Elmina B. Sewall Foundation Transition Update- February 2020
Elmina B. Sewall Foundation has been on an exciting journey of change and growth for several years. Our process of change has been iterative and informed by rich conversations with community and funder partners. While this journey has been exciting, we know that change can be particularly hard for our partners as our new direction gradually takes shape. So in a spirit of transparency, we’d like to share highlights of our transition over the past year, work underway in 2020, and evolving thoughts about how to lean into our mission, recognizing that changes continue to unfold – even as we post this update!
Highlights from 2019
• Leadership transition: Jay Espy, EBSF’s founding executive director, completed a planned transition in the summer of 2019; Gabriela Alcalde joined the EBSF team as the new executive director on August 1.
• Grants: EBSF made $8,130,004 in grant payments to 195 organizations.
• Healthy People Healthy Places (HPHP): Staff intensified the HPHP refinements process, focusing mainly on four communities.
• Animal Welfare (AW): In November 2019, EBSF brought together 12 AW grantees for shared learning as an alternative to written grant reports.
• Internal equity work: EBSF launched an organizational equity assessment process in September 2019 and participated in our first all-day racial equity training session for board and staff in December.
Our Mission
Throughout this period of change, our mission has remained focused on supporting work in Maine to improve the well-being of people, animals and the environment. We also continue to work in ways that foster relationships, deepen equity, and support community resilience. In addition, we are developing a more holistic approach, by breaking down siloes and broadening connections among all the areas of our work. We believe that people, animals, and the environment are inextricably linked; none can thrive while others suffer.
Improving the well-being of people, animals and the environment in Maine while fostering equity and centering community voices – is no small feat! Sewall Foundation is committed to leaning into our mission, strengthening relationships with our partners, and putting our values into practice in everything we do.
Work Underway in 2020
In 2020, we’re focused on reshaping our programs, strategies and internal structures, and on deepening equity by clarifying what it means to us and infusing it into who, what and how we are. Examples of our work this year include:
• Deepening equity: Our organizational equity assessment will guide shifts in how we work internally and externally. We will develop an equity statement and an approach that will help us increase equity and transparency in our grantmaking and other strategies.
• Shared learning: We are deepening our learning about impact investment and other strategies, in conversation with peer funders and other partners, to complement grantmaking in support of our mission
• HPHP Program Refinements: We are continuing community engagement processes in Lewiston-Auburn, Washington County, and the Katahdin Region, and deepening our work with Wabanaki communities. We also continue to give shape to work we support in Nature-Based Education and Food Systems.
• Collaboration: We continue to explore new ways to collaborate and partner with other Maine foundations on our equity learning and practices, and on collective funding initiatives.
• Hitting the road: In addition to Sewall staff spending more time in communities across the state, we’ve started hosting board meetings in various Maine locations to strengthen connections and deepen understanding between EBSF and our community partners.
A Look Ahead to 2021
Throughout 2020, we will continue to assess and simplify internal processes and structures to better align them with our values and goals. We will also continue to explore how our evolving strategies – such as capacity-building, communications, community- and relationship-building, mission-aligned investment, and shared learning – can boost the effectiveness of our work and that of our partners. The goal of these activities is to better align what and how we work, both internally and externally, with our mission and values. We anticipate launching our new, emergent approach in 2021.
One More Word about Healthy People Healthy Places
Many have asked about our HPHP grantmaking during this time of transition. Because an open, competitive grant round is very time-intensive for both foundation staff and applicants, EBSF’s board approved a bridge plan last year to enable us to continue making grants to organizations we’ve already supported, even as board and staff continue to focus on deepening equity in Sewall’s approach as the context for redesigning the HPHP program. The purpose of the bridge plan is to: 1) continue funding HPHP grantees during EBSF’s transition; 2) provide support for grantees who are unlikely to align with HPHP’s refined focus areas so that they don’t face a sudden funding cliff; 3) simplify the grant application process for HPHP grantees; and 4) give staff and board time to focus on EBSF’s organizational and programmatic redesign, without interrupting support for long-time grantees.
During this transition phase, when staff and board are deeply engaged in redesigning not just EBSF’s organizational approach and strategies, but also the HPHP program, grants will be awarded as part of the bridge plan by invitation only. Part of our work in 2020 is to develop processes to support open grant rounds and other strategies in HPHP’s new focus areas, beginning in 2021.
For more information about the ongoing refinement of the Healthy People Healthy Places (HPHP) program, please visit our list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).