spots they encounter.  To help illustrate what we do, imagine an associate’s husband or child becomes sick, she misses work, meaning she misses her paycheck, and has to pay for the doctor and prescriptions.  Maybe she also has to pay to eat and park at the hospital for a few days.   It can all snowball very quickly, and it’s not unusual for her to find that her rent money has been eaten up by these unexpected bills when the first of the month comes round.  That’s where the Fund can step in and help her get caught up on her bills and relieve the financial stress so she can focus on her family.  On top of that, if her co-workers pass the hat to help her out, the Fund will even match the amount raised $2 for $1.  It’s an amazing program - one that helped more than 7,300 associates and their families in 2009, with grants of $11.1 million.  Each one of the 35,000 associates who has been helped by the Fund since 1999 has a story - a very personal, often heartbreaking story - and because of the Fund, many of those stories had a far happier ending than they otherwise would have.

But that’s not the really cool thing.  The really cool - almost unbelievable fact - is that the Fund is a charity supported exclusively by associates of The Home Depot (The Home Depot Foundation contributes to the Fund by matching donations made by associates).  Fully 64%  - that’s 180,000 individuals - contribute to The Homer Fund.  They support it because they can see the difference it has made in the lives of their co-workers - their friends.  They understand the situations their friends are facing and know that a little help at the right moment will go a very long way.  The power of the Fund isn’t in large contributions or huge grants amounts, but in everyone coming together to give what they can to take care of each other.   Most are giving a dollar or two out of their paycheck every two weeks.  Some of them can’t afford more than that, but that’s what you do to help family.

Posted in Helping Employees | 1 Comment »

Friday, January 29th, 2010

Words You Don’t Hear Often: Thank you HUD!

I’m just back in the office from a two-day meeting the Foundation hosted with about 60 representatives from federal agencies and the leading sustainability organizations from across the country.  We were discussing how to implement two federal programs: the tri-party Sustainable Communities Initiative of HUD, DOT and EPA and the Recover through Retrofit program being led by the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality.  (CEQ is an administration office that I didn’t know about until our good friend Michelle Moore joined them from the USGBC.  Check them out when you have a minute and you’ll be proud of where these tax dollars are going.)

The goals of the programs  can be described fairly simply:  align the resources available through programs administered by HUD, DOT and EPA to create safe, livable, healthy communities; and help middle class Americans reduce their energy costs by improving their homes and expand job opportunities by training people to do the work.  At first blush, the programs themselves may even sound pretty straight forward.  But if you’ve ever dealt with any issues related to affordable housing, transportation, the environment or  health you know better though.

With all of these exceptionally smart and knowledgeable people in the room, we worked to address several questions that get to the heart of these programs.  I can’t discuss them all, but here are the kinds of things we discussed:

How do you define housing affordability?

Most people know the rule of thumb that you aren’t supposed to spend more than about 30% of your income on your rent or mortgage.  But how do you factor in the cost of getting to and from all the places you need to be?  For a working family, housing typically takes 30% and transportation takes 28% or their income - and if they fell victim to the “drive til you qualify” syndrome, transportation costs can exceed those for their home.  Think about that - if almost 60% of your paycheck is gone before you’ve cooked one meal, taken one shower or bought one jacket for your growing child, there’s not much “disposable income” left.  Putting aside monthly bills for energy and water, how should we calculate maintenance costs -was the house built with durable materials or are things going to need fixing sooner rather than later?   Even more complicated, we know that if you live in a well ventilated house that was build using non-toxic materials (no- or low-VOC paints and adhesives, for example), you’ll be healthier.   How do we factor in the reduction in asthma attacks, fewer trips to the emergency room and fewer days missed at school and work?  Then, if you are talking about retrofitting an existing home, it gets even more complicated in terms of getting a true cost/benefit analysis of the proposed work and an accurate idea of the payback period.

How can we quantify and establish the benefits of sustainable communities?

