The adage “fortune favors the bold” has been around for thousands of years, but it could not feel more relevant today. Now more than ever, Greater Cincinnati Foundation (GCF) is embracing the need to be bold — audacious, even — to unlock the potential of our region and unleash its collective philanthropic power to meet the growing needs of the community.
Boldness is the key to creating a future where everyone can thrive. GCF recently unveiled a new growth strategy that establishes a roadmap for turning this ambitious goal into reality. The community foundation has doubled down on exploring ways to meet our community’s needs in concert with its donors and partners. It is finding new avenues for growing the pie of funds to support the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky region by tapping into regional and national philanthropic resources. And it has made an audacious commitment to invest $1 billion into the community over the next decade, including a $150 million investment in the critical areas of education, housing affordability, and community and cultural vibrancy.
“The disparities in this region, and in fact the whole country, are widening,” President and CEO Matthew Randazzo said. “This requires a full-scale pursuit of everything it takes to go deeper and go bigger in our impact.”
And it requires a whole new level of intentionality, said Sarah Weiss, chief philanthropy officer. Implementing GCF’s new business strategy entails re-examining everything from the way it engages with donors, partners, funders and community members; to the tools it employs to best meet their needs; to the laser-sharp focus it brings to the mounting needs of our region.
“Right here in our own backyard, the need is tremendous — and growing,” Weiss said. “We’re answering the call as a community foundation, and as individuals in philanthropy, to do more, to do it more strategically and to do it more creatively. The question for every one of us in this city who loves our community is this: Are you ready to join us in this critical mission?”
“Philanthropy” is not something that happens only in community foundations, family trusts and nonprofits, Weiss said. Everyone can be a philanthropist. In fact, she said, the true meaning of philanthropy is simply a love of humanity.
So, whether you own a small plumbing business, run your family restaurant, work in a tech startup or serve as the top executive at a major corporation, you can be part of the solution to our region’s needs. By working with GCF to do so, everyone can amplify the impact of their giving by maximizing the collective power of the right tools, strategies and relationships.
“Working together, we can do more than any of us — any individual, nonprofit or trust — can do alone,” Weiss said.
Investing $1 billion in the community over the next decade necessitated not only envisioning a bold new business strategy, Weiss said, but expanding the pool of available resources.
“We’re forging new partnerships, making important new inroads throughout the national philanthropy landscape, exploring national competitions that award philanthropic funding and creating additional avenues for meeting the needs of Greater Cincinnati,” Weiss said. “I’m confident that those efforts will be bearing fruit for our region soon.”
Other key components of the new business growth strategy include:
- Joining forces with other local funders to leverage greater funding opportunities.
- Restructuring the GCF team to best meet the needs of the community and adding important new positions, including a director of education and a director of housing and place-based initiatives.
- Ramping up the focus on accountability and outcome measurability. Together with its partners, GCF will identify measurable indicators of community well-being, tracking its efforts and the region’s growth in real, tangible ways — for results that can be seen, felt and proven.
The process of creating the new strategy incorporated the voices of more than 500 civic and business leaders, donors, nonprofit executives, staff and board members, through listening sessions, interviews, surveys and meetings. “As the name implies, a community foundation is really for the community,” Weiss said. “And we involved the community deeply as we structured our new growth strategy, because great change is never created in isolation. Together, we can create a Greater Cincinnati that’s greater for everyone. Are you with us?”
Are you with us?
Join GCF as it ramps up its efforts to shape the Greater Cincinnati of tomorrow. The future starts now.
To learn more, contact Sarah Weiss, chief philanthropy officer, at 513-768-6120
or sarah.weiss@gcfdn.org.
Learn more about GCF’s new growth strategy at: https://www.gcfdn.org/about/strategic-plan
