What does a foundation do when environmental issues are posing an immediate health threat to the community, and the 150 nonprofits that are there to help are not connected?
The Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo (CFGB) is using information as a field-building tool for the Western New York environmental movement. With a “high touch and high tech” approach, the foundation has taken a leadership role in facilitating collaboration among 150 nonprofit organizations and a host of other community actors. Sharing information both online and offline has been critical to CFGB’s impact in the community. As the foundation’s CEO, Clotilde Perez-Bode Dedecker explains, “Community foundations used to be about connecting donors to needs. But today, with information technology, you can broaden that audience and increase scope and scale of impact. Community change work has taken us from arms-length experience of writing a check to a hands-on engagement for shaping the future of our communities, in partnership with our communities.” Inside the foundation, information has become a new way of doing business as well, impacting cross-functional teams, relationships with grantees and communications with external stakeholders.
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