Granted, this question may not seem so simple, but before you can really even begin to think about answering it, you have to agree on a definition of what is required for a community to be “sustainable.”  That, my friend, is no easy task.  While the federal agencies have agreed on the principles that will guide their work, they have not created the minimum criteria that a community must meet to qualify as sustainable.  I fear it is a little like pornography, we all think we know it when we see it, but we may not all be looking for the same things.  This kind of baseline definition is essential.  If we are trying to assess and value the benefits of a “better” community, it has to be compared to a “regular” community.  Once we get beyond that high hurdle, we can direct our efforts to developing metrics, determining the necessary data, collecting the data in a consistent way and with enough participants to have statistical significance and analyzing it to calculate the benefits.

How do we pay for it?

It should all pay for itself - eventually.  The problem, unfortunately, is now.  Without the historical data to prove the long-term economic value of sustainable development, it’s hard to get the upfront funding.  This is a true anytime, but it’s particularly difficult given our current economic realities.  We all know the condition of our federal, state and local government budgets - and they don’t see any real light at the end of this fiscal tunnel (or if they do, it probably is a train).  Homeowners who might have used the equity in their homes to fund improvements may be unsure of their homes’ value or upside down in their mortgages, and banks don’t have any appetite for unquantified risk these days.  That’s why the Foundation is funding projects that demonstrate the benefits of sustainability and why we partner with our nonprofit partners to monitor what actually happens when people move into them.  It’s also why HUD, EPA and DOT - and hopefully other agencies - are working to align their resources to create these places and collect this data more quickly so that we can prove it out and everyone will agree on the economic benefit, as well as the environmental and social benefits.

All of this is a long-winded way of thanking the government for helping move the effort to create communities where families can live healthy, successful lives.  We appreciate that they are thinking about how to do this and willing to talk about how we can collaborate in the effort.  It wasn’t always the case that the agencies were focused in this way on addressing the issues that impact the everyday lives of the people they are supposed to be working for.   It is also a new idea that they are not only finally talking to each other, but talking to the people who use their programs as well.  To see this is refreshing, and even inspiring.  You probably haven’t heard it to often, but from all of us who participated in the conversation this week, “Thank you EPA! Thank you CEQ! Thank you DOT! Thank you HUD!”

Posted in Philanthropy | Leave a Comment »

Friday, January 15th, 2010

Helping in an Emergency

I planned to write a post about joining the Board of Trustees of LISC, the Local Initiative Support Corporation, but my thoughts have been overwhelmed by the situation in Haiti.  As everyone has said - and as they said when the tsunami hit Asia and when Katrina devastated New Orleans - the damage and death is overwhelming.  I don’t think we are really able to comprehend the enormity of the loss, so I won’t even try to comment on it.

Two thoughts do continue to come to mind, though.  First, the willingness of people to respond to others with great compassion and generosity is truly amazing.  I believe that there is something in each of us, for no reason other than that we are human, that makes us rise to help others who are in need.  It doesn’t matter that we don’t know them, that we will never know them or that we aren’t completely sure what to do.  Our reaction is to do something, whether it’s stopping when we see a stranger with a flat tire on the side of the road or sending what we can to thousands impacted by a mass tragedy, as in Haiti.  (So as not to be too Pollyanna-ish, I do need to point out, that just as we need to be cautious about the stranger who offers to change our flat, we also need to be sure we aren’t being taken in by evil people who set up scams to fraudulently take our donations for their own profit.  Donor beware!)

I’m trying to understand how to balance this wonderful generosity of spirit that exists within us against how apathetic we can be about how other people live day in and day out.  Last week, 80% of Haitians lived under the poverty line and 54% lived in abject poverty, and we didn’t really care.  (Just as a reminder, living in poverty means that you don’t have enough money for the basic necessities of life: food and water, shelter, clothes and health care.)  In 2008, the World Bank estimated that 1.4 billion people live at or below the poverty line.  I’d bet that few of us knew that number, but I am positive that we all know that there are many people throughout the United States and the world who are in need every day.  I’m not quite sure, though, why we have so little enthusiasm for helping them.

