February 9, 2009 | Read Time: 1 minute
In a time of recession and great social-service needs, more groups are striking collaborations, notes Diana R. Sieger, president of the Grand Rapids Community Foundation, in Mich., in her blog But some of those collaborations have been under way for decades, and their spirit of cooperation is helping their constituents survive hard economic times.
Ms. Sieger notes that private and community grant makers in her region have banded together to create a pool of funds to shore up hard-hit charities that offer front-line social services. Rather than adopt a cumbersome grant-application process, the pool is flowing directly to the Essential Needs Task Force. That committee, which has existed since 1982 and is supported by te Kent County Department of Human Services and the local United Way, will decide where the money will go.
“So in essence — it is one collaborative effort working with another collaborative effort trying to respond in a more effective manner,” writes Ms. Sieger. “The funding collaborative effort is working hand in hand with the ENTF partnership that has the knowledge and expertise to respond to the many immediate emergency crisis situations that people are facing. This is a tremendous response. The foundations are leaning on the knowledge that we do not necessarily have. No one funder or organization can own this issue and address it well and it takes a ‘community’ of funders and service providers to work together. It is simply taking action when it is needed the most.”
See The Chronicle’s article on steps foundations are taking to respond to the nation’s economic woes.
