Fay Twersky, vice president at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, recently launched The Listening Post, a monthly note dedicated to lifting up exceptional ideas, voices, and questions that can help all of us become more effective in our philanthropy. She’ll also share what the team at Hewlett is learning alongside its grantees.

An excerpt from the March edition is below:

At their best, community foundations are powerful agents of change. Here’s why:

Sustained responsiveness to disasters. Community foundations are well-positioned to respond to community needs and take on unexpected challenges, stepping up to fill in gaps in information and funding to the local organizations providing essential services. Last month, the SVCF created a COVID-19 response fund and has been leading an effort with other Bay Area philanthropic partners on a regional response to the evolving public health crisis.

Capacity to advocate for community-friendly policy. Community foundations can aptly address local problems because, unlike private foundations, they are able under federal law to directly lobby state and local legislators, critical for tackling community issues like housing, transportation, and education.

Ongoing listening to community members—even youngsters. Community foundations are stepping up to embrace the practice of listening to local residents to improve the effectiveness of their giving. That’s on display in the education field, one of the most significant and enduring areas of giving for funders of all sizes, with a history of mixed success.

Leadership on the big, local issues. That brings me back to the Hewlett Foundation's grant to an exemplary community foundation, the San Francisco Foundation. Under the leadership of Fred Blackwell and Judith Bell, the SFF has made local housing and equitable access to opportunity the cornerstone of their work, and they are marshaling advocates, developers, governmental leaders, and other funders to work in a unified effort. Because of the SFF’s leadership, deft community listening, housing expertise and commitment to solving the most pressing problem in the Bay Area, the Hewlett Foundation decided to grant the SFF $7.5 million in general operating support. We knew that amount alone wouldn’t solve the problem, and we knew the SFF had a running start. So, instead of building our own team, we decided to bet on theirs.

Read the full Listening Post by Fay Twersky. Subscribe to the mailing here.