I understand the difference between pictures of the emergencies that arise after a natural disaster and the image of chronically homeless people.  By definition, an emergency comes on quickly and will pass.  It’s a fire we can put out with quick action and a hefty splash of water. It’s something that could happen to anyone.

Chronic problems, of course, are long-term.  They are hard.  They didn’t appear overnight, and we can’t fix them in a day.  We need time, patience and perseverance.  And sometimes, it seems that the ones suffering have done something wrong - maybe it’s their own fault that they are where they are.

And, of course, we move on - the news cycle turns, the pictures fade and another emergency comes.

Like so many, we are responding as a Foundation and a Company to the horror that exists in Haiti, and my family is giving personally.  But, this week has also made me re-commit myself to doing more every day.

Posted in Philanthropy | 2 Comments »

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

A Donor’s Responsibilities

I had a conversation today with a consultant who works with organizations and executives on strategic planning and leadership, and it got some ideas swirling in my head.   We talked a bit about what my long term vision for the Foundation is, how we work with non-profits, how we keep the team’s morale up during the tough economy and what we want to leave behind when our time is done here.

That’s a lot to think about, let alone absorb and comment on in a meaningful way, during a brief conversation - or a blog post.  But the discussion circled back several times to the way an individual looks at their own position  - both with relation to other people and other organizations.  I hope I never start making the mistake of thinking people who work for nonprofits and whom I’ve never seen before are exceptionally nice to me because of me, rather than because the position I am lucky enough to hold.

If the people who work with me have a heart, it’s relatively easy to keep them motivated.  Sure, like everyone, we have our ups and downs, but it is very easy for us to remember the difference we make during the work day - every day.  We are helping people have homes to live, stay in their homes and have safer, more vibrant neighborhoods.  There is no doubt we actually change people’s lives - thousands of people every year.  In just 2009 alone, we gave $75 million in cash and products to over 3,500 nonprofit organizations.  Wow.  No one here is just stuffing a check into an overnight envelope - they are truly sending hope to another person.

And while I always want us to remember what we are accomplishing, I don’t want us to stop trying to do better.  As important as what we do is, what we don’t do and what we could have done are even more important.  I’m always watchful for the lost opportunity.  We have an awesome responsibility to invest our funds in our communities in the way that will provide the best outcomes for the most people.  We all need to be mindful that what we have done is great - amazing even - but that we can always do more.

Posted in Philanthropy | 1 Comment »

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

Another Year - A Fresh Start

Well, it’s the end of another December, another year.  I just recycled my 2009 desk calendar.  Honestly, I’m never quite sure what we are celebrating when one year ends and another arrives, but for 2010, I’m going to try to really take advantage of this new year as the proverbial fresh start.  I’d like to share with you a few things I am committing to do  - because they will be good for me economically, they’ll be good for the environment and they will make me feel better about myself.  By making my resolutions public, I hope to also do a better job of sticking to them.

First, I’m not going to replace that paper calendar.  I’ve like being able to glance down and see the months laid out year after year, but it really is a waste of paper, let along desk space.  Besides, I think it makes me seem old to like information on paper - only the computer will track my days from now on.

Along the same lines, no more unnecessary printing and copying.  I tend to print e-mails to have the paper as a reminder (that’s what the little flags in Outlook are for, I know!) and to print documents to revise them, and I feel guilty even as I do it.  I resolve to read and comment on documents on my computer, and to make meetings paperless as well.  Whew - I already feel better on that front.

I will remember to get the shopping bags out of the trunk of my car and actually take them into the store with me.  Why is this so hard?  On the top of the pad I use to make lists (I know, there’s that paper again, but I have to start with baby steps) I have written “REMEMBER BAGS.”  I plan to copy this as the first item of every list (now I just have to remember to take the list into the store).

I’ll reduce my phantom load.  Sounds spooky, doesn’t it?  This is the electricity used by TVs, DVD players, computers, chargers and appliances when they off, but still plugged in and drawing a small amount of electricity.  By most estimates, this standby power usage accounts for about 10% of the electricity used in a typical home.  So I’m going to unplug all my charges when they aren’t actually charging anything, and I’m going to put my electronics on a power strip and unplug it when I’m done using them.  I’ll let you know if I can see a change in my electricity bill.

