Marvin Vilma

✨ Discover the Power of Storytelling for Innovation! ✨ On the first day of the Virginia Housing Alliance’s (Brian Koziol, Arley Bell) inaugural BIPOC Leadership Institute (BLI) cohort,  where I’m a co-facilitator along with Ebony Walden, we had the privilege of walking the historic streets of Jackson Ward in Richmond, VA, with a remarkable group of housing leaders (Justin Ferguson), as Gary Flowers a fifth-generation Jackson Ward resident shared powerful stories of this community, known as one of the Black Wall Streets of the South, and highlighted stories of vision, determination and resilience from leaders such as: 🌟 Maggie L. Walker: The first African American woman to charter a bank, breaking barriers and inspiring us to think beyond limitations. 🌟 William "Bojangles" Robinson: A philanthropist and entertainer who invested in the safety, education, and future of Black children, teaching us persistence in the face of challenges. 🌟 John Mitchell Jr.: The iconic editor of the Richmond Planet, using his words to inspire and influence the community towards advocacy and change. Their stories inspire and remind us of storytelling's profound impact on innovation. How can we use storytelling to inspire new ideas and grow as leaders?  Here are three ways in which I believe stories can influence innovation: 🚀 Inspiring Vision: Stories help us dream big and think creatively. 🚀 Learning from Challenges: Narratives of perseverance teach us resilience about overcoming challenges we will encounter. 🚀 Building Empathy: Shared experiences foster connection and collaboration. 🔗 Check out the full article, "A Lesson from Jackson Ward: How Our Stories Can Inspire Innovation", on Jordansydnor.com to explore how we can use storytelling to innovate and grow as leaders. Let's transform our communities by embracing the lessons from Jackson Ward. What stories from your past inspire your innovative thinking? Share in the comments below! 👇🏾 #Innovation #Leadership #Storytelling #JacksonWard #Inspiration #Community

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Capacity-building grants are key to helping nonprofits scale their community impact. Yet, when grants rely too heavily on metrics, they can overlook real community needs—creating a mismatch between funders and grantees, especially for Black and Indigenous-led organizations. This blog post from Exponent Philanthropy's Hannah Smith—Manager, Editorial and Publications—underscores the importance of making capacity-building grants more flexible, particularly for organizations led by Black and Indigenous people. At Foundant, we’re grateful to see these crucial discussions becoming more commonplace and encourage even more dialogue around equitable philanthropy in the future. Learn more at: https://okt.to/cEsTr5 #capacitybuilding #foundantforphilanthropy #capacitybuildinggrants

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Join me, MOFP Executive Director Kate MacKenzie & fantastic pioneers on food, climate, and regional policy for a live event during #ClimateWeekNYC We'll talk about how cities are utilizing their purchasing power to align with climate and sustainability goals and the importance of regional colaboration. Three panels with government officials, development organizations, advocates, and researchers doing pioneering work. Sign up now: https://lnkd.in/gZJn8sie Date: September 24, 2024 Sessions: ⭕ “Think Locally, Act Regionally”: NYC’s Regional Approach to Local Food Policy This panel will spotlight how New York City and State are strategically collaborating with regional partners to support a sustainable, healthful, and resilient food system. Moderator: Michael Hurwitz, CFP Project Speakers: Michelle Hinchey, NY State Senate, Kate MacKenzie, NYC Mayor’s Office of Food Policy, Rohit Aggarwala (NYC Dept of Environmental Protection and NYC's Chief Climate Officer), @LaurenWilliams, NYS Dept of Agriculture and Markets ⭕ “The Research-Policy Integration / Feedback Loop” The goals of this session are to: 1) Understand ways in which researchers and decision makers can work together more effectively; 2) Improve coordination across researchers and disciplines to support NYC’s food policy-making; and 3) Discuss what we know about the ability of food policies to meet NYC’s climate goals and where gaps remain. Moderator: Milagros de Hoz, NYC Mayor’s office Speakers: Becca Jablonski, Cornell University, Jessica Fanzo, Columbia University’s Climate School, Craig Willingham, City University of New York, Elsie Moore, Cornell University ⭕ Understanding the Role of City Food Policy at a Global Level How can lessons from regional success be translated across continents? What are unique assets in different parts of the world that can inform and benefit other cities and regions? While every region has different priorities, this panel will bring together learnings, challenges, and principles for success from representatives across Africa, the United States, Europe, and Latin America. Keynote speaker and moderator: Corinna Hawkes, FAO Speakers: Leticia Campos Bardi, State of Bahia, Brazil, Betina Bergmann Madsen Madsen, City of Copenhagen, Denmark, Luana F. Joppert Swensson Swensson FAO, Wawira Njiru, Food4Education Co-hosted by The City Food Policy Project, The Rockefeller Foundation Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research, NYC Office of the Mayor RTI International Colorado State University, Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming, and Cornell Dyson School of Applied Economics & Management.

