Collaboration is at the heart of being successful in the work to preventing and ending homelessness. Funders who collaborate together and partnerships that are built on public and private relationships provide a critical backbone to support and ensure that efforts build strong and sustainable programs throughout communities can positively influence and effectively create systems change.

We encourage you to see the various ways philanthropy is partnering together and with the public sector:

Homelessness Funder Collaboratives

At Funders Together, we support the dedicated collaboration of committed foundations, United Ways, and corporate partners who work as one to prevent and end homelessness in their communities. Learn about collaboratives focused on working together and increasing the power of philanthropy in communities.

Public-Private Partnerships

No one sector alone can prevent and end homelessness: it takes the dedication and commitment from entities across the sector coming together with common goals. Read more about the importance of these partnerships and some examples from across the country. 

Completing its fifth year of funding, the Home For Good Funders Collaborative evaluation outlines lessons learned and next steps for the Los Angeles County collaborative.

Three communities across the nation – Los Angeles, Austin and Cleveland – are currently amid the nation’s first 100-Day Challenge to end youth homelessness. Through these challenges, initiated by A Way Home America (AWHA), philanthropy’s essential role as conveners in our communities and across the nation is clear. Through this work, we continue to learn much about the power of philanthropy in bringing community partners together. 

November 2016

At Funders Together, we make it a goal to share the work of funders across the country so you can learn what's working and adapt these strategies to your own community. One way we do that is through our Featured Members. Some are featured because of their innovative grantmaking. Others are featured because they are making connections and bringing new people into the conversation about ending and preventing homelessness. Still others are featured because they are challenging the very systems that allow homelessness to persist. In each case, our Featured Members are an integral part of the solution to homelessness.

The HealthSpark Foundation is a private, independent foundation providing support to organizations that serve the unmet health and/or human service needs of residents living in and organizations serving Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. We spoke with Russell Johnson, President and CEO of HealthSpark Foundation, about the Foundation's systems change approach to population health and, ultimately, preventing and ending homelessness. 

1. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us today. Could you explain a little bit about what HealthSpark Foundation does and in what capacity it is involved in homelessness issues?

To understand what HealthSpark Foundation is, we need to go back to where we started. We were founded in 2002 as the North Penn Community Health Foundation with a $39 million endowment, generating approximately $1 million for grants on an annual basis.  Early on, the foundation invested in nonprofit capacity building, but mostly served as a responsive health and human service focused grantmaker. Our work soon highlighted that capacity building grants were scarce, that few foundations offered this type of grant and that the need was large. In 2012 the board adopted a new strategic plan that focused on opportunities to address the challenges of poverty through investments in changing systems – including continued support for nonprofit capacity building initiatives. 

Our investments supported nonprofit organizations seeking to introduce and/or enhance their data collecting tools and analysis; helping recruit, train and maintain skilled staff; and using data to guide and focus the allocation of resources to achieve desired goals and community impact. We promoted the use of evidence-based case management tools help produce quality outcomes. Staff training and implementation of these tools represented significant areas of our grant making. There is value in independent research of outcomes, so investing there was, and continues to be, a priority for the foundation.

We helped to start and continue to serve on the leadership council of a public/private partnership initiative called Your Way Home Montgomery County (YWH). YWH was established as the county's coordinated housing crisis response system for residents experiencing homelessness. HealthSpark Foundation took the lead in supporting research of best practices. Once a framework for systems change was developed, HealthSpark also invested in targeted capacity building for providers and scaling the impact of YWH with support to create a website, implement a marketing and communications strategy, establish a development team to raise money from other foundations, conduct a formative evaluation of our early work and support the costs of several pilot projects designed to test out new models of service delivery.

Prior to YWH, our community’s approach to addressing homelessness was designed and influenced by HUD rules and guidelines. Yet HUD lacked an understanding of the resources and challenges in our community. HealthSpark’s leadership convinced the county to reorient its relationship with HUD, shifting from a model focused on compliance to operations designed to leverage local knowledge and resources that remained informed by HUD guidelines. Through YWH, our community designed a plan that made sense to local stakeholders and preserved HUD’s investments in our work. The organizational structure of YWH provides a single umbrella for county government, philanthropy, providers and other community stakeholders to come together and work as one aligned system addressing the needs of those experiencing homelessness.