To paraphrase President Carter, I’m going to wear a sweater.  I’m always cold in our house; my husband is always hot.  We are going to set the thermometer to a cooler temperature this winter.   I’ll tell him I’m doing it so he’ll be comfortable, but we’ll know the real reason!

Finally, I’m going to plant a tree.  A tree that will grow for many years and give shade and protection to our home.  This summer, I think I’ll relax under its branches and think of the money I’ve saved by sticking to my resolutions.  I hope to be congratulating myself on a job well done, but check back in the next months and I promise to tell you how I’m really doing.  Wish me luck and Happy New Year!

Posted in Healthy, Affordable Housing | 1 Comment »

Friday, December 18th, 2009

Year End and the Chase is On

I’ve been thinking about this post for a couple of days.  I wanted to find something cheery to write - something in the holiday spirit.  Our office is full of such: Christmas trees and wreaths, menorahs and holiday sweets.  My inbox is full of sparkling, gold-edged holiday cards sending good will.

I appreciate all of that and am definitely looking forward to the holidays and having some time to spend with family and friends.  But I’m having trouble with the upbeat message as I’m struck by how many of those year-end cards are being sent to chase down a last few donations - desperately.  I know I should expect this given the headlines and economic reality that have defined 2010 (for details on that, see the results of a recent Chronicle of Philanthropy survey), but I think that what has caught my attention is not only the quantity of these pleas, but the tone of them.  For quite a few, it’s clear that this isn’t just about trying to get a few more dollars into the bank, but it’s really about saving staff jobs, programs and, perhaps, even the organization itself.

But, that’s not what I’ve been mulling over.  It’s really that I’m torn about what the appropriate response is.  Of course, on a personal level, I’d like the Foundation to be able to give to each of these nonprofits.  I’m absolutely sure that every single one of them is helping someone who needs help, making a community stronger or giving voice to a forgotten cause.   As everyone in philanthropy knows, though, we shouldn’t make grants scatter shot; we have to be focused, aligned, strategic.

On a professional level, I completely agree with that  - we invest in nonprofits that can work with us strategically to make significant impact in our communities.  As we reach the end of our fiscal year, we’ve managed our budget so that we’ve granted all that we have to give - we have to make our numbers work too.  We aren’t set up to respond to these kinds of spur of the moment requests, nor do I think that we should be.

It still doesn’t feel good to send out the letters declining these requests.  But with my personal year-end donations, I plan on spreading my gifts among a number of organizations, some of which I haven’t supported before.  I guess that I’m not along in that, as one respondent to the Chronicle survey said he was seeing the number of donors giving to his organization going up even while the dollars are down.  I’m lucky in that I can have it both ways - I’ll let my head rule at work, but my heart wins at home.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

“Cities of the Future” Are Being Built Today

For many people, the notion of building sustainable communities seems like something rather far-fetched … an expensive “city of the future” that is nice to aspire to, but perhaps not something very realistic to actually accomplish.  When The Home Depot Foundation was founded eight years ago, we decided to try to disprove that notion by focusing our work on creating healthy, affordable housing as the cornerstone of creating communities that aren’t just surviving, but are thriving.  Communities where the housing is healthy and efficient, while also affordable to live in for the long term; where there are safe and green outside places for people to walk, play and learn; and where people have access to good jobs, good schools and the stores and services they need.

As a result of our commitment, we want to shine the light on cities that are making great strides in bringing the economic, social and environmental benefits of sustainability to their residents. And so, this year we created the Awards of Excellence for Sustainable Community Development to identify, recognize and showcase the work being done in cities to construct green affordable housing in a sustainable community.

We were blown away by the quality of the submissions we received from cities across the country - there is truly some fantastic work being done.  It’s clear that many cities across the country are finding successful ways of dealing with the financial, social and environmental issues facing them through thoughtful design, land use and building methods.

