Q3 Impact Summary
A note from our Executive Director
As we reflect on the third quarter of this year, we are happy to share the progress we’ve made in advancing our mission of generating resources for the field to support philanthropic entities in using their resources effectively. This quarter has been a period of significant growth and impact, as we have expanded our reach, deepened our partnerships, and continued to serve the entities who rely on us for services and support.
We believe that transparency and accountability are critical to our ongoing success, and we are committed to sharing both our achievements and the lessons we’ve learned along the way.
As the end of the year approaches, let’s keep our enthusiasm to strengthen the philanthropic sector and crush the last quarter of the year together. See you at our annual convening!
Sincerely,
Glenisse Pagán Ortiz
Serving
Building Relationships
During our September’s members brunch, we began strategizing ahead of our Annual Convening and prepared for conversations with governor candidates during the event. Additionally, we discussed how the philanthropic sector has been very active in anticipation of any climatic crisis. As part of our relationship building events, members shared tendencies regarding the fiscal sponsorship model and discussed investing in reserve funds. Many of our members have implemented reserve fund grantmaking as a response to the potential impact of climate catastrophe during hurricane season. Some of our members that have begun taking this initiative include Hispanic Federation, Fundación Flamboyán, Fundación Mujeres and Peter Alfond Foundation. We are working on developing a list of the organizations that have received reserve funds to get a better sense of what organizations would need support more urgently during an emergency.
Finally, we are delighted to welcome two new members to our collective this quarter: The María Fund and The Annie E. Casey Foundation. Please join us in welcoming them to our Filantropía Puerto Rico community!
Collective Capacity
We offered the workshop Inteligencia Artificial en Acción: Mejores Prácticas para tu Organización during the month of August. The workshop was a space to identify opportunities and applications of AI in the social sector. Participants shared perspectives and experiences and discussed the challenges presented when using AI. Although AI is a powerful tool, it was clear that human intervention remains essential to maximize its positive impact. Some of the topics discussed in the workshop included impact on the mission, critical tasks you should never delegate to AI, and how to create effective and responsible prompts, among others.
During the month of September, we offered a workshop focused on providing grantmakers with a clear understanding and specific tools to support fiscally sponsored projects. This training was possible thanks to the support of HASER and the guides for fiscal sponsorship they created in part with our support. The training included an overview of how grantmakers should support fiscally sponsored projects, what to consider when doing so, and the in-and-outs of their role when supporting fiscally sponsored projects. We were overwhelmed by our members’ interest in this topic and eagerness to continue expanding their philanthropic practices to support the sector equitably. If you haven’t explored it yet, we also published a toolkit for grantmakers who want to learn more about how to responsibly support fiscally sponsored projects.
Building Strategies
In addition to our collective spaces for strategy such as our August and September Action Dialogues, we were also able to finish defining our Agenda for our Annual Convening. During the first day, we have confirmed speakers that will discuss different ways of how to do philanthropy through the explorations of diverse and innovative practices. During the second day, our speakers will be sharing what they do to build equity and what specific initiatives they lead in the philanthropic sector. Finally, on the third day of our convening, we have secured spots to speak with all governor candidates.
Transparency
We continue to build tools that can increase transparency and strengthen the social sector. As part of this effort, we launched our first Job Board during this quarter. The Job Board for the Social Sector is a self-managed platform that facilitates the posting of job openings and the promotion of your organization’s career opportunities. You can attract competitive and passionate candidates seeking a professional future in the social sector by sharing your posting on this platform. Some of the key valuable features this tool offers include increased job visibility and reach, an insightful view of the sector’s strength and its impact on the economy, and a centralized platform to showcase the sector’s robust career opportunities. In just two months since its initial launch, the Job Board has received 1,100 visits and 45 jobs have been published by 15 non-profit organizations, 38 of which were full time jobs. This job board brings visibility to our sector’s strength and its impact on Puerto Rico’s economy.
Expanding
Raising Awereness
We had several important things happening under our goal to raise awareness this past quarter. We launched our Data Facts for Systemic Change Tool, a list of data facts collected from multiple government entities, data and research generated by the social sector, and other reliable sources. The newly created page outlines crucial data showing the urgent need to invest in a cross-sectorial way in Puerto Rico. We aim for this data to serve as a snapshot of Puerto Rico’s current social landscape and ignite discussions that can lead to strategic solutions. The tool has had 340 visits since its launch about a month ago. Make sure to explore our tool and keep in mind in the development of your next strategy.
Our podcast continues to be one of our main tools to collect and disseminate the strategies that keep the social sector evolving and growing in Puerto Rico. This past quarter we had two exciting episodes focused on how to keep building an equitable future for Puerto Rico:
Tejiendo redes de liderazgo juvenil en Puerto Rico y más allá
ADELANTE Puerto Rico: Siete años de impacto visionario
Dejando una huella positiva en la salud de Puerto Rico
Finally, our Operations Manager Virginia Quiñones attended the United Philanthropy Forum as a recipient of the Emerging Leaders Scholarship. During her experience, she was able to represent Filantropia Puerto Rico at one of the most important philanthropic events in the United States and learn from diverse philanthropy workers.
Attracting Resources
We continue to build equity in philanthropy through our initiatives that allow us to support the most pressing on-the-ground needs. This quarter we had our second to last cohort meeting for Robusteciendo la Justicia Social. During this meeting, participants were able to analyze the development of their organizations up to date, explore how they generate impact, identify the resources they use to advance equity and systemic change, and recognize the strategic alliances that need to be strengthened. We also had field visits with multiple members of the community of practice such as Sembrando Sentido, Liga de Ciudades, and Fideicomiso del Caño Martín Peña, among others. These spaces allowed us to deep dive into the impact that having this community of practice and multiannual funding has had on these organizations.
Finally, our Fondo Adelante Puerto Rico rounded up to its seventh year this year. To celebrate the occasion, we have published a deep reflection of the accomplishments and lessons learned throughout the year in our report Grounded in Shifting Realities to Move Forward: Seven Years of Collaborative Grantmaking through Adelante Puerto Rico. After raising 9 million dollars and fine tuning our listening practices, we are now ready to bring this initiative a step further. To this end, we received a grant of $50,000 from Global Giving that will allow us to unite funders and nonprofits in co-designing guidelines, engagement practices, financial instruments and fiscal health tools based on local and community contexts. Additionally, this will allow the FORWARD Puerto Rico Fund to adopt and implement community-led designed financial instruments.