2. HealthSpark Foundation recently underwent a rebranding. Can you explain why this was important for your work and the foundation’s mission?

Originally, as the North Penn Community Health Foundation, our board wanted to maintain a connection and legacy to the source of our endowment:  the local community nonprofit hospital. The board wanted to preserve and invest only in the local community, commonly referred to as North Penn. However, as we started to focus more on capacity building and systems change, the board realized that providers served a broader community and their revenues were driven by county government contracts. The board came to understand that our disciplined focus on a small geographic area was inhibiting our ability to achieve scale and the desired community impact.   

Our efforts to expand our impact to all municipalities within Montgomery County was hampered by the geographic portion of our name. Many mistakenly thought we worked only in the North Penn community, while others thought we worked throughout northeastern Pennsylvania. Moreover, some nonprofits and foundations thought we raised money, as would be typical of a “community foundation.” We are, in fact, a private foundation that does not engage in fundraising so this too created confusion and distracted from our intent and mission.

In January 2016, we officially launched our new name and identity: HealthSpark Foundation – investing in healthy communities. Our new logo is a dandelion, a medicinal plant, with one seed going off into the wind, which reflects our efforts to “seed great ideas.” Our investment in our new identify/brand has been worthwhile, opening new opportunities to partner and learn.    

3. The HealthSpark Foundation takes a “systems change” approach to your grantmaking. Can you explain why you feel this is the right strategy and if/how that has impacted the outcomes of your grantmaking?

Our work with nonprofits and feedback from consumers has taught us that many of the service delivery systems are segregated and inefficient. Federal and state funding sources have historically contributed to this segmented approach to financing programs and services. However, there is a growing interest in our county to leverage block grant opportunities and to dismantle redundant and cumbersome intake and service delivery models that have historically segregated services. This new interest and commitment views the consumer as a whole person rather than someone with a specified need who fits into a funded program. Opportunities for public/private partnerships and collaborative efforts have been enhanced and new, more cost-effective programs and services are evolving that are producing better results for both consumers and the community. 

As these collaborative conversations were taking place, HealthSpark Foundation identified an investment opportunity to help the provider community learn about and use evidence-based case management tools. The YWH leadership identified these tools and the public/private partnership implemented regular trainings and established a learning collaborative to help build and sustain the capacity to use them. HealthSpark created and supports this learning collaborative where providers refine their skills and talk about various issues and challenges they are experiencing.

Investments in research, capacity building, learning collaboratives and more have been worthwhile, but our systems change approach has not been easy to implement. Through the collective support and efforts of the public/private partnership, we are slowly convincing providers, landlords, employers, other community service providers and foundations that this approach is making a significant difference in the lives of people experiencing homelessness. Providers, other foundations and consumers have joined to tell their stories. For example, the YWH website and annual community meeting highlights stories of consumers who have benefitted from rapid re-housing. Landlords are also talking about the value of the supportive partnerships forged by YWH’s housing stability coaches and housing locators. These professionals are helping to mitigate disruptive tenant behaviors and encourage positive communications and constructive relationships between tenants and landlords. Funders have joined together creating a pooled fund that housing stability coaches can use to assist consumers in overcoming financial barriers to secure housing. The YWH coordinated entry program, now in its third year, is reducing waiting lists for shelter services by assessing consumer vulnerability and diverting some seeking shelter services to more appropriate resources that preserve existing housing. 

4. Homelessness is a symptom of a larger issue and the intersectionality between homelessness and other issue areas is crucial. How would you encourage other foundations who don’t see themselves as primarily involved in homelessness to focus more on it?

Population health is a relatively new concept. But this approach has proven to be exceptionally helpful as we build partnerships and continue our work. We use this framework to engage other funders who may define their role and mission in ways that don’t reference “homelessness.” We look for funders interested in promoting the well-being and success of communities through economic development, education, access to health and other human services, food and nutrition, job training and employment, child care and more. When all these “systems” work well, the overall health of the population is healthier and stable. We have been successful in building awareness that investments in these areas can help homeless individuals and families achieve success – again the theme of integrating systems and resources to overcome the barriers that living in poverty impose on homeless people. HealthSpark welcomes opportunities to explore various partnerships that might help leverage our individual efforts and together achieve a collective impact greater than the sum of its parts. This message now resonates with more than a dozen philanthropic partners that support YWH. 

