The Common Good
An area that we have seen an incredible outpouring of support is the generosity of individual donors. In addition to this support from many of you, a secondary funding source has been various grants that have helped us to sustain and grow since the onset of the pandemic.
Grant programs have made a huge difference for us in a variety of ways and enabled a leveling up for our organization that just wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. As an example, we recently were added to a very short list of potential grant recipients that is now before Congress.
I wanted to take some time in this piece to describe a bit the history of these programs and dive into the concept of The Common Good. I’ll end the article with a Needs Statement I recently crafted to give you some sense of our current state and why these programs are so important to us at this point in our history as an organization.
Philanthropy: Origins 🌱️
The word "philanthropy" derives from the Ancient Greek phrase philanthropia, meaning "to love people." Today, the concept of philanthropy includes the act of voluntary giving by individuals or groups to promote the common good. It also refers to the formal practice of grant making by foundations to nonprofit organizations.
There’s a wide range of places across the internet to learn about the history of grants and philanthropy. The site I find the most helpful to learn a little bit on the topic is from the National Philanthropic Trust as it has a visual timeline you can navigate on the site starting in the 16th century all the way to the present day. An interesting quote that greets you on the site sums it all up pretty well:
“Wealth is not new. Neither is charity. But the idea of using private wealth imaginatively, constructively, and systematically to attack the fundamental problems of mankind is new.”
- JOHN GARDNER
The concept of philanthropy really started to take hold in the 16th century. This was a time of change and great progress for the individual as humanity saw the medieval world fading away — including its economic, political, and social structures.
For any of you familiar with The Sovereign Individual (one of my favorite books of all time), you will probably start to see some of the parallels to our world today as digital infrastructure changes the very fabric of our society and how it functions. I know I am hitting you with all kinds of quotes (apologies in advance) here’s another:
Globally, the Age of Discovery spurred an unprecedented exchange of people, goods, ideas, and culture. All of these changes had a profound effect on the rise of modern philanthropy, centralizing need in urban centers, changing who gave and who received, shifting the locus of giving from religious orders to the state, and enabling a global exchange of philanthropic acts and ideas.
Sound familiar? Well, history doesn’t repeat but I have heard that it can often rhyme.
The theme I continued to see over centuries when looking into the topic was: technology and innovation created new opportunities and with that some that benefited decided they would help those that were being left behind in the process.
As the trend (and our society) became more global in nature over the years, the divide has only increased and the need for innovative solutions to help contribute to “The Common Good” are needed now more than ever.
“Nothing vast enters the life of mortals without a curse.”
― Sophocles
The Common Good 🤝️
So what does The Common Good mean? Well, in the traditional sense it can be described as:
In ordinary political discourse, the “common good” refers to those facilities—whether material, cultural or institutional—that the members of a community provide to all members in order to fulfill a relational obligation they all have to care for certain interests that they have in common.
The networks (and organizations like ours that make them up) are a living, breathing example of public goods that contribute to a larger Common Good. It is essential that our communities realize the importance of these institutions and ensure accountability with those that we put into political office that they protect and help these kinds of organizations to sustain because the need is only increasing.
In the context of operating a 501c3 like our organization, the majority of funding from grants we see and pursue are from local (city/county) governments along with state agencies like the WSDA and various foundations. A recent example of grant funds from these entities being put to work is our internet-connected lockers that we described in our last article, Self Service.
The criteria for these grants varies widely but we have seen a massive influx of opportunties focused on the topic of food security, because the pandemic exposed some of the gaps we have in our current system to sufficiently support the network of food banks, and emergency food networks like ours that so many depend on.
Needs Statement 📄
Many of the grants that we submit require a “needs statement” to coalesce in simple terms our ask and why we are deserving of the funds we are requesting.
I recently helped write one where I tried to encapsulate as best I could our current state and why this kind of funding and support is so critical for our continued growth and ongoing support of this community.
I thought it would be good to share here to give each of you some of my perspective. Here is that needs statement in its’ entirety:
The battle against hunger has been raging as long as our shared histories and collective human memories can remember. Its’ specter has been with us since we took our first steps as civilizations and, in the process, started wars, driven policy, created generational divides and impacted communities along our shared path of human progress.
Since the dawn of our now highly industrialized Western societies, hunger’s influence, impacts and reach seemed to take a backseat to the wondrous examples of globalization and technological progress. Hunger has never gone away but many times, for many of us, it could seem that way when compared to how many people were brought out of poverty and accepted into this golden age of innovation we have been witness to for the last hundred or so years.
The tides are turning and becoming crashing waves as we see the impact hunger has on our communities since the onset of the global pandemic. These now crashing waves manifest themselves through weakened global supply chains, economic uncertainty, open societies turning inwards, systemic discrimination, and a fraying global order that seems, at times, to take steps backwards against the progress we have enjoyed through globalization and technological innovation.
While on the surface it may seem like a simple problem of supply and demand and matching available, excess resources to those in need the issue is far more complex and made even more complicated by a food industrial complex that has settled itself into the fiber of our food system over the last fifty years. With global supply chains fraying and the ability for societies to depend reliably on one another for resources we are seeing a destruction to the current system unlike anything witnessed since the dawn of this technological age we all now call home.
The unfortunate recipients of this backwards progress described are, many times, those that sit on the margins in our society. While it can be a common belief across many that have had little problem providing food for their families that only those in extreme poverty rely on emergency food networks the reality is far more complex. The makeup of these groups is far more diverse and their reasons for depending on these systems vary widely. They come from all walks of life and find themselves relying on these systems due to, many times, situations outside of their control and exacerbated by the shifting sands of societal change we mention.
The Bonney Lake Food Bank has been at the forefront of what is described and we have held witness to the challenges faced by emergency food networks to hold the line against this age-old enemy that continues to sit at the gates and perpetuate its existence in our culture. We believe that to fight back you must have open systems, open doors and open lines of communication in addition to providing resources to those in need and we have demonstrated that approach through the use of human ingenuity, technology and genuine care for all people in need of support.
As our organization moves forward in these times of uncertainty we believe that continued investment in developing and fostering innovative, localized solutions will be paramount to ensuring the community we serve and progres we have made doesn’t deteriorate. We have successfully removed barriers to access and raised the perception of how a localized food network can operate and thrive, even in times of such great economic uncertainty and societal change.
Our request for additional grant funding will not only support continued forward progress but add to our capabilities in being able to self-sustain for the long term as we fight this war of attrition that has raged now for millennia. We commit to always remain accountable to driving maximal return on investment for the community with every dollar, volunteer hour, and donated pound of food resource we bring through our doors.
In Closing…
I hope this article helped a bit to expand your understanding of grants programs and how they help organizations like The Bonney Lake Food Bank.
We very much appreciate all of the support we have seen from state and local government over these last few years and will continue to pursue these as a means to continue the ongoing growth and sustainability of our organization.
In addition to grants, we very much depend on the donations from community members just like you. If you haven’t contributed to our organization but would like to learn how you can start we would love for you to join Team28. Click the button below to learn more if you are interested.
