Latest round of funding aims to serve as an
example of corporate philanthropy's opportunity to catalyze
innovation and scale successful solutions
CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 30, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- Truist Foundation today announced philanthropic
funding for 11 nonprofit organizations working to pilot emerging
solutions or scale existing successful initiatives into new
regions. This comes at a time where there is a gap in the ability
for many nonprofits to secure meaningful funding for growing and
scaling their work. According to a report from UHY Advisors, well
over half of the 116 nonprofits surveyed stated that their
organization had created new programs or services in the past year,
while nearly half of the organizations surveyed cited challenges
with growth and scaling solutions as a top concern.
"As a community-centered bank with roots in neighborhoods across
the country, we know that proximity to a community's challenges is
a leading indicator of whether or not the proposed solutions to
those challenges are relevant, effective and sustainable," said
Lynette Bell, president of Truist
Foundation. "Nonprofits often best understand the communities
they're operating in and corporate philanthropy has to be willing
to take a bet on a new idea or that an idea that works in one
community just might work in another. This is why Truist Foundation
is proud to have a grantmaking strategy that gives us the
flexibility to invest in what's possible."
Rooted in Truist Foundation's core focus areas, 11 nonprofits
are receiving more than $4 million in
grants for programs that aim to support small businesses and create
career pathways in underserved communities.
Truist Foundation funding will help the following
organizations launch pilot programs:
- Georgia Resilience and Opportunity Fund (Southeast) –
This grant will help launch the Opportunity Narrative and Culture
Portfolio, a series of initiatives focused on participant
storytelling and social media engagement as a means to drive
employment and financial wellbeing for residents in three
Georgia communities.
- Greater Washington Community Foundation (Mid-Atlantic) –
The grant funds will promote wealth-building and economic mobility
among the Black, Indigenous and People of Color ALICE population
(those who are Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed—meaning
they earn above the Federal Poverty Level, but not enough to afford
basic living necessities) in the Washington, D.C. region through both a career
accelerator and a financial well-being center.
- Project Equity (Southeast) – Funds will be used
to advance employee ownership as a pathway to strengthen small
businesses, build wealth for workers, and create more resilient
economies. The agency selected Atlanta, Birmingham and Miami as pilot cities for the initiative due
to their demographics and significant wealth gaps.
- Prosperity Now (National) – Grant funding will help
Prosperity Now equip community development financial institutions
(CDFIs) and entrepreneur-serving organizations with knowledge and
tools to access and effectively utilize government funding
available in "green economy" initiatives like clean energy,
affordable and sustainable housing, and training and workforce
development.
- Urban Manufacturing Alliance:
- Strengthening Small Manufacturing Businesses
(National) – With grant funds, UMA will partner
with community leaders and local lenders to improve connections
between small- and mid-sized manufacturers and the millions of
dollars of funding and technical assistance flowing through the
State Small Business Credit Initiative.
- Building Inclusive Ecosystems in the
South (South) – This grant enables UMA
to convene educational institutions, workforce
intermediaries, manufacturers, and other stakeholders in a
community of practice that will design, pilot, and scale strategies
that create more accessible pathways to good quality careers in
manufacturing, including for workers of color and
women.
-
Warrior-Scholar Project (National) –
With a goal of propelling enlisted veterans and service members
toward success in higher education and beyond, this grant will
allow Warrior-Scholar Project to more deeply engage
its alumni community and help enlisted veterans transition to their
next career through a custom professional development program in
addition to hiring a dedicated director of alumni
programs.
"With the Truist Foundation's support, Project Equity is
creating strong partnerships in the Southeast to raise awareness of
employee ownership as a new wealth building strategy for low-income
workers and economically disadvantaged communities," said
Evan Edwards, CEO of Project Equity.
"We are working to embed employee ownership in local ecosystems to
create thriving communities where workers have a meaningful stake
in the success their labor creates."
Truist Foundation funding will help the following
organizations scale promising existing programs:
- Centro Community Partners (National) –
Funding will allow Centro to build a regional headquarters focused
specifically on serving the Southeastern U.S. Through a combination
of remote and in-person engagements, Centro will offer culturally
and linguistically relevant support services for entrepreneurs,
capacity building for nonprofit organizations, and a series of
microloans and grants to low- to moderate-income small business
owners.
- Digitalundivided (National) – Funds are supporting
Digitalundivided's national business accelerator and incubator
programs, including BIG, which is designed to help founders who
have already begun to build their start-ups through the business
development process, and START, a five-week program that provides
innovators with a structured process to bring their business idea
to reality.
- LiftFund (Southeast) – A certified nonprofit CDFI,
LiftFund will use grant funds to expand its microlending services
to small businesses in Florida—particularly the Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando and Tampa markets. Most dollars will go toward
lending capital through a revolving loan fund, with smaller
portions allocated toward interest buydown and technical
assistance.
- Semper Fi & America's Fund
(National) – This grant will support entrepreneurship within
the nonprofit organization's Apprenticeship Program, which provides
transitioning service members and veterans with structured support
to explore and acquire new skills and to gain practical experience
in civilian occupations. Funding will specifically support veteran
apprentices who are focused on owning and operating their own small
businesses.
- Shaping Our Appalachian Region Inc.
(Appalachian) – This grant will help underemployed
Eastern Kentuckians find and obtain work after
graduating from Code Kentucky, a free online training
program reskilling and upskilling local
residents in order to assist them in securing high-quality, remote
jobs.
"LiftFund is grateful for our longstanding partnership with
Truist Foundation," LiftFund President & CEO Laurie Vignaud said. "We are excited about the
ability to scale our work and bringing this program, which offers
equitable business capital and coaching to Florida small business owners to help them
achieve entrepreneurial success."
These grants are in line with the Truist Foundation's belief
that the role of corporate philanthropy includes catalyzing
promising solutions that have not yet achieved outcomes and that
solutions that have proven effective in one region can and should
be scaled elsewhere. By embracing such funding, corporate
philanthropy can help nonprofits address emerging societal issues,
test hypotheses and maximize positive outcomes, creating greater
impact.
About Truist Foundation
Truist Foundation is
committed to Truist Financial Corporation's (NYSE: TFC) purpose to
inspire and build better lives and communities. The foundation, an
endowed private foundation established in 2020 whose operating
budget is independent of Truist Financial Corporation, makes
strategic investments in a wide variety of nonprofit organizations
centered around two focus areas: building career pathways to
economic mobility and strengthening small businesses to ensure all
communities have an equal opportunity to thrive. Embodying these
focus areas are the foundation's leading initiatives — the Inspire
Awards and Where It Starts. Learn more at
Truist.com/Foundation.
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SOURCE Truist Foundation