The Forum's more than 90 members are regional and national philanthropy-serving organizations (PSOs) that work to strengthen, lead, inform, mobilize and support the philanthropy sector. Our members are membership associations, networks and other types of organizations that focus on a specific geographic region, funding issue(s), population group, philanthropic practice, and/or type of funder. Our members represent more than 7,000 primarily philanthropic organizations, making the Forum the largest network serving philanthropy in America.
Our members are a part of what is sometimes called the "philanthropy infrastructure." A civil society needs infrastructure to ensure that nonprofits and foundations can act with integrity and impact. Forum members run the training programs that support the professional development of philanthropy staff. They do the research to help philanthropy understand what works, and what doesn’t. They build the technology platforms that make communication and learning possible. They hold the conferences and convenings that gather philanthropy leaders together and provide them the resources, shared learning and connections to improve their work. They advocate for new levels of excellence to push us all to do better — and for policies that create the legal environment in which we work. In short, they make philanthropy more effective in its quest to make the world better.
The third in a series of reports about opportunities for philanthropy to improve the lives of underserved communities in the South, this report finds that between 2010 and 2014 foundation funding for communities in eastern North Carolina and southern Louisiana neither helped meet the region's environmental challenges nor capitalized on opportunities to support grassroots organizations working to effect long-term structural change. Only 26 percent of the grant dollars allocated to eastern North Carolina and 43 percent in southern Louisiana benefited marginalized communities, while only 4 percent of foundation funding allocated to eastern North Carolina and 8 percent to southern Louisiana supported systemic change strategies such as community organizing, advocacy, or policy change efforts.