Addressing Causes, Not Symptoms
The problems we face – homelessness, lack of access to healthcare and quality education and the threatened civil rights of immigrant communities – are deep-seated and complex. The solutions will not come from treating symptoms; we must use our grantmaking to address root causes.
At the heart of our work is a belief that all people deserve the opportunity to fulfill their potential, contribute to society and have their voices heard. Over more than a century of making grants, CCF has absorbed many hard lessons in our pursuit of impact. As our capacity has grown, we’ve learned to measure our progress over the longer term. For example, we have 10-year strategic planning horizons, make multi-year grant commitments to our partners, and we’ve expanded our work to include civic engagement and public policy.
CCF has honed our grantmaking to consist of four key components:
Community Engagement
Our grantees are partners on a journey. But before we try to go anywhere, CCF works within our communities and listens deeply. We’re passionate people who know Los Angeles and are experts in our fields.
Comprehensive Evaluation
We search for insight into critical attributes such as the role of the organization’s board, the position the nonprofit holds in its field and community, and the level of alignment between our own mission and the goals of the grant seeker.
Long-term Investment in a Mission
We invest in an organization’s long-term ability to contribute to positive systems change. Our grants often take the form of multi-year commitments. They are intended not only to enable day-to-day operations, but to help an organization build a sturdy foundation for their work that makes it possible for them to thrive permanently.
Convening
We look beyond individual nonprofits to the fields they operate in. We use the power of convening to help grantees create networks, and we fund collaborative work and support high quality research. We bring extensive subject matter and regional knowledge to the table, along with wide-ranging networks of influencers and change-makers.
Essentially, CCF seeks to partner with strong, sustainable organizations whose work is consistent with our programs and outcomes.
Do you have unanswered grantmaking questions? We’ve provided FAQs about our strategy and process.