5. Advocacy can seem a bit untouchable or unobtainable to many funders. What role does advocacy play at the HealthSpark Foundation? Do you have any insight on successful strategy or challenges to be aware of when participating in advocacy?

We know and understand advocacy can take various forms. As a private foundation, we have some limitations imposed by the IRS. Nonetheless, our board supports many advocacy and educational efforts targeted to building awareness around best practices. We often contribute time to share our stories with others in Pennsylvania and occasionally at national gatherings. We educate our funder colleagues, elected officials, providers and sometimes even consumers on what is working in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. We also advocate by sponsoring research and publishing the results, disseminating articles and hosting site visits.

6. Funders Together is starting to look more at employment and economic security as an important part of ending homelessness. What, if anything, has your foundation done to address this intersection?

We are just beginning to learn about Employment First and other employment strategies. We recognize that access to an adequate household income enhances housing stability. We have invested in a comprehensive benefit enrollment service and recently introduced the SOAR program to our community. 

We recently provided grant support to establish a Catalyst Kitchen program in our community. This program is currently being piloted to help a small cohort of individuals without existing job skills or recent employment histories to quickly learn basic culinary arts skills and then to enter the workplace. The food service industry is robust and growing in Montgomery County and through this investment we are hopeful that some homeless families will build careers in this industry. 

Through the YWH leadership council, we are also partnering with the county’s Department of Commerce and the state’s Department of Human Services to explore how we can work together to support the efforts of people with significant barriers to enter the workforce more quickly and remain employed. The Employment First program may become a focus for this work, but for now HealthSpark intends to focus on building awareness of opportunities through researching best practices, hosting site visits and sending key leaders to conferences to enhance their own learning.

9. How can groups like Funders Together support the work of foundations like yours?

We joined Funders Together to End Homelessness to connect with other funders, further our knowledge and ultimately increase our impact. While members for only a few short months, FTEH has helped us to create new relationships and connected us with other funding innovators. We also have appreciated the recognition of our own work while inspiring us to continue learning and building a sustainable system that seeks to make the experience of homelessness brief, rare and non-recurring.   

One specific opportunity that we have found incredibly important and enlightening was the 2016 Funders Institute’s focus on racial inequity in homelessness. The HealthSpark Foundation board has long embraced the concepts of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). Recently, three of our board members participated in a regional learning collaborative hosted by Philanthropy Network of Greater Philadelphia convened to inspire foundation leaders to engage in this type of work. This group acknowledged HealthSpark Foundation’s DEI leadership in our region. HealthSpark staff has also engaged with other funders to learn and share strategies for board and staff development and DEI work with grantees and other community partners. Our staff has been encouraged to serve on other community organization task forces and boards as well.   

We encourage discussions and exploratory conversations about the use of data to help identify learning and investment opportunities. We are urging our YWH colleagues to publicly disclose client demographic data. A second strategy is to engage the provider community to critically explore whether existing programs and services are welcoming and appropriately supportive of the diverse needs of consumers. We are hopeful that this information will spark DEI conversations among funders and the provider community to explore enhancing provider leadership and capacity and seeking new DEI strategies to improve access to and service for a more diverse population of consumers. 

HealthSpark Foundation would welcome conversations with other funders working in smaller communities. We value learning about the accomplishments of all communities, and particularly value learning how smaller communities with populations of less than one million residents can work together to leverage and learn from one another.

HealthSpark Foundation has been a member of Funders Together since September 2016. Take a look at our other members here and our entire network here.

Interested in past featured member profiles? Check out our archive here.

Funders come in all shapes, sizes, and capacities. How can United Ways use their influence and capabilities within the community to end homelessness? 

United Ways play a unique role in the community serving as funders and conveners, but even more, their value is highlighted through their deep relationship with local businesses through the workplace campaign fundraising model. This position provides an opportunity to play an important role in community’s efforts to prevent and end homelessness.

 January 2016

At Funders Together, we make it a goal to share the work of funders across the country so you can learn what's working and adapt these strategies to your own community. One way we do that is through our Featured Members. Some are featured because of their innovative grantmaking. Others are featured because they are making connections and bringing new people into the conversation about ending and preventing homelessness. Still others are featured because they are challenging the very systems that allow homelessness to persist. In each case, our Featured Members are an integral part of the solution to homelessness.

