By Jennifer Acree, Flint Associate Program Officer, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation; Nick Deychakiwsky, Civil Society Program Officer, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation; and Kathi Horton, President, Community Foundation of Greater Flint

Much is being written in the “philanthromedia” today about funder collaboration, which is all very good but appears mostly in broad terms. One type of partnership does not always receive its due: partnerships between large and small funders.

Of course, what is large and what is small is up for interpretation, but, in this case, our emphasis is on staff size and geographic scope more than assets and budget.

Because this is a special year—the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the nation’s first community foundation—we wish to highlight some examples of how the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation (Mott) and the Community Foundation of Greater Flint (CFGF) work together to advance the good of our home community of Flint, Michigan, and the surrounding county.

The unique capital of large and small funders

Although Mott is often thought of as mainly a national and international funder, typically anywhere from 25% to 35% of annual grant dollars go to our home community. The foundation has strong and deep roots in Flint, and yet our local grantmaking is greatly enhanced by working with Flint’s community foundation.

As a large foundation, our most valuable and effective capital is financial. Mott also draws on its connections and relationships on the national and global levels to introduce ideas that enhance the local work of both institutions. Whereas CFGF also deploys significant financial resources for community benefit, its most valuable and effective capital is social. CFGF can more readily catalyze the interest and ability of a broad swath of community members to engage in community problem solving. The community foundation is closer to the ground, bringing community knowledge and resident engagement to the community issues both foundations address.

One example of how this partnership has benefited the community is the Neighborhoods Small Grants Program (NSGP), funded by Mott between 1984 and 1994. Ultimately, 25 community foundations around the country received Mott grants and consultant services totaling more than $6.4 million to address issues facing local communities. In Flint, the NSGP was administered by CFGF, to which Mott provided direct funding aimed at addressing persistent poverty. Based on early lessons learned among the community foundations that received support—as well as the particular focus of Flint’s community foundation on grassroots groups—a $408,000 endowment was established by Mott at CFGF in 1993 to ensure that neighborhood grants would endure as part of CFGF’s grantmaking fabric.

CFGF has leveraged the NSGP in many ways over the years. CFGF now receives funding from additional sources to support program management costs and to increase the number of available grants. Starting in 2013, CFGF began “next-level” grants of up to $5,000 for groups with greater programmatic capacity.

More recently, both foundations partnered on “Imagine Flint,” the city’s first master planning process since the 1960s. Mott supports the master planning work with funding for contract services and staff salaries not covered by the city’s $1.57 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. During the planning process, CFGF partnered with the City of Flint to assess the residential housing stock. The data were critical to “Imagine Flint,” which was launched in 2012 and resulted in a plan that was approved unanimously by the Flint City Council and the Flint Planning Commission in October 2013. The data also have been included in applications for state and federal blight elimination funding, which now totals $23 million. CFGF and the city again partnered with neighborhood groups to complete a similar analysis of commercial properties.

In addition to the mini-grants and next-level funding, a third NSGP grantmaking strategy will continue to support projects that involve neighborhood participation in the implementation and updating of Flint’s master plan.

Partnerships between funders are not always simple or easy, especially long-term ones between foundations of different sizes and types. But when the partners share a common vision—like, in this case, the vitality of Flint, Michigan—their work together can be very productive and beneficial to the community.

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The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation is a private, grantmaking foundation based in Flint, Michigan. The foundation affirms its founder’s vision of a world in which each of us is in partnership with the rest of the human race—where each individual’s quality of life is connected to the well-being of the community, both locally and globally. It pursues this vision through creative grantmaking, thoughtful communication, and other activities that enhance community in its many forms.

The Community Foundation of Greater Flint serves the common good in Genesee County – building a strong community by engaging people in philanthropy and developing the community’s permanent endowments.