Inaugural PPE Philanthropy Project: Foundations
Inaugural PPE Philanthropy Project: Foundations
The Gambrell Foundation
Overview: The Gambrell Foundation, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based foundation with over 35 years of experience, has long been dedicated to transforming the city into a beacon of economic mobility, human flourishing, and equitable living. However, recent findings reveal that, despite tireless efforts and substantial investments by this foundation and many others, neither we nor our community have achieved this vision for all of our children. However, this failure extends beyond Charlotte and is not limited to poverty or inequality – it encompasses a fundamental void in US society, our belief that something is “missing,” manifesting as a lack of connection, anxiety, and loneliness across all social classes. We must find a place for everyone in our community to see the relevancy of our work.
Recognizing this, our foundation has launched a groundbreaking community engagement project to learn from cities and thought leaders across the globe. Our aim is to redefine our philanthropic focus areas based on the learnings from this project. In addition, we hope to help Charlotte create an environment where everyone – natives and newcomers alike – can forge powerful bonds with the community. This, in turn, will result in improved policies, investments, and ultimately, happier, more purposeful, and flourishing lives.
We imagine a Charlotte where strong communal ties prevail, where people view the city as more than just a temporary shared space but as a place of abundance and opportunity. We envision a city where residents consider themselves integral contributors to a forward-looking cul-ture rather than mere critics awaiting solutions from others. To accomplish this, our goal is to ensure that every individual, especially children and caregivers, feels valued, respected, and vital to the future of our city. Lastly, one of our central goals is to shape a city where fostering a lifelong sense of awe and wonder enriches the daily lives of its residents.
While we are still developing our grantmaking strategy, several focus areas have emerged as exciting areas of exploration:
- Belonging. An orientation toward the city and others, a communal ethos, vibrant culture, shared history, and feeling valued. Our definition of “Belonging” includes the need for individuality and diversity.
- Relationships: This concept emphasizes the importance of social capital and the need to cultivate diverse relationships throughout life (childhood, romantic, work, etc.). It en-compasses strengthening social capital, nurturing both deep and casual bonds (strong and weak ties), and promoting overall connectedness.
- Awe and wonder: Recognizing the power of awe & wonder to develop a sense of pur-pose, increase empathy, life satisfaction, well-being, creativity, and pro-social behavior.
Participant: Brian Collier, President. Prior to The Gambrell Foundation, Brian served as Executive Vice President for Foundation For The Carolinas for sixteen years. At FFTC, he was responsible for competitive grants programs across 13 counties in North and South Carolina. Brian also led the Foundation’s Robinson Center for Civic Leadership. Brian has served on the executive leadership team at KABOOM! in Washington, D.C. and as the Founding President and Executive Director of Victory Junction, a state-of-the-art medical camp in Randleman, North Carolina for children suffering from chronic and/or life-threatening illnesses. The camp was the result of a unique partnership between the NASCAR motorsports industry, NASCAR drivers Richard and Kyle Petty, and actor Paul Newman. Brian began his career as a trial attorney with Rumberger Kirk—one of the country’s premier commercial litigation firms–in Orlando. He is a graduate of the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law and the University of Central Florida.
Questions / Challenge: One constant concern we hear is the tension between “basic needs” and the areas we want to focus on. Can work on areas like belonging, awe, and relationships coexist with efforts to address poverty, or should basic needs always be the priority? Do our areas of focus contribute to overall well-being or have indirect benefits to alleviating poverty? Does Maslow’s hierarchy allow for work on multiple levels at once? Is it important to provide a sense of aspiration and hope, even though someone is living in poverty? Are there any criteria that might help guide decision-making?
One area we’re researching is the role of “hobbies” to develop a sense of purpose or passion for something. Hobbies might also lead to joining clubs or meeting other enthusiasts. In some cases, the hobby might lead to a vocation. Is this a legitimate area of in-quiry? In thinking about this, consider these quotes from author Brenné Brown: “Unused creativity doesn’t just disappear. It lives within us until it’s expressed, neglected to death, or is suffocated by resentment and fear.” And: “If creativity is seen as a luxury or something we do when we have spare time, it will never be cultivated.”
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Burroughs Welcome Fund
Overview: The Burroughs Wellcome Fund serves and strengthens society by nurturing a diverse group of leaders in biomedical sciences to improve human health through education and powering discovery in frontiers of greatest need. BWF’s financial support is channeled primarily through competitive peer-reviewed award programs. BWF makes grants primarily to degree-granting institutions on behalf of individual researchers. To complement these competitive award programs, BWF also makes grants to nonprofit organizations conducting activities intended to improve the general environment for science. BWF was created in 1955 as a corporate foundation. A 1993 gift from UK’s Wellcome Trust enabled BWF to become an independent private foundation.
