We affect change in our community by being an advocate for the underserved, instilling pride, and building relationships to create a sense of belonging.
Strategic areas of focus: Nonprofit Excellence, Equitable Community
We are not only equipping the area’s nonprofits with the tools and resources to be resilient and impactful, but we are taking a deeper look at the nonprofit sector as a whole to ensure that our community thrives. At the same time, we continue to support and grow initiatives that support equity through a variety of lenses including race, gender, and ability. As we examine what it means to be an equitable community, we recognize it begins with how the Community Foundation weaves equitable practices through everything that we do. Below is a sample of what we achieve when we marry the generosity of our donors with the hard work of our community partners. With your help, we can do more.
What We’re Doing:
Nonprofits often do not have the resources needed to invest in their own professional development and training for their staff. This can lead to growth limitations within the organization, particularly around fundraising and leadership. This is why we’ve offered the following training for nonprofits at a very low cost:
- IU School of Philanthropy, Certification in Fundraising Management
- Network for Good JumpStart program
- Sandler Executive Leadership training
Empowering nonprofits to raise money for their own sustainability is key to creating a lasting impact. We incentivize nonprofits opportunities to raise money through the following giving initiatives with matching dollars, toolkits, and templates for ease:
- #GivingTuesdayFW Challenge
- Give Greater Allen County
- Planned Giving Toolkit
- Endowment Building Toolkit
Women and girls in our community make less in their salary than their male counterparts, are victims of violence at higher rates than the national average, and carry the disproportionate burden of caregiving responsibilities. This is why we established the Women’s Fund of Greater Fort Wayne. We continue to invest in women because we know it has a ripple effect, benefitting not just women and their families, but the greater community. We’ve done this by:
- Initiating and concluding the first women and girls study in Allen County since 1974.
- Launching and housing the region’s first Women’s Fund
- Hiring to our staff, a full-time Women’s Fund Director within its first year
- Committing to supporting the growth of the Women’s Fund endowment to ensure its perpetui
People of color face many obstacles throughout our community including advancement in their careers, equal pay, health disparities, and neighborhood segregation. While we know we have just begun our work, here is how we’ve helped:
- Investing in, being a fiscal home and providing back-office support for Fort Wayne United
- Being a fiscal home and early supporter of the nationally recognized Family & Friends Fund for Southeast Fort Wayne
- Investing in and working in partnership with the Black Chamber to create a working directory of black-owned businesses
- Providing funding and training opportunities for emerging BIPOC-led grassroots organizations
Our Impact (all dates reflected since 2019):
1,314 Nonprofit professionals at CFGFW-Hosted training
49 Professionals graduating from IU School of Philanthropy with CFRM Certification
$1.2m+ secured to support diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives
$465k+ raised to support women and girls through the work of the Women’s Fund of Greater Fort Wayne
