Our Funders

Living Cities
www.livingcities.org
Founded in 1991, Living Cities is an innovative philanthropic collaborative of 21 of the world's largest foundations and financial institutions. Our members are not simply funders. They participate at the senior management level on the Living Cities Board of Directors and contribute the time of 80+ expert staff toward crafting and implementing our agenda, which is focused on improving the lives of low-income people and the urban areas in which they live.

Living Cities believes that we need to treat our cities' problems comprehensively. We must take an integrative approach, simultaneously strengthening neighborhood institutions from the bottom up and reengineering, from the top down, the public systems that fail to create adequate opportunities. We must align local, state and federal policies to effectively address the issues surrounding jobs, housing, climate change, asset building and health care. We must leverage the collective power of the public, private and philanthropic sectors especially through new and innovative ways of aggregating capital. Over the past 18 years, Living Cities' members have collectively invested over $600 million which has, in turn, leveraged more than $16 billion in tangible community assets—a remarkable leverage ratio of 29:1. Our funding has helped build homes, stores, schools, child care, health care and job-training centers and other community assets.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation
www.aecf.org
Founded in 1948, the primary mission of the Annie E. Casey Foundation is to foster public policies, human-service reforms, and community supports that more effectively meet the needs of today’s vulnerable children and families. The Casey Foundation supports a diverse range of efforts designed to build better futures for millions of children at risk of poor educational, economic, social, and health outcomes. In pursuit of this goal, the Foundation makes grants that help states, cities, and neighborhoods fashion more innovative, cost-effective responses to these needs.
Investment areas include:

designing and delivering services to secure and sustain lifelong family connections for children and youth;
advocating for reforms in public human service systems to ensure that they operate effectively and efficiently to strengthen families;
expanding social and economic security for families in poor communities;
gathering and promoting the use of data as a tool for change; and
transforming tough and isolated communities into family-supporting environments.

Ford Foundation
www.fordfound.org
The Ford Foundation supports visionary leaders and organizations on the frontlines of social change worldwide. For more than half a century their goals have been to: Strengthen democratic values; Reduce poverty and injustice; Promote international cooperation; and Advance human achievement.

The foundation believes all people should have the opportunity to reach their full potential, contribute to society and have voice in the decisions that affect them. It believes the best way to achieve these goals is to encourage initiatives by those living and working closest to where problems are located; to promote collaboration among the nonprofit, government and business sectors; and to ensure participation by men and women from diverse communities and all levels of society. In their experience, such activities help build common understanding, enhance excellence, enable people to improve their lives and reinforce their commitment to society. The Ford Foundation works mainly by making grants or loans that build knowledge and strengthen organizations and networks. The Ford Foundation focuses on key problem areas and program strategies. AssetPlatform is funded by one of these areas, Improving Access to Financial Services, which aims to improve access to and the infrastructure for innovative financial products for low-income people.