Maximizing Collective Impact
Funders for the Adirondacks grew out of a shared desire of foundations with an interest in the Adirondacks to share ideas and delve into issues to identify opportunities for greater collaboration and impact. Whether fostering partnerships, tracking trends, or combining resources for COVID-19 response, this coalition demonstrates how Adirondack philanthropy leans in during times of crisis and proactively prepares for the future.
In just four years, the group has expanded its efforts to coordinate impact through its shared grantmaking experiences and community ties, annual gatherings, jointly commissioned research, and decisive grantmaking. This has included ongoing substantive, structural funding for long-term needs, and the unprecedented demands of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has widened disparities that threaten the long-term economic and social wellbeing of our communities.
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Deepening Community Investment
Exploring new ways to invest our assets in local communities.
Pooling Resources
Identifying community needs and opportunities for greater leverage and impact.
Addressing Racial & Economic Inequality
Integrating economic and racial justice into our grantmaking and governance structures and supporting nonprofits engaged in this work.
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As the cascading impacts of the pandemic were coming into focus, philanthropists were among the first to mobilize resources to provide assistance, acting more quickly and decisively than the government. This coalition of Adirondack funders was no exception: beginning in March of 2020, dozens of funders shared information on weekly Zoom calls and by July, 35 contributed an impactful $870,00 to the Special and Urgent Needs Fund at Adirondack Foundation for COVID-19 rapid response. Combined with gifts from hundreds of individual donors, the SUN Fund delivered $1.2 million in grants by the end of 2020 to alleviate hardships of the pandemic.