By Lyn Hunter, Philanthropy Northwest
On June 16th, I attended the PolicyWorks teleconference discussing philanthropy’s role in promoting early childhood education. More than 50 individuals from foundation and regional associations participated, with ten Philanthropy Northwest members joining the call.
I want to highlight two examples provided during the teleconference of regional associations partnering with their members and policy makers to advance early learning efforts.
The Connecticut Council for Philanthropy is the backbone organization and manager of the Early Childhood Funders Collaborative. In 2011, 12 funders came together with the goal of creating a state-level Office of Early Childhood to better integrate systems and services by merging state agencies serving young children and their families. And in 2013 their hard work paid off: a state executive order created the Office of Early Childhood. Based on that success, the collaborative is developing a comprehensive early childhood system for children, families, communities and the workforce in Connecticut.
The Council of Michigan Foundations (CMF) shared information about the Office of Foundation Liaison (OFL), a unique partnership between the regional association and the state of Michigan. The first of its kind in the nation – the OFL is a cabinet-level position in the Governor’s office, initiated and funded by 17 foundation members of CMF and supported by the state government. The OFL helps identify and broker innovative funding partnerships and strategic collaborations between the state of Michigan and foundations. Since its inception, it has brokered more than $100 million in foundation investments, including but not limited to early childhood.
Philanthropy Northwest is a network and knowledge base for foundations and corporate giving programs in the Northwest. These examples are a good reminder that with our members, we are also a part of much larger network of about 4,000 foundations, corporations, organizations and individual donors who can share successes and failures to better inform our work here. I am always inspired to learn about the tangible outcomes that are possible when we leverage our collective resources to support philanthropy across the country.
