High-Impact Grantmaking Journey: Investing in Economic Mobility
A behind-the-scenes look at our decision-making process to combat intergenerational poverty
Last year, Greater Houston Community Foundation (Foundation) announced its newest initiative, High-Impact Grantmaking, an inclusive and innovative effort to tackle our region’s most pressing challenges through the power of collaborative grantmaking and strategic partnerships.
This initiative is one pillar of our Community Impact Fund, which drives philanthropic impact in Houston through its three pillars: Understanding Houston, Greater Houston Disaster Alliance, and High-Impact Grantmaking.
The Foundation’s Governing Board selected economic mobility as the first focus area for High-Impact Grantmaking in November 2023. This selection was the culmination of a year-long learning journey for the Foundation, framed through a positive lens of possibility and grounded in five guiding principles:
The goal of our High-Impact Grantmaking initiative is to make meaningful, long-term investments into proven and promising approaches that are changing the trajectory of individuals and families living in poverty. Advancing economic mobility creates opportunities for every person in our region to succeed.
Thanks to our Understanding Houston initiative, we had compelling data to support our issue area selection. We first looked at quality-of-life indicators where outcomes in Harris County had stagnated or worsened, identifying 24 potential issue areas for focus. We then worked with our data partner, Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University, to evaluate recent trends, and we conducted additional engagement sessions. This process enabled us to refine our focus and ultimately identify seven issue areas by the end of 2022.
In 2023, our main challenge was to select one issue area by year-end. To achieve this, we devised a comprehensive plan centered around engaging with stakeholders from diverse sectors throughout the year, fostering extensive learning and collaboration. At the outset, this included strategic guidance from the Governing Board, which developed five criteria to evaluate issue areas and opportunities.
It was — and continues to be — important for the Foundation to recognize that incredible work has already been underway in our communities to address this issue. Our goal is to learn from individuals with personal and professional experience alike to learn about community-driven approaches from those who have been impacted and are working to make a difference.
The highlight of this learning was our Appreciative Inquiry process, a collaborative, strengths-based approach that framed interviews through a positive lens that allowed us to create a hopeful vision of our community’s future. More than 100 community leaders shared what they love about Houston, their vision for our region’s future, potential barriers to achieving that vision, and the strengths of our community that could help us overcome these challenges. We were so deeply inspired by what we heard — and thought others would be too! — so we synthesized the responses in a report called Appreciation for Houston.
Through this uplifting process and by delving deeper with resident and nonprofit professionals through focus groups, we overwhelmingly heard that advancing economic mobility is a defining challenge for our region. There was a clear acknowledgment that this issue is fundamental and intersects with multiple outcomes including housing affordability and security, health outcomes, educational attainment, and more. We heard about the opportunity for the Foundation to facilitate strategic philanthropy and collaboration to advance more comprehensive solutions that better address this complex challenge.
Selecting the issue area of economic mobility was only the beginning. By the end of 2024, we will make an investment of $500,000 in one to three of the most promising solutions that have the highest potential to improve the lives of young people and families in Harris County.
This process will be led by a Community Grantmaking Committee. We put out the call for applications to join this committee in February and received nearly 100 applications! Through a rigorous review process, we have selected 13 community leaders to serve on this committee who will define the grant’s priorities, goals, and guidelines; review applications; and make final recommendations to the Foundation’s Governing Board which will make the final investment decisions.
We are dedicated to ongoing learning and to keeping you informed about our progress! Throughout our journey, we will share what we learn about potential models and approaches through a series of articles on Understanding Houston.
Together, we look forward to igniting positive change. We see our new initiative as creating valuable proof of concept that will continue to attract new resources and interest in the highest-potential solutions in Houston. We aim to serve as a catalyst and collaborative partner, deepening our impact through data, convening, and strategic partnership. In this way, we can be where high-impact philanthropy happens.
We need everyone, including you!
Four ways you can support our work are:
- Add your voice to this Call for Input as we continue to gather information to inform this initiative’s focus.
- Submit a Letter of Interest by April 7 or share the opportunity to do so with a nonprofit you know that is doing promising work to advance economic mobility.
- Sign up for our new Insider Update newsletter. This quarterly publication will keep you informed about our progress on this initiative, along with updates on our other two community impact pillars: Understanding Houston and Greater Houston Disaster Alliance.
- Consider making a gift to our Community Impact Fund to sustain this important work. Contact Tyler Murphy, Senior Advisor of Charitable Solutions, to learn more.
The High-Impact Grantmaking Initiative, a pillar of the Community Impact Fund at Greater Houston Community Foundation, is a transformational effort to address economic mobility challenges and opportunities impacting our neighbors. What sets this initiative apart is its inclusive and appreciative development process, ensuring transparency and community-driven leadership in both application and selection processes. Contact us to support our community impact efforts!
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