Foundation President and CEO Lisa Schroeder, center, joins donors on May 8, 2024 for a tour of the expanded and renovated Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank in Duquesne as part of the Foundation’s spring donor event.
Turning Trust into Support
Events, engagement bring donors to the issuesBuilding trust, explaining and demonstrating.
Foundation staff used those strategies to secure significant gifts over the past year for service organizations whose missions align with the goals of the Foundation’s strategic plan.
Two examples involve donors who choose to remain anonymous. In one case, the donor gave $500,000 to ACTION Housing after listening to a webinar titled “Homelessness in Pittsburgh” presented in March by Phil Koch, the Foundation’s vice president for Policy and Community.
“[Homelessness] is a topic near and dear to my heart, and I wanted to hear which direction [the Foundation] was taking it,” says the donor, who has experience in the housing and health care fields. “The webinar was good, and it made people like me think. It’s important to get people to understand it’s not an insurmountable problem.”
The other donor gave seven service organizations $100,000 each to support their work in areas prioritized by the Foundation, such as basic needs.
“These seven gifts last May were a result of regular, wonderful meetings over several years, where we’d talk about the Foundation, our strategic goals and the donor’s goals. Ultimately, we found ways of giving that aligned with their values,” says Lindsay Aroesty, the Foundation’s vice president for Development and Donor Services.
Leaders of the seven service organizations that each received $100,000 from an anonymous donor wrote letters to express their gratitude. The thank you notes share how the funds will be used.
These discussions with donors and events such as the webinar on homelessness build collaboration and trust among Foundation staff, donors and service organizations. The personal interactions promote giving that is more intentional and likely to be more effective.
The Foundation’s commitment to event programming began in 2000, grew with technology and changed with the needs of the region. Now the Foundation conducts about 50 events, webinars and giving circles annually.
Recent events have included:
- A spring donor appreciation activity at the recently expanded Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank in Duquesne, where guests toured the facility and learned how the need for food in the region has not subsided after the COVID-19 pandemic
- A lunch hosted by a partnership between the Foundation’s Young Professional Advisors Committee, the law firm Porter Wright and First National Bank during the Foundation’s annual Will Week. Fundholders and advisors listened to a prominent estate planning attorney explain proposed legislation that could affect their planned-giving strategies
- A webinar at which staff presented findings from public forums on gun violence that were sponsored over the past two years by the Foundation and two other organizations
“Our philosophy is to bring our donors to the places that do the best work for our community and to educate them on issues that affect our communities,” says Kelly Uranker, vice president, Center for Philanthropy. “These are hardworking organizations that make Pittsburgh better.”
For Aroesty, making these connections enriches a donor’s philanthropy and embeds them in places that underscore community needs.
“Donors come back from events and always say that they learned something new,” she says, “something about their community that they care about and actionable steps that they can take if they want to help solve the issues that are presented to them.”
Our philosophy is to bring our donors to the places that do the best work for our community and to educate them on issues that affect our communities.