My path to philanthropy leads through the Appalachian mountains, where I grew up surrounded by a strong-knit yet financially impoverished community. Although my hometown is full of good people, it is a place that lacks economic opportunity.

My mother, a first-grade teacher, always knew when a child was lacking a warm coat or when a struggling family needed groceries. What I was most struck by was not her generosity, but the way in which she gave quietly and carefully — always ensuring whoever was on the receiving end maintained their dignity, a critical commodity in a small town of folks who prided themselves on their self-sufficiency. Thanks to her example, I have always viewed giving as an act of “loving our neighbor as ourselves.”

Bucking Tradition

When my husband and I decided to start The Monarch Foundation, this was our guiding principle; along with a commitment to live our values in our giving. And that meant doing things a lot differently than traditional philanthropy, which for too long has been dominated by a paternalistic — and quite frankly, demeaning — approach to interacting with both grantees and the recipients of direct service.

Our biggest investment embodies trust and dignity at every step. With an ambitious goal of ending childhood poverty in our home of New York City, we launched The Bridge Project in 2021. The program is an investment in our most vulnerable residents — babies living in poverty. By giving their mothers up to $1,000 a month for the first three years of their lives, we are setting these children up for a lifetime of success.

As extensive research has shown, these formative years heavily influence a child’s future prospects in everything from earning potential to healthy relationships. Rather than trying to undo the damage growing up in poverty wreaks on adults, our goal is to prevent it in the first place. Just as no one told me how I should spend my money on my own children, we do not dictate how mothers in the program use their funds. We know that they are the experts in their babies’ lives, and that no funder or researcher is better suited than they are to knowing what their child needs on a daily basis. For some mothers, it’s paying for childcare so they can return to work. For others, it’s the opposite — the money allows them to be with their babies and still cover bills while they take time away from jobs that don’t offer maternity leave.

Trust in Practice

There are no hoops for mothers to jump through to receive the money, and no restrictions on how it can be spent. Mothers have told us that, aside from the financial breathing room it’s given them, it’s also helped build their confidence to know that they are trusted and in control. As mother of two Christina said: “I don’t feel depressed anymore because I think at one point, I felt like I was failing. I didn’t even want to be a mother at one point because I felt like – how can I do this? How can I be a mom when I can’t even get them what they need or what they want? That was tough, and now I feel like I can do it. I’m here.”

Read the full article about getting rid of red tape by Holly Fogle at The Center for Effective Philanthropy.