Miami Homes For All (formerly Miami Coalition for the Homeless) promotes community collaboration to prevent and end homelessness in South Florida through advocacy and philanthropy. Their work concentrates on advocacy, prevention, and informational services to enhance already existing community efforts and fill identifiable gaps. 

We spoke with Bobbie Ibarra, Executive Director of Miami Homes For All about the organization's rebranding, its focus on housing, and successful advocacy efforts.

1. Let’s start with the basics. Many members may know you as the Miami Coalition for the Homeless, but recently you’ve become Miami Homes For All. Can you tell us a little bit about what lead to this “rebranding” and why it was important to your mission?

Barbara (Bobbie) Ibarra (BI): Miami Coalition for the Homeless was founded as an advocacy organization focused on protecting the rights of individuals experiencing homelessness. Back in the 1980s, there was a very high number of individuals living on the streets and because of this, there were many efforts to criminalize them. Business leaders in the community knew this was unacceptable and that a group was needed to focus on the issue of homelessness. When the organization was founded, many of the board members were experienced with legal services and wanted to create a movement around protecting and aiding people experiencing homelessness. Thus, Miami Coalition of the Homeless was born.

In 2001, we received proceeds from a surplus military property sale, made possible due to the Federal Homeless legislation. This allowed us to realign ourselves and evolve into a philanthropic organization. Through the transition, we maintained our commitment to advocacy by supporting policies that are instrumental to preventing and ending homelessness and that minimize the criminalization of those experiencing homelessness. Our grants complement our advocacy and offer the opportunity for agencies to provide innovative solutions to homelessness. Most of our work has always been about collaboration and advocacy, and this is still true today.

With a small endowment, we needed to think about sustaining as an organization and how to support our operations to keep funds focused toward grant making. When I joined the organization as Executive Director five years ago, it was during a recession and housing really took a hit. We always believed the housing was a critical piece to ending and preventing homelessness, but that gave us the impetus we needed to prioritize and elevate this community issue. This core focus on housing to end and prevent homelessness was the primary reason for our name change to Miami Homes For All.

2. This past year, one of your efforts, the Lazarus Project, became well received in the area and around the country and has been a great success. What led to the Lazarus Project and can you tell us a little bit about the challenges and opportunities around it?

(BI): While strides have been made in the community with ending episodic homelessness, chronic homelessness remains a strong challenge. We spoke with outreach workers and asked what we could be doing differently for those who were chronically homeless and living on the streets. A supervisor came forward and said that many years ago, as an outreach worker, he was called to the hospital where individuals experiencing chronic homelessness would be released into his care along with the appropriate medication. He took it upon himself to medicate them in order to ensure they were receiving the care they needed. He began to see a real transformation among these clients. They would become coherent and rational, and eventually could be moved into some sort of housing. He unsuccessfully tried for years to get funding for this work. After further discussion, I suggested that we start on a smaller scale so we began utilizing current resources and based on its success we provided the program a $24,000 grant to maintain the pilot with the goal of obtaining additional resources to bring the program to scale.

Camillus Health partnered to get the pilot off the ground by providing nursing staff and social workers to spend time doing outreach each day. All staff went out each day and medicated, assessed, and developed a relationship with the 12 individuals in the pilot program. This style of street outreach is entirely revolutionary and the program has successfully placed 49 clients in shelters, 2 in transitional and 12 in permanent housing and 50+ referred to permanent housing within the first year and a half. Our COC agency, the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust, was impressed with the results and has since awarded a grant for over $660,000 to enable the program to add additional street teams and other needed resources. Thus, our efforts to have the program become sustainable is proceeding forward.

Some of the challenges of starting a project like this is risk-taking! We believe that we are the only ones in the country doing this type of targeted outreach.  In all of our initial research we learned about the Assisted Outpatient Treatment program operating in both Albany NY and Seminole County, Florida. This program, however, is court ordered whereas the Lazarus Project is voluntary, based on engagement and trust. We had many unknowns we had to face when we first started, such as are agencies  willing to experiment with  getting individuals to voluntarily sign waivers or, are we in any way violating HIIPPA right? Building faith and confidence from parts of the community was a hurdle, but we were convinced that if it worked in the past with just one man undertaking this unique engagement strategy, then it was worth taking the chance and convincing other partners to join us. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Another challenge with this particular effort was the balancing of service delivery with the need for the collection of relevant data metrics. Being in the pilot phase of a program creates the issue of having very limited resources so you need to decide what is most important in terms of where to allocate funds and time. Data is very important in every project undertaken, but is especially critical when you are involved in a start-up pilot seeking to establish the foundation for a sustainable, scalable, and systemic initiative that seeks to convince others of its importance and relevance to solving an important issue.

