Click here  to return to the full announcement of 2009 Effies Award winners

 

I (Josie Heath) am nominating the Brett Family Foundation for an Effie® . The work of the Brett Family Foundation is an excellent example of an intentional combination of the six pathways necessary to achieve  measurable change in the civic engagement and to better serve the marginalized people in Colorado.  When Linda Shoemaker and her husband, Steve Brett, founded the Brett Family Foundation with ten million dollars in 1999, Linda undertook to indentify an area of inequity in the state to which she could devote the majority of the Foundation’s financial and human resources. After carefully examining the opportunities her new-found wealth presented, she decided to focus on addressing the fact that people of color, people with limited socio-economic opportunities, and LGBTQ persons do not have the voice in the civic arena that more privileged members of society enjoyed.

 

            Preparation - Linda began a conversation with groups and individuals around the state, a “listening tour,” through the new organization she co-founded, the Bell Policy Center. That conversation yielded the basis for economic policy change the Bell has fought for during the last decade. It also made Linda realize that, to help close the gap civically-disengaged persons faced through her philanthropy, the foundation would need to identify organizations that had true community bases, develop meaningful relationships with those organizations, and make multi-year, general operating grants to them.

 

            Creation of safe place for conversation: The statewide listening tour created relationships of trust for the Bell as well as for the foundation. A 2008 self-commissioned analysis of the effectiveness of the foundation revealed that grantees valued the true dialogue they have had with the foundation in which they can honestly discuss the challenges and opportunities they encounter. To institutionalize these safe spaces, the foundation has been instrumental in forming the Colorado Community Organizing Collaborative (a table of eight nonprofits) in close association with the Philanthropic Community Organizing Collaborative (a table of nine) as well as the Colorado 501(c)(3) Roundtable (a membership organization of 43 nonprofits) and the incipient (c)(3) Donor Roundtable (still in formation). The process of forming these safe places has been slow and arduous at times, due to the need to build trust. These relationships, however, have resulted in increased funding of organizations by in-state funders, as well as less overlap of activities and increased efficiency verified by public

voter files.

 

            Advancing gap-closing ideas:Rather than attempting to impose top-down, funder-driven solutions to the challenges of finding a voice for those who have little or no voice in public policy, the foundation seeks out and encourages organizations that allow their constituent communities to identify problems and seek solutions. Whether the issue is police harassment of immigrants, low graduation rates for Latino high school students, or wage equity for women, the organizations the foundation funds rely on their constituents to address issues affecting them. The foundation also uses objective data to evaluate outcomes, such as police department statistics, graduation rate reports, and comparative studies of income levels.

 

            Strengthening relationships: The foundation funds collaborative efforts, which strengthen relationships between organizations as shown above. It also funds organizations that build leadership from within constituent communities. This approach allows organizations and constituent groups to identify and push solutions. They may not always succeed, but failure can lead to new ideas.

 

            Raising resources: The foundation works closely with other state-based funders to leverage local and national resources. The two staff members also work closely with grantees to offer support and technical assistance based on talents and experience gained in non-profit work, as well as information and insight gained from funding in the field of civic engagement.

 

The Brett Family Foundation evaluates the effectiveness of its grant making by analyzing objective data as well as seeking input from its grantees, which it considers stakeholders. It understands that changing entrenched barriers to civic engagement social justice is a long term process that can succeed with focus and commitment over time.