I’m proud to announce today that the inaugural winners of this award are Minneapolis, MN and its nonprofit partner Aeon and North Charleston, SC and its nonprofit partner The Sustainability Institute.  It’s also nice for me to note that the winners don’t just walk away a beautiful award to display. They are also receiving a combined total of $150,000 to further the sustainability goals of their communities.

You can read a quick description of the accomplishments of each below, but be sure to visit our web site to read the press release and the case studies for each as well as to watch the video.

Minneapolis, MN and Aeon:

  • The City of Minneapolis has titled its Comprehensive Plan as “The Minneapolis Plan for Sustainable Growth,” making it clear that sustainability will be considered with all decisions, not as an afterthought. The city has established 25 sustainability indicators to track its progress, each with specific targets and incentives for achieving those targets.  As part of this commitment, the city partnered with Aeon to develop Ripley Gardens, a best-in-class example of the successful completion of a sustainable community. Using the historic Ripley Memorial Hospital and planning to add three additional buildings, the project team created plans for a residential development focused on historic preservation, energy efficiency and sustainability.  The site is accessible to transit, jobs in the downtown area and bike trails and contains one acre of greenspace that includes a playground and a community garden. The project boasts green and efficient building and maintenance practices and meets the MN Green Communities standards.  View the case study and watch the video.

North Charleston, SC and The Sustainability Institute:

  • In the early 2000’s, North Charleston faced many challenges, including the closing of a major naval base.  The city struggled as residents moved to the surrounding suburbs leaving vacant homes, a low home ownership rate and impoverished neighborhoods. In 2008, the city revised its Comprehensive Plan and included sustainability as a goal with specific priorities to guide its actions.  As a result, the city partnered with The Sustainability Institute to develop Oak Terrace Preserve, a once vibrant community that had fallen into major disrepair by 2000.  The city purchased the land, with a vision to transform it into a sustainable, attractive community. Today, it exemplifies best practices in housing, natural resources and land use and development.  It includes bioswales, rain gardens, pervious paving in alleys and “flexi-pave” sidewalks.  The community layout encourages community interactions and all 55 homes on the property achieved EarthCraft certification.  View the case study and watch the video.

My sincere congratulations to Minneapolis and North Charleston for their impressive work to make their cities a healthier, more productive place for their citizens.  My hope and the goal of The Home Depot Foundation is that their success stories will offer insight, inspiration and a roadmap for other cities to follow as they develop and implement sustainability plans for their communities.

We’re excited about the progress being made by so many non profit housing organizations, green builders and developers, and cities.  You can count on The Home Depot Foundation to keep the sustainability drumbeat going  by highlighting success stories like Minneapolis and North Charleston who are building “cities of the future” today.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Friday, December 4th, 2009

We’re Giving it Away!

At The Home Depot Foundation, we make grants every week, but this week, the amounts have really added up.  In fact, today we are mailing out grants that total over $750,000.  None of the grants is individually enormous, but combined, they demonstrate how we work throughout the country to support local communities to do the work they need to do given their unique situation.

I’m not going to list them all, but here are some highlights:

  • Atlanta Land Trust Collaborative: $125,000 to support the development homes that will always be affordable for families of lower income
  • Clean Air Campaign: $25,000 to support carpooling initiatives that have saved commuters almost $800,000 in 2009
  • Global Green USA: $15,000 to provide technical assistance to nonprofit developers working to make homes more efficient and healthier
  • Park Pride: $25,000 to sponsor a conference about the role of parks and green infrastructure in the new economy
  • FLASH: $50,000 in support of their work to strengthen homes and safeguard families from the impacts of disasters

The list goes on, but hopefully you get a feel for what we are doing.  And while at first blush this may seem like a somewhat random list of organizations and efforts, I hope that you’ll take a second look and see that they are all aimed at creating healthier, more livable and more affordable communities.   We like to think that we are very smart and strategic in what we do as a Foundation, but I’ve got to admit that at bottom we are just trying to create neighborhoods where anyone would want to live and houses that any family would be proud to call home.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

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