Participant: Dr. Louis Muglia, President & CEO — Dr. Muglia has been involved with the Burroughs Wellcome Fund for more than 20 years. First, as a recipient of a Career Award in the Biomedical Sciences in 1995 from the Fund and then as a member of the Advisory Committee for the Career Awards in the Medical Sciences program. Dr. Muglia has pioneered advances in analyzing hormones as they relate to the birth process and the maternal genetic response. Among Dr. Muglia’s achievements are more than 260 publications and many awards. Dr. Muglia was elected as a Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science and to membership in the National Academy of Medicine. Prior to joining Cincinnati Children’s, Dr. Muglia was Edward Claiborne Stahlman Professor and Vice Chair for Research Affairs in Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and Alumni Endowed Professor of Pediatrics at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Muglia earned his Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from the University of Chicago. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in biophysics from the University of Michigan.
Question / Challenge: How can science philanthropy nurture collaboration of science arts and humanities to foster creativity and innovation to engage communities often marginalized to promote wellness?
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Good Chaos
Overview: We are deeply committed to supporting and developing new possibilities for those who are undervalued, unseen, and at the margins of our society. Rooted in Chicagoland, our work stretches nationwide. We believe in collective action, radical wonder, and joyful rebellion. Alongside our partners, we harness the power of philanthropy, investing, and narrative change strategies to create new opportunities and lasting change for those most hindered by the status quo. Good Chaos does not describe itself as a foundation and is reimagining the structures and culture that have constrained traditional philanthropy.
Participants: Elizabeth Armour, Managing Director, Narrative & Policy Shift. Elizabeth previously served as Director of Communications, Marketing & Public Affairs for Annenberg Foundation, Senior Communications Advisory for American Foundation for Equal Rights, Senior Vice President for GMMB agency, and as principal for Armour Consulting. She designed and led narrative change campaigns that contribute to two Supreme Court victories. She holds degrees from American University and USC and lives in Southern California.
Walter Abrego works as a Manager for Good Chaos, overseeing the Farmed Animal Well-being philanthropic portfolio. Walter is a systems thinker dedicated to transforming the food system to prioritize the well-being of farmed animals. His efforts aim to create a world where consumers are encouraged and empowered to make choices that benefit animals, the environment, and their communities. Walter brings a wealth of philanthropic expertise, having previously served as a Program Officer at Builders Initiative and as a Program and Grants Associate at the McKnight Foundation’s Collaborative Crop Research Program. In these roles, he helped identify and fund regionally-based research projects in Africa and South America. A Salvadoran immigrant and son of two former meatpacking workers, Walter earned joint bachelor’s degrees in Communications and Spanish from the University of Northern Iowa and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Texas Tech University. In his free time, he enjoys biking, cooking, camping, and organizing. Walter lives on the West Side of Chicago with his dogs, Remi and Cooper.
Questions / Challenges: How would you build a new, achievable American Dream for those at the margins?
What would be required to run a successful national public education campaign to reduce the consumption of meat and create meaningful demand for more humane, higher welfare meat?
Regarding both of the questions above: For an investor working outside the culture and structures that have constrained traditional philanthropy, what innovative approaches hold promise for producing radical change?
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Based in Asheville, North Carolina, and founded in 2019, Dogwood Health Trust exists to dramatically improve the health and wellbeing of all people and communities in the 18 counties and Qualla Boundary of Western North Carolina. It works within communities, collaborating with grantees, partners, researchers, policymakers, advocates and scholars – those closest to the communities it serves – to create a Western North Carolina where every generation can live, learn, earn and thrive, with dignity and opportunity for all – no exceptions. Dogwood’s Community Investment Philosophy shapes its approach through two fundamental anchoring principles: (1) we are community focused in all we do, and (2) we view equity as a means to an end for our work. Our commitment to these principles fuels our efforts to make the place we call home healthier, stronger, more inclusive, better educated, economically stable and more resilient today and for future generations. Learn more at dogwoodhealthtrust.org.
Participant: Mark Constantine is Senior Vice President of Community Investment at Dogwood Health Trust. Prior to joining Dogwood, Mark served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Richmond Memorial Health Foundation. He has served as senior vice president at the Jessie Ball duPont Fund in Jacksonville, Florida, where he directed the Program-Related Investment and affordable housing activities of the Fund. He holds a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business (Duke University), and a Master of Theological Studies degree from Duke Divinity School. He was a 2006/2007 Fellow of the Emerging Leaders Program directed by the Centers for Leadership at Public Values at the University of Cape Town and Duke University. He serves as the Immediate Past Chair of the Virginia Funders Network, Co-Chair for the Jeffress Trust Awards Program in Research Advancing Health Equity and has served as a faculty member for the Grantmakers in Health Terrance Keenan Institute for Emerging Leaders in Health Philanthropy. Mark has authored two books, Wit and Wisdom: Unleashing the Philanthropic Imagination (2009) and Travelers on the Journey: Pastors Talk about Their Lives and Commitments (2005), as well as the award-winning monograph, “Where Hope and History Rhyme: Reflections and Findings from the Mid-South Commission to Build Philanthropy (2005).” Wit and Wisdom was selected by the 2009 Philanthropy Annual Review as one of the two “notable titles” in the Social Justice Philanthropy category.