The Leadership Role of Community Foundations in Building Social Capital by DOUG EASTERLING

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The Leadership Role of Community Foundations in Building Social Capital by DOUG EASTERLING The Leadership Role of Community Foundations in Building Social Capital BY DOUG EASTERLING The concept of social capital is important in deter- can make in building social capital, drawing on the mining a community’s ability to advance the health experiences of sixteen foundations that participated and well-being of local residents, respond effectively in a “learning circle” dedicated to the topic. to natural disasters, and plan for the opportunities and challenges that will present themselves in the future. Communities differ substantially in the degree The Potential for Community Foundations to Play a to which residents engage in civic affairs, participate Leadership Role in organized groups, volunteer, contribute money to National and regional foundations (such as the W. K. charity, and trust one another, especially across racial, Kellogg Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, ethnic, and economic lines. In his seminal book Pew Charitable Trusts, Kettering Foundation, Mary Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam summarizes a large Reynolds Babcock Foundation, Northwest Area body of empirical science documenting that commu- Foundation, the Colorado Trust) have a long history nities with a high level of social capital have better of supporting projects that build social capital, physical and mental health, stronger economies, and although much of this work has been carried out better systems for educating and caring for youth. under conceptual frames other than social capital, Other factors such as monetary wealth and income such as community building, civic infrastructure, inequality are obviously important as well, but there civil investing, and healthy communities. is little doubt that social capital is an important inde- pendent factor in explaining which communities do Community foundations are in an even better posi- well and which communities struggle. tion to catalyze the changes required to achieve a significant increase in social capital, because they are Now, with strong empirical evidence that communi- based within the community rather than some far- ties with a higher level of social capital are better off off city. A community foundation is essentially a in many other ways, we are confronted with the repository for charitable funds set up by local thornier issue of intervention. Achieving a signifi- donors. The foundation helps each donor identify cant increase in social capital requires a fundamen- his or her charitable interests and then carries out tal shift in the community’s attitudes, behaviors, critical functions that allow those interests to be structures, norms, and culture. Such a shift will achieved: investing the donor’s money in a diversi- occur only if influential actors take bold and delib- fied portfolio, soliciting applications from nonprof- erate steps that directly address the community’s its that fit the donor’s interests, managing the deficits and take full advantage of local resources. grantmaking process, and monitoring grantees’ progress toward goals and objectives. Because On a practical level, a community needs to answer donors have different areas of interest, community two critical questions in order to achieve substantial foundations have traditionally funded nonprofit or- increases in social capital: (1) What sorts of strate- ganizations carrying out a variety of programs and gies are effective in producing communitywide services. increases in social capital? (2) Who is in a position to play a leadership role? This article highlights the For a variety of reasons, community foundations important contributions community foundations have traditionally not served as proactive agents of © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) National Civic Review • DOI: 10.1002/ncr.232 • Winter 2008 39 Now that there is strong empirical evidence groups and grassroots leaders. With this combina- tion of mission, knowledge, and credibility, a com- that communities with a higher level of social munity foundation is in a position to mobilize local capital are better off in many other ways, residents and leaders around a change agenda, even we are confronted with the thornier issue of if the underlying issues are contentious. intervention. Community Foundations and Social Capital Because of some interesting synchronicities, social capital has been the focal point for the community community change. However, the aspirations leadership work that many community foundations of community foundations have begun to change have carried out in recent years. Community foun- dramatically in recent years. More and more, they dations got interested in the issue of social capital have stepped out beyond their conservative, behind- following publication of Robert Putnam’s “Bowling the-scenes role and taken the lead in bringing about Alone” journal article in 1995, which made the case community change on issues such as race relations, that civic engagement was undergoing a critical public education, and economic development. This decline in the United States. Putnam’s ideas res- shift has been strongly encouraged by the onated with many leaders in the community foun- Community Foundation Leadership Team (CFLT) at dation field, especially those who were involved in the Council of Foundations, as well as a number of the National Neighborhood Funders Network or researchers and thought leaders with an interest in who had created grants programs based on Jody the future of the community foundation field. Kretzmann and John McKnight’s “Asset-Based Community Development” model. Community foundations are well positioned to play a community leadership role. In addition to the As a result of this interest, Putnam was invited to financial resources that can be invested in promising deliver a plenary presentation at the 1999 Fall strategies, most community foundations possess Conference for Community Foundations in Denver. three other important assets. First, almost all com- In his talk, he argued that community foundations munity foundations have a mission that relates were critical players in reversing the decline of directly to improving the common good of the larger social capital. During follow-up workshops and community, as opposed to promoting a narrow set online discussions, Lew Feldstein of the New of interests or a specific constituency. Second, a Hampshire Charitable Foundation and Tom Sander community foundation typically has important com- of the Saguaro Seminar proposed the idea of a coor- munity knowledge, including knowledge of the crit- dinated national survey to assess social capital in ical problems facing the community (both communities where there was an interested com- surface-level and more deep-rooted), the various munity foundation. organizations that are in a position to address those problems, and the underlying political and interor- In early 2000, plans for the Social Capital ganizational dynamics that will either inhibit or Benchmark Survey (SCBS) were formalized and invi- facilitate efforts to improve the community. Third, tations were sent to community foundations that community foundations generally have widespread had expressed preliminary interest. The premise credibility among donors (often the wealthier resi- underlying SCBS was that each participating foun- dents of the community), nonprofit organizations, dation would gain access to a reliable estimate of businesses, public officials, and even neighborhood how much social capital exists within its local com- 40 National Civic Review DOI: 10.1002/ncr Winter 2008 With this combination of mission, knowledge, ital, involvement in conventional politics, protest pol- itics, volunteerism, and giving). Each community and credibility, a community foundation is in a foundation was responsible for interpreting the position to mobilize local residents and leaders results and crafting messages with regard to its own around a change agenda, even if the underlying local survey. The Aspen Institute facilitated informa- issues are contentious. tion sharing, especially with regard to development of press releases and dissemination strategies. For many of the thirty-four community foundations munity, with the opportunity to compare local that participated in the SCBS, the survey data con- results to national norms and to the other commu- stituted a platform for efforts to increase the local nities participating in the survey. community’s standing on social capital. These efforts included not only grants programs but also The survey was posed not as an academic exercise more proactive initiatives aimed at changing the but rather a means for community foundations to community’s structures, systems, behaviors, culture, mobilize local residents and organizations around and aspirations. The remainder of this article an agenda that would build social capital on those describes these activities, drawing on information dimensions most relevant and pressing within the shared within the Social Capital Learning Circle local context. Toward this end, the Saguaro Seminar (SCLC), a group of foundation staff who meet by (supported by the Aspen Institute) offered partici- phone and in person to exchange lessons, chal- pating foundations materials, workshops, and tech- lenges, tools, and ideas related to measuring and nical assistance designed to (1) familiarize staff and building social capital. board members with the fundamentals of social cap- ital, (2) allow valid interpretation of the survey results, (3) strategize on press
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