Having just marked the 3rd anniversary of the founding of this unique and personally rewarding organization, I find myself looking back with genuine appreciation, first and foremost, for the dozens of volunteer grant-makers (our “philanthropic advisors”) who have made this whole endeavor possible.
It was just months after we commenced operations in late 2016 that Marc Spencer—one of our first team members, and one of the Bay Area’s greatest change agents for inclusivity and diversity—told me, “Lionel, this is not just a uniquely designed organization you’ve created here; you’ve created a movement.”
Three years later, I’d have to say Marc may have been right. We have created a movement. A movement that took a private family foundation and turned it into an inclusive, diverse, quasi-community foundation, empowering everyday people with the transformative ability to allocate funds in ways they could not have done otherwise.
Together we have brought the gift-of-giving to the people; people who gain more than most from being empowered with the ability to donate foundation assets to organizations they feel passion for, at their discretion. This imbues reward to the giver, and creates a ripple effect within the community, far beyond the EACH Foundation. Undergirding our pro bono giving philosophy, EACH developed a list of seven We Believes; a short description of what it means to be community asset allocators, these are our credos to give by:
We believe that a nonprofit is owned by everyone in the community.
We believe that diversity and inclusivity lead to the best path to philanthropic efficiency.
We believe that the best givers are those who don’t have a vested financial ability to give.
We believe that the gift of giving itself is motivation enough for an individual to give prudently.
We believe that it’s more efficient to find charities to give to rather than have them find us.
We believe that you “make a living by what you get, but you make a life by what you give.”
We believe that foundations should give away double the IRS minimum distribution rate of 5%, and that every family foundation should have a finite life.
This movement called “EACH” has truly become something more than just a nonprofit business concept with disruptive operational tenets. Part of our goal is to continue to build on this movement to the extent that other larger private family foundations, and some components of the community foundation model, adopt the attributes that make EACH uniquely successful in ways other typical grant-making foundations overlook.
We have fulfilled our task of efficiently and effectively through unique methods, proving that a new paradigm for private foundation giving is functionally feasible and better, as well.
We have just written our 1,000th grant check as of the writing of this letter, and we look forward to the next 1,000 checks, which we’ll write to effect change in the community in the years to come. We’ve also surpassed $4 million in total grants to over 600 unique nonprofit organizations, and the best is yet ahead of us.
Our success results from the support and passion of our 30 volunteer philanthropic advisors, everyday people who work tirelessly to find the best and most viable public nonprofits to give to. On behalf of the community, we thank you for your efforts.
Thank you for your time, for your interest in our unique nonprofit model, and for helping share the story of this alternative, more impactful way to give away assets held by private foundations, helping those who need it most...the givers and receivers both.
Best Regards,
Lionel Shaw
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