3. Funders Together has members of all funding sizes, and we try to encourage members to think about what they can do outside of providing grants. Miami Home For All has made a large impact with a smaller budget in the Miami area so what advice do you have to other organizations who are working with smaller budgets?

(BI): Smaller funders should focus on building partnerships based on collaboration within the community to leverage limited resources. All of our work is based on this strategy. In particular, we have embraced the Collective Impact model for our youth homelessness work, which has been most successful.

We recognized that youth homelessness was gaining national attention and saw this as a huge opportunity to broaden our work in this area; however, we also realized that we did not have the capacity to undertake this initiative by ourselves. Thus, we sought out other funders to collaborate with us to support the creation of the backbone support organization, one of the five components defined in the Collective Impact model.

We now have 49 agencies working on 7 different committees designing a comprehensive system of care to prevent and end youth homelessness in our community. By engaging and convening the community in this holistic and collaborative manner, we have created a sense of unity, urgency and importance around this issue which we believe will result in more systemic, effective and sustainable community wide solutions.

4. You have been very active advocating for issues of homelessness in the Miami area. Many foundations and organization see advocacy as something that they can’t or shouldn’t attempt. Why advocacy is so important and what advice do you have for others who are considering doing more work around it? What makes advocacy efforts successful?

(BI): Everyone assumes philanthropy dollars are abundant and represent a significant financial resource. But in reality, it is actually small compared to the amount of government funds allocated to social services at both the federal, state and local levels. That is why we think that it is so important for philanthropy to leverage and compliment government programs that are aligned with best practices we know to be effective and that ultimately prevent and end homelessness through systemic change.

Partnering with appropriate policy leaders is really the only way to ensure this happens! Public/Private partnerships are at the core of successful and impactful change. You accomplish more by working together. With that being said, if philanthropy is going to support and compliment government programs, then we need to be able to influence what these polices are to ensure that they are the most effective. Thus, educating, informing and engaging policy leaders on best practices and evidence based solutions is one effective strategy for ensuring the development of the most relevant policies possible.

In order to be successful in advocacy, we believe that it is important that we make effective and compelling use of data analytics. Define and quantify the need you are trying to address, offer viable and meaningful solutions and document the economic benefits that will be achieved. In today’s world, it is not enough to discuss the resources needed to address a problem; we must be able to also define what the positive social and economic impacts will be realized when effective solutions are implemented.

 If there is an opportunity to bring different sectors together – do it! It is an opportunity for all parties (philanthropy, non-profits, community leaders, business and local officials) involved to come together and discuss what needs to happen and who should be accountable for what. By doing this, you ensure that everyone is committed to the same strategies and policies so when you bring an issue to your leaders, you can display widespread community support.

I know that advocacy can seem daunting and finding a starting place can be overwhelming. But it can come in all forms: it can be as simple as providing a report that documents quantifiable solutions and outcomes or, it can be hosting a convening where relevant experts share their strategies and solutions. Education is a critical component of advocacy work.

One of our major advocacy successes was around our affordable housing work. We hosted the Homes for All Housing Summit this past year and as a result, the county has been undertaking new and innovative solutions to ensuring that we have the various types of housing needed in our community.  For example, Miami Dade County has an Affordable Housing Trust Fund that was adopted several years ago; however, there was no prioritization as to how these funds would be allocated. Given our focus on preventing and ending homelessness, we, and our community partners, believed that the Trust Fund should allocate resources based on household needs within our community. To that end, the Commission did modify the Trust Fund to now allocate 50 % of the resources to either extremely low income or very low income households. This is a first for our community and a major win for Miami-Dade County. By convening a multi sector policy driven agenda event which resulted in people coming together to collaborate, we were able to leverage influence effectively and systemically.