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ReD Perspective // The case for equitable philanthropy While plenty of philanthropic foundations are aware of the call for more equitable philanthropy, many of them don’t exactly know what to do about it – they lack a toolbox. In their piece "On the Journey to Equitable Philanthropy" in Alliance magazine, ReD's Charlotte Vangsgaard and Ujjwal Gupta take a nuanced look at some of the barriers to equitable philanthropy – in terms of philanthropic identity, purpose, risk, outcomes, and operating models – to foster a more open discussion about solving these long term. "There are no market incentives for building a practical roadmap to this change," they write. "Philanthropists have to fund and deploy it, and those who do will emerge as the philanthropic role models of tomorrow. Those who don’t, risk their goodwill, a public backlash, and at worst, perpetuating, not solving, inequities." Read the full article below at Alliance magazine. #strategy #philanthropy https://lnkd.in/e-kr_FpU

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Enjoyed speaking with Rich Frazier, CFRE in a recent episode of the NPFX: The Nonprofit Fundraising Exchange podcast on how to engage millennials and Gen Z in causes. We covered a lot, including: - Understanding the value propositions that different generations bring to nonprofit organizations. - How nonprofits can clearly articulate their goals and the role of millennials and Gen Z in achieving those goals. - The importance of creating achievable milestones that millennials and Gen Z can rally around. - The types of causes that millennials and Gen Z are most attracted to. - Common mistakes like focusing on delivery mechanisms or creating millennial initiatives as a last resort when other strategies have failed. ...and even more. Listen here: https://lnkd.in/gc8mxUdb

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In this article on Devex, CAPS Co-founder and Chief Executive Dr. Ruth Shapiro highlights the importance of #collaboration within the evergrowing Asian philanthropic sector, also a key goal of the newly established Commission on Asian Philanthropy.     CAPS’ latest report, DECODED: Collaborative Giving in Asia, confirms this need, showing that existing collaborative models in the region are relatively sparse and those that do primarily address local issues. Read the full report for further insights: https://lnkd.in/gq5tjn6H

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Despite the fact that collaborative funds are being talked about as the next big thing in philanthropy, there's still a lot we don't know about their value-add to philanthropy. Often the discussion centers on how they enhance the experience and impact of donors. This new piece from Jennifer Stout draws attention to the importance of examining the experiences of grantees who receive funding from collaborative funds, as compared to their experiences with "direct funders". For The Freedom Fund, our understanding of how grantee partners perceive us largely comes from continuously seeking feedback (more on that here: https://lnkd.in/eEa6u7F6). We also see a big part of our role as identifying and building relationships with groups who have tremendous potential for deep, sustainable impact but who more traditional funders might overlook. As Jen says, we need more research across the field to draw broader conclusions and make the case for why collaborative funds, when structured appropriately, can fill gaps and do things differently.

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Surgeon General Vivek Murthy talks about the need for a "whole-of-society approach" to advancing social connection. We've tried to heed that call in our work at Einhorn Collaborative, supporting a broader range of efforts that engage actors across sectors. That includes: Projects like Team Up to enlist large national civic organizations with a presence in local communities to help people build connection across difference through service. Research groups like Building H to measure the impact of products on consumers’ health and urge companies to do better to improve social connection and other health outcomes. Initiatives like Human Connections AI to bring together social connection experts with technologists to puzzle through how AI companions can be designed to enhance and not degrade human relationships. Another project that has helped us explore a facet of the whole-of-society approach is the Connective Tissue Framework, which puts forward a range of recommendations for how government – especially at the local level – can create the structural conditions and everyday opportunities for people to experience healthy connection. I've learned a lot from Sam Pressler, lead author of Connective Tissue. In this piece, I asked Sam to share more about the story behind the framework and a few highlights. https://lnkd.in/esayJU3b

