By now most of us have heard about the unprecedented donation of $5 million by the Brown Family Foundation to create Turning the Corner, an education and family support initiative for African-American middle-school students.

While most multimillion-dollar gifts are newsworthy, this gift is unusual in that it was not paid to an existing institution, but rather will go to create an entirely new program. The program will be based on the Brown family's desire to make a real difference in the African-American community. The family intends to keep a careful eye on their investment and remain involved as volunteers while the program takes shape.

To help transform the Brown's idea into the Turning the Corner initiative, the expertise of two Baltimore foundations, Associated Black Charities and the Baltimore Community Foundation, was enlisted.

“The program is an example of how Associated Black Charities and the Baltimore Community Foundation can help individuals carry out their charitable giving in a meaningful manner,” said Donna Jones Stanley, executive director of Associated Black Charities, when the initiative was first announced. “The Browns came to us with an idea, and within a short period of time, we are using our resources to bring their idea to reality.”

Lesson learned

Associated Black Charities was founded to represent and respond to issues of special significance to Maryland's African-American communities, and to foster coordinated leadership on issues concerning these communities. The foundation is well known for its community development that provides funding for programs and for its role in community planning and service coordination.

The lesson learned from the Brown family's experience is that you don't have to be an expert to do some very inventive giving. And the lesson learned from the multitude of other families whose philanthropic interests are served by Associated Black Charities and Baltimore Community Foundation is that you do not need to be a millionaire, either.

The bottom line is, philanthropy can be fun. It's all about turning dreams into reality, and there are organizations out there that can provide the infrastructure needed to make it happen.

“This is simply what community foundations do, taken to scale. We help them frame their questions to determine their philanthropic goals and to translate those goals into practical application,” said Tom Wilcox, president of the Baltimore Community Foundation. “We are in many ways a mutual fund for philanthropy. Rather than having one family for whom we work, we have many, many families for whom we work. The Brown initiative wasn't very different from what we do for everybody except at a grander scale.”

Community foundations serve thousands of people who share a common concern: improving the quality of life in their area. They work by allowing individuals, families, businesses and organizations to create permanent charitable funds that help their region meet their specific challenges. The foundation then invests and administers these funds.

By turning to the Baltimore Community Foundation and Associated Black Charities, the Browns will be able to focus on the initiative and not on timely administrative duties.

The Turning the Corner Achievement Program is the result of consultation by the Brown Family Foundation with a number of Baltimoreans from various walks of life on ways to address the educational and social needs of the city's African-American community.

“From the outset, the Brown family said they wanted many voices talking about the dream and they wanted a variety of organizations determining what to do,” said Wilcox. “They wanted many partners working together in new and innovative ways. So by asking us as a lead community foundation representing many constituents, to collaborate with Associated Black Charities, which is more focused on the African-American community, really forced a meeting of the minds.”

The two foundations recently selected Baltimore Reads and Community Impact! Baltimore as the lead agencies in providing services for the Turning the Corner Achievement Program. In June, the students will be recruited and the program will begin.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Betsy Nelson is executive director of The Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers, a membership organization dedicated to promoting philanthropy. The Daily Record publishes Nelson's ‘Charitable Giving' column every other week. She can be contacted at 410-727-1205 or bnelson@abagmd.org.
Copyright © 2002 The Daily Record