Northern California Grantmakers

Carmen and Alcario Castellano

Last week NCG’s Family Philanthropy Exchange (FPE) brought members together for an intimate conversation with Carmen Castellano of the Castellano Family Foundation, one of the few Latino family foundations in the country.

Carmen’s talk was filled with inspiring stories about her family and community: both her parents were successful entrepreneurs; how her multicultural neighborhood shaped her view of community; and how even before her husband bought a winning California Lotto ticket in 2001 they were deeply committed to community life in San Jose.

Making A List

Carmen’s husband Alcario couldn’t believe it at first when he compared his Lotto ticket to the winning numbers printed in the newspaper. When he finally awoke his wife to confirm that he wasn’t dreaming, that they had indeed won the largest single payout in the history of the state, Carmen recalls immediately finding a pad of paper and a pen: her first impulse was to write a list of all the organizations they were going to give money to.

There was never any doubt in their minds that they wouldn’t give money to their community and six months after winning the Lotto, the family established the Castellano Family Foundation to support Latino arts, culture and leadership.

A Family Affair

Before the foundation was officially established, all of their children returned home for a family meeting of the minds. Carmen, Alcario and their children all came to an agreement on the foundation’s mission and purpose.

Even though the entire family came to a consensus about the foundation’s establishment, Carmen and Alcario, as the foundation’s only trustees, have had sole responsibility for making the organization’s grantmaking decisions. Now the family is planning to map out a transition that will bring their children into the foundation’s work and decision making process.

A Call For More Diversity

Carmen told us that she and her husband are often the only Latinos in the room when they go to conferences for family foundations. They don’t mind that often they find themselves taking up the cause to raise awareness about diversity in philanthropy and the need to support communities of color.

In researching the philanthropic field, Carmen began to feel that not enough philanthropic dollars were being allocated to communities of color. The Castellano Family Foundation’s focus on Latino arts, culture and leadership is an intentional move to address that deficit.

The foundation’s commitment to supporting diversity doesn’t stop at their grantmaking focus. Carmen explained they also encourage the nonprofits they support to diversify their boards and staff so that they have the cultural competency to work with the diverse communities they serve. She encouraged us all that night to consider using this type of approach to help increase diversity in the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors.

An Intimate Exchange

The evening ended with a Q&A session facilitated by FPE Co-Chair Lisa Parker of The Lawrence Welk Family Foundation and a reception that allowed attendees and NCG staff to connect with one another and with Carmen over hors d’oeuvres.

Connecting members with one another and providing a space for family grantmakers to explore themes that affect their practice is at the heart of NCG’s work with the Family Philanthropy Exchange. The Stories That Inspire series is just one of the ways NCG brings family grantmakers together. Learn more about NCG’s Family Philanthropy Exchange online.

Anniversaries are a time for celebration and a time for reflection. As NCG celebrates its 30th anniversary since its incorporation in 1981 we wanted to properly celebrate the organization’s accomplishments its history, and the people involved in creating the organization. But we also want to take this opportunity to look ahead, to shape what we will become moving forward.

Organizational history is a funny thing. It’s usually passed down through documents, and through the stories staff members pass along to one another. However, considering that the staff with the longest tenure has been at NCG for about seven years, there’s a considerable timeline of history to account for. And it’s important to remember that a membership organization’s history also encompasses the history of its members as well.

To begin to piece together an NCG historical timeline we’ve been digging through archive files and interviewing founding members about NCG’s formative years and accomplishments. To date we’ve interviewed three individuals: former NCG Executive Director Caroline Tower; former Rosenberg Foundation President, and longtime NCG committee member, Kirke Wilson; and The Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation President, and longtime NCG supporter, Tom Layton.

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same

A picture is emerging. Not just of NCG, but of the field and how both have evolved over the years.

NCG began as an informal gathering of foundation executives. In the mid-70s most foundations were minimally staffed: an Executive Director and support staff. “There were no Bay Area Program Officers before 1970,” explained Kirke Wilson. So Executive Directors had to be generalists, they had to do a little of everything in order to run their foundations. And the lunch meetings, called “The Lunch Bunch,” provided an opportunity to learn, collaborate and connect with peers.

Foundation staff size has grown over the years, as have the size and number of foundations. And as the field grows, it evolves. “Over the last thirty years the field has segmented itself,” explains Caroline Tower. Now there are more specialized areas of interests and program departments within foundations that are devoted to those funding areas. And now there are Program Officers and Program Assistants on staff, many have advanced degrees and are specialists in their respective issue areas or have participated in programs focused on the field of philanthropy. This professionalization has led to an increase in the level of expertise within each field of interest (the arts, healthcare, education, poverty, etc.), but it presents a challenge: how do we bring the field together as a whole?

Despite the increase in specialization within foundations and their staff, there are still issues that continue to resonate with members. Take the Emergency Loan Fund (ELF) which pre-dates the incorporation of NCG.

The ELF was established in 1973 by members responding to legislation proposing funding cuts to social programs. When the cuts didn’t happen as expected members found themselves with a pool of money which they began to award as bridge loans to nonprofits with cash flow needs. Today 23% of NCG’s members contribute to the ELF and the fund’s steering committee meets regularly to review loan applications, and continues to respond to economic trends that have potential negative effects on the stability of the region’s communities.

The ELF is a wonderful example of an initiative that has been a part of NCG’s work since the beginning of our organization. But then there are the initiatives or projects that resurface after a latent period, after both staff and members have “forgotten” about them.

Take NCG’s Communications work, a project staff has labored on for a few years to outline how NCG and members will reach out to policymakers and external audiences to inform them about the impact of philanthropy. You can imagine my own surprise when I found a typed document from the early 80s describing NCG’s plan to reach to state legislatures, including a media kit.

And then there’s the Diversity work that early NCG staff and members worked on. “There were not that many women in the field,” Tom Layton told us. To increase gender and racial diversity NCG collaborated with other regional associations to develop a toolkit and partnered with local ethnic affinity groups to produce educational programs for members.

Can you guess where this is going? That’s right, the Diversity dialogue resurged in 2007 when NCG launched our Diversity in Philanthropy Initiative in partnership with Southern California Grantmakers (SCG) and San Diego Grantmakers (SDG).

The old adage is right: the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Rediscover NCG

At this year’s Annual Meeting NCG will celebrate not only the organization’s many accomplishments over the years, we’ll also celebrate who our members were and are today.

Sifting through typed letters in the archive files I found a surprising amount of humor, which, considering the informal roots of the organization, makes sense. The early Holiday Party included the distribution of an NCG Song Book and members even would write new song lyrics, trying to incorporate the theme of Philanthropy. While interviewing founding members we learned more about this tongue-in-cheek side of NCG. Did you know there was an NCG Follies? And we’ve also heard about the Fashion show and the Talent show members used to put on-we’re hoping to dig up a video!

We invite you to come rediscover NCG at the Annual Meeting. Come take a look at the past thirty years because, after all, the history and heritage of this organization belongs to our members.