A national network of funders supporting strategic, innovative, and effective solutions to homelessness

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The importance of understanding philanthropy’s role in ending homelessness cannot be overstated. It is imperative that our partners and government officials recognize philanthropy’s impact on the movement and how critical it is to bring funders to the table. It is the role of Funders Together to act as philanthropy’s collective voice and to lift up the work and efforts of our members.

In-Person Convenings and Meetings

One way we work to ensure this is by representing philanthropy at various partner events and meetings. We act as a catalyst to propel the mission of funders working in this space and to facilitate positive and long-lasting relationships that will advance the movement to prevent and end homelessness across the country. FTEH co-hosted and/or participated in 16 panels, sessions, or speaking engagements at partner and member in-person events, which allowed our members to form dynamic relationships with peers and partners from across the country, as well as learn about innovative initiatives and solutions. A few of the highlights include:

  • 2017 National Conference on Ending Family and Youth Homelessness. Amanda Andere participated in the Lunch Plenary session as well as moderated two panels: How Funders Can Make A Difference on Family and Youth Homelessness In Their Communities Workshop Session; and A Vision for The New Administration Workshop Session
  • 2017 National Conference on Ending Homelessness. Amanda Andere spoke at the Lunch Plenary session by addressing attendees and introducing Representative Maxine Waters.
  • 2017 Council on FoundationsAnnual Conference. Funders Together planned two sessions at the Council on Foundations conference around employment and health that included Amanda Andere and other Funders Together members. 
  • 2017 Funding Forward Conference host by Funders for LGBT Issues. Amanda Andere, along with Funders Together members, participated on a plenary panel around local and national strategies to build the movement to end youth homelessness.
  • USICH Thought Leadership Convening on Ending Family Homelessness. Amanda Andere and other Funders Together members participated in a thought leadership convening around family homelessness.
  • 2017 True Colors Forty to None Conference. Amanda Andere co-led a workshop discussion around racial equity in homelessness.
  • Heartland Alliance Connections Project Convening. Amanda Andere and Jennifer Olney, Director of Networks and Programs, facilitated conversations around employment and homelessness. This event was also the kick off for the FTEH employment community of practice, Foundations for Employment and Housing.

Lifting Up Philanthropy’s Messages

Funders Together acts as the mouthpiece for our members. We listen to our members, engage with them on their work, understand what is important to their efforts and the movement as a whole. Making sure the larger philanthropic field and homelessness sector knows the roles of our members and how it aligns with their work is a critical part of our work. In order to elevate philanthropy’s role in ending homelessness, Funders Together represented the voice of philanthropy in various media publications including:

Inside Philanthropy: An End to Homelessness? Behind the Rising Optimism Among Funders
Governing: The Only Federal Agency Dedicated to Homelessness Could Be Shut Down

 

Expanding the Opportunities to Connect Funders and Partners

In 2017, Funders Together looked for additional opportunities to connect funders and partners in learning opportunities together. After hosting the Funders Institute the day before the National Alliance to End Homelessness’s annual event each July, we worked with the Alliance to expand the Institute throughout the entirety of the full conference, allowing more funders-specific content and the ability to learn in a shared space with partners.

In addition, we focused efforts on partnering with other philanthropy serving organizations (PSOs) on programming and to develop relationships with funders in various sectors, who may not have a specific homelessness priority in their grantmaking, but fund intersecting issues. Some of this PSOs include Grantmakers in Health, Workforce Matters, Grantmakers for Income Security Taskforce, Funders for LGBTQ Issues, Council on Foundations, and others.

 

  Funders Together to End Homelessness has strengthened connections and collaborated with national partners in order to share the work of our members at the national level and help our members stay up-to-date with the larger field of homelessness. Impact we’ve seen includes members and partners who are connected through the FTEH network continue to work together outside of FTEH programming.

 

We joined Funders Together because we believe in the power of philanthropy to play a major role in ending homelessness, and we know we have much to learn from funders across the country.

-Christine Marge, Director of Housing and Financial Stability at United Way of Greater Los Angeles

I am thankful for the local partnerships here in the Pacific Northwest that we’ve been able to create and nurture thanks to the work of Funders Together. Having so many of the right players at the table makes our conversations – and all of our efforts – all the richer and more effective.

-David Wertheimer, Deputy Director at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Very often a lack of jobs and money is not the cause of poverty, but the symptom. The cause may lie deeper in our failure to give our fellow citizens a fair chance to develop their own capacities, in a lack of education and training, in a lack of medical care and housing, in a lack of decent communities in which to live and bring up their children.

-President Lyndon B. Johnson, 1964 State of the Union Address

Funders Together has given me a platform to engage the other funders in my community. Our local funding community has improved greatly to support housing first models and align of resources towards ending homelessness.

-Leslie Strnisha, Vice President at Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland

Our family foundation convenes local funders and key community stakeholders around strategies to end homelessness in Houston. Funders Together members have been invaluable mentors to us in this effort, traveling to our community to share their expertise and examples of best practices from around the nation.

-Nancy Frees Fountain, Managing Director at The Frees Foundation


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Only members have access to some of the resources we list on this page. Feel free to explore the Funder Toolkit and see what we have to offer, but you may not be able to access some of the resources without signing up for membership.

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