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It’s been such a privilege to help research, design, and release the latest report from Alliance for Entrepreneurial Equity: The State of Black Business. This is a foundational report for our joint initiative between Third Way & National Urban League. We dove into publicly-available data from the Federal Reserve, US Census Bureau, and other various sources to focus on Black-owned employer businesses with at least two employees. And we took an expansive look at their attributes, performance, and challenges. The State of Black Business uncovers a dozen insights that illustrate significant disparities in access to capital, market opportunities, and resources. For example, we found that Black-owned businesses are: * Growing…Slowly: Seeing year-over-year growth but are still drastically underrepresented. * Small: 97% have less than 20 employees, and 3-in-4 have fewer than five employees. *Young: Likely to have been in existence under two years. *Flying under $100k: Taking in less revenue than other businesses. *Often Shut Out of Financing: Far more likely to experience pervasive barriers to accessing capital. *Infrequent Contract Recipients: Inadequately represented among government contract awardees. Report can be found here: https://lnkd.in/e588SMwS It’s been wonderful working with Imani Augustus Rachel Evans Madeline Burke Stephanie DeVane Tara Murray Dennis G. Serrette on this vital research.

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We can't say enough how important democracy work is to climate progress. In a piece for Inside Philanthropy this week, foundation leaders Cathy Cha and Ralph Lewin remind us that "the strength of democracy — whether at the local, state or national level — has huge impacts on the ability of all funders and our nonprofit partners to deliver results on any issue and for any community." We see the impact of lack of representation across the South, from city councils and state regulatory agencies that greenlight polluting industry at the expense of residents' health, to a rash of state-level voter suppression and anti-protest laws that make it ever harder for Black, Brown, and Indigenous people to be heard. Supporting fair elections, accessible public processes, and engaged and energized voters needs to be all of our business. https://lnkd.in/g-vPep6r

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Stop Trying to Wow Donors Into Philanthropic Submission: Increasingly, donors are asking for more “how” and less “wow” in concept papers, proposals and cases for support. In particular, they are asking how your organization proposes to: Tighten its focus to ensure greater mission realization Convert private support into significant, sustainable societal outcomes Relate the dollar amounts requested to specific outcomes Evaluate and report on the progress being made on projects they have funded Adjust and adapt to current and emerging societal trends Successful fundraising, in light of these expectations, must be: Less mass-marketed, more micro-targeted Lower in gloss, higher in content Less dependent on adverbs, more reliant on action items Less about telling, more about resonance Adhering to these new realities will make for more responsive and relevant organizations, not just improved fundraising results. Indeed, being more responsive and striving for greater relevance will be essential to sustaining and securing organizations' “market share” of private support in a declining philanthropic market. 

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This one's for my non-profit and mission-driven biz friends. 🌟 Ready to shake up your strategic planning? 🌟 Jen Self, phd licsw, Queer JEDI, Desiree’ Wilkins Finch, MA are launching our equity-centerd, cohort-based strategic planning program this fall. Strategic planning is often unwieldy, overwhelming, and frankly...not that fun. Our cohort-based model is designed for up to 10 organizations to embark on this journey together. Led by our expert team, you’ll create your organization’s equity-centered strategic plan in parallel with your peers in the cohort, with lots of community-based learning and support along the way. We have a few spots left, and we're wrapping up enrollment in the next week, so if you're interested...let's talk! I'll drop a link to more info in the comments; DM me if you want to chat!

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Nonprofit friends - Ever observed that we tend to collect data about communities, but how often do they share ownership of it with communities? We often hear that "data is power", but here is an uncomfortable truth I have learned from my data collection work: much of the data collected in the nonprofit sector doesn't belong to the people it's about. It sits in CRMs and spreadsheets, rarely returning to the individuals or communities who provided it. So, the question remains for collective consideration – what would it take to position data as a shared resource—something that communities can access, interpret, and use to advocate for themselves? Here are some questions to reflect on: ● Who decides how the data is collected, stored, and shared? Does the community benefit directly from the insights, or is the value extracted and used elsewhere? ● Are we unintentionally replicating extractive models under the guise of "helping"? ● True equity means communities have a voice in the process and power in the outcomes. Let us challenge the assumptions around owning community data. Because in that challenge lies an opportunity to reimagine the power imbalances. #nonprofits #nonprofitleadership #community

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A must-read post by my colleague Kevin Bolduc! "But as a sector we really need to avoid the continual temptation to assume that we’ve found a transformative new philanthropic approach, or even that there is a single one out there to find. That’s particularly true when that assumption becomes a distraction to the very hard work of understanding the performance of organizations using various approaches — new and old — and improving their implementation! I’ve been around philanthropy long enough to have seen the “next great approach” emerge again and again. Think back to venture philanthropy, social impact investing, collective impact, giving while living, and, more recently, trust-based philanthropy. Each, at moments, has been touted as the “new” approach that could be used by every funder to increase their impact. Even though I think each did bring something fundamentally important to philanthropy, more nuance is required: these are tools that work better and worse depending on the goals and the context of change you’re after."

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