We often hear about philanthropy piloting new programs that are replicated by government, but the reverse can also happen. Sometimes philanthropy can breathe new life into existing tried-and-true programs that have promising results, complementing work initiated by the public sector.

Take the Equitable Retention Mortgage Assistance Program (ERMA), a foreclosure assistance program run by the Center for NYC Neighborhoods (CNYCN), the go-to citywide nonprofit focused on affordable homeownership. The program just received a $1 million infusion of revolving philanthropic capital from an anonymous donor, held at an account at FJC. The philanthropic investment extends the life of this impactful program, which helps seniors save their homes from foreclosure. The program launched in 2020, in response to data analysis provided by the  New York State Office of the Attorney General (OAG) that identified a rapid increase in reverse mortgage foreclosures, putting senior New Yorