Choosing a different path led to collaborative restructuring

"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it and I shall move the world." - Archimedes

In my role with The Patterson Foundation, I give presentations about collaboration opportunities to various civic, nonprofit and business groups. A colleague once shared that “if you’ve seen one foundation, you’ve seen one foundation”….implying that each foundation is unique. So, I routinely share an overview about TPF during my presentations.

The question that comes up most frequently is, “Who is TPF?”

While it's ever evolving, I think a blog on the topic is the best way to share!

Our region is blessed with philanthropic wealth. The Gulf Coast Community Foundation and the Community Foundation of Sarasota County are the largest and second largest foundations in Florida. Both are grant-making. Additionally, there are around 200 private foundations based in Sarasota.

With all of the access to grant-making and gifts, many assumed that TPF would follow their lead as grant-makers. But it chose a different path.

In January 2010, TPF shared that rather than making grants it would choose its initiatives. During that time, TPF chose to develop the Collaborative Restructuring Initiative, sharing that it would fund third-party facilitators (Charlotte, Desoto, Manatee and Sarasota counties) for organizations interested in working smarter/better. This space is all about leverage and collaboration and complements the good work being done by the community and private foundations.

TPF’s offices are filled with inspiring quotes and the one above is attributed to Archimedes (280-211 bc), the Greek mathematician and inventor. I think it speaks nicely to TPF’s space.

What do you think about the collaboration and leverage space?