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The Human Development and Self Sufficiency Committee
A. Lincoln Filene knew something of discrimination and the hard road to self-sufficiency. Though quite successful himself, Lincoln Filene was keenly aware of his family's recent history of immigrating to this country and of striving to succeed from humble beginnings. This manifested during his lifetime in a number of initiatives to help others achieve self sufficiency and develop their full potential. This legacy lives in the work done by the Foundation's Human Development and Self Sufficiency Committee.
In seeking programs to fund, we are looking for impact: the impact of an organization's program to change individuals' lives and our impact in helping you do your work.
We are not a committee with a huge budget and we do not fund in large amounts, so we seek efficiently run organizations and programs of modest size where our funding can provide meaningful support. Sometimes this means funding core programs and sometimes it means funding innovative, new programs. We are not afraid of "failure."[the period should be within the quotation marks] What is important to us is whether the program is well thought out, well run, honestly reported to us, and that lessons can be learned and applied.
Our committee includes business professionals, non-profit staff members, academics, long-time foundation members, and grant writers. We also include individuals of a wide range in ages. We review grant proposals through all of those lenses.
We expect straightforward proposals with clear statements as to why the program has been created, whom it serves, how it works, the ways in which it affects your clients' lives, and how we will know our support has been effective in their lives.
We do not tend to fund organizations for long periods of time. On the other hand, we have had a few longer, mutually beneficial relationships with organizations working together to support, improve, even re-vision programs. We strive to help effective organizations create change that matters.