5. Miami Homes For All is very involved in Funders Together Florida. What do you think are some of the benefits and opportunities of working with the network?

(BI): There are so many benefits! Networks are great for continuous learning. Working within a network gives you the opportunity to first learn from one another as well as it enables a group to invite experts to provide more up to date best practices. Networks also assist in engendering a collaborative and cooperative spirit. As I mentioned before, leveraging resources enables a small organization’s ability to be impactful.

In addition, while many funders focus their resources on their local community, when working in a network, you can have the ability to expand your impact both geographically and programmatically through partnerships. We have found it vital for funders interested in advocacy, to think about local, state and federal issues because each one has an impact on how we strategically utilize our resources. For example, not every community in Florida is working on youth homeless but through a network more attention and support for this work could be undertaken. Networks can bring this type of synergy to the table and make others aware of issues and ways around challenges providing many more opportunities.

As far as challenges, sometimes funders may not choose a more comprehensive or holistic approach to an issue that they are supporting. For example, grantors who funds in education may not see the correlation between homelessness and education yet it definitely exists. So as we try to engage others and build partnerships we need to recognize that sharing data and information that shows the integration of various sectors might be helpful in garnering important partnerships.

6. How can groups like Funders Together support organizations like yours?

(BI): The website and connection to best practices are amazing resources for us. When you are small philanthropic organization, having access to valuable research, resources and contacts is extremely important. The Communities of Practice and similar networks expose you to other people from whom you can learn a lot, very quickly!  Funders Together is so phenomenal at providing opportunities to do that.

7. What advice would you give to organizations who aren’t currently focused on homelessness, but would like to start becoming more involved?

(BI): Most importantly, learn about what is the state of homelessness is in your community. Who are the key players you need to connect with? It is important to do your due diligence and find out who is involved and begin to engage with them. Relationship building is essential. Learn from them what they believe the critical community homelessness issues are: youth, family, veteran, chronic, or all the above?

You should also ascertain what is currently being funded by who in your community. Another great resource is learn if there are already existing networks or community groups within which you should become involved.  Networking, engagement, learning and collaboration is what it is all about.

Miami Homes For All has been a member of Funders Together since 2011. Take a look at our other members here and our entire network here.

Interested in past featured member profiles? Check out our archive here.

Just a few weeks ago, the Los Angeles chapter of Funders Together to End Homelessness held its quarterly meeting to discuss the role of advocacy in moving the needle toward ending homelessness. The big question at the meeting: What elements of a successful advocacy campaign can philanthropy support to make greater impact?

Youth homelessness is a community-wide issue that demands a community-wide response. Read about what Katie Hong of the Raikes Foundation took away from the most recent Foundations for Youth Success convening in Toronto.

October 2015

At Funders Together, we make it a goal to share the work of funders across the country so you can learn what's working and adapt these strategies to your own community. One way we do that is through our Featured Members. Some are featured because of their innovative grantmaking. Others are featured because they are making connections and bringing new people into the conversation about ending and preventing homelessness. Still others are featured because they are challenging the very systems that allow homelessness to persist. In each case, our Featured Members are an integral part of the solution to homelessness.

Formed in 2013, Funders Together San Diego is comprised of individual philanthropists and grant makers who invest in effective systems change with the goal of ending homelessness throughout San Diego County. The former Homelessness Working Group transitioned from San Diego Grantmakers to become part of the growing group of public and private partners supporting activities to end homelessness in the region. The group works to coordinate existing community resources – including funds, services, health care and job readiness assistance – and align them more effectively to help break the cycle of homelessness.

Members:

• Alliance Healthcare Foundation
• Parker Foundation
• McCarthy Family Foundation
• Brailean Family Trust
• La Jolla Coin Shop
• San Diego Housing Commission
• United Way of San Diego County

We spoke with Erica Snyder, Community Impact Manager at United Way of San Diego County, who manages and staffs Funders Together San Diego, about the Funders Network.

Q: What has been some of the biggest benefits to being part of a Funders Network and can you also speak to some of the challenges that you have encountered and how the group has addressed those?

Erica Snyder (ES): As with any collaboration, there are major benefits along with some challenges. One of the biggest benefits of being part of a Funders Network is the ability to leverage funds. As individuals, our members are putting dollars in, but then seeing a larger impact because that money is now part of a larger pool. The learning and education opportunities are another critical benefit. They help inform us where our dollars will be best served as we look to invest into various system change efforts in the region. The collaborative also helps increase the ability to be visible throughout the county as members attend different community meetings with stakeholders. These meetings allow us to learn about various community efforts and determine not only individual goals, but how those goals fit into the collaboration’s funding strategy.

As far as challenges, many of our members have known each other for years and work very well together which is great, but we are now at a place where we would like to grow our membership and are determining thoughtful ways to engage new funders and increase membership. Also, philanthropy can sometimes have siloed conversations. Funders external to FTEH-SD may not always see the natural connection between their funding priorities (i.e. child welfare, education, etc.) and homelessness, so we need to encourage people to widen their own lenses and see how their passions intersect with homelessness. 

Q: What has been Funders Together San Diego’s most influential accomplishment?

ES: One of our most exciting accomplishments was being part of one of a major private-public partnerships in San Diego by working with the San Diego Housing Commission in support of their Housing First – San Diego Homelessness Action Plan. Our collaborative had $240,000 of funding available to invest in converting transitional housing into permanent housing options (i.e rapid re-housing or permanent supportive housing). By working with the commission and having discussions with them as a partner at FTEH-SD meetings, we were able to leverage that $240,000 into $10 million of public funding to support the operational expense of to create permanent supportive and convert existing transitional housing. This was huge, not only for our group, but for the county as a whole because it showed the power of private-public partnerships and how impactful it can be. The money we put forth was amplified to help as many as 1,500 San Diegans who are experiencing homelessness. This partnership was a great opportunity to show the community how philanthropy is able and willing to work with public agencies in order to create solutions.

Q: What are some projects that Funders Together San Diego have in progress?

ES: We have three areas of focus for our Funding Priorities: Systems Change, Regional Continuum of Care Council and Coordinated Assessment and Housing Placement System. Right now, our biggest focus is on systems change funding.

Moving forward, we are really focused on examining where there is energy and need within the community so we can focus there. That will help us determine the best area to send funds in order to bring about systems change in San Diego.

Q: Aside from funding systems-change, what other ways has Funders Together San Diego made strides in the county?

ES: The idea of a funding collaborative was really new to the community. The community, specifically public funders, was apprehensive at first because they weren’t used to seeing private funding coming together as group. Prior to Funders Together San Diego, most of the private funding was done at the organizational or individual level. Now they are seeing people coming together all in the name of ending homelessness.

When people refer to Funders Together San Diego now, they think of a strong, cohesive group. We share contractual language with our public funders to reinforce outcomes we are all trying to achieve. In turn, service providers are starting to understand how this process works and share with us what is working and where they are struggling which has really helped us understand where our dollars are needed.

Q: We urge Funders Together members to think about advocacy and how it can fit into their organizational plan. What role does advocacy play in Funders Together San Diego?

ES: Overall, the funding collaborative’s stance is to stay engaged and knowledgeable on what is happening within the homelessness space. In order to do so, we host speakers or educational opportunities and encourage members to advocate based on what they have learned. Since the foundations have different laws to adhere to, we encourage people to advocate on an individual basis. As individuals, advocacy efforts can take many forms, mostly at the local level: social media efforts, meeting with local officials, town hall meetings or sitting on various councils and the Continuum of Care Governance Board. As our members partake in these efforts, it reminds our community stakeholders that there is a group of passionate funders in the area who are dedicated to do whatever they can to end homelessness in the San Diego area and also nationally.

Q: What advice would you have for other who were considering starting or joining a Funders Network?

ES: Funders Together San Diego started as a learning community and grew from there. In that effort, we found a common interest as the place to start and as we learned more, common agreements were developed and trust was built. If you are looking to start a network, step one is to start engaging and talking with people who agree that they want to end homelessness. Step two is to build trust within that group. People want to collaborate with others who share passion and have motivation to do what it takes to produce outcomes, so by building trust and staying engaged, others will be drawn into that energy. If people are already meeting, attend! Take time to learn about the community and where other funders are investing so you can align efforts to make the largest impact. Philanthropy does a great job talking with the community and the more we talk with each other, the more we are able to bring fresh ideas to our peers. 

Interested in started a Funders Network in your area? Check out our Building a Funders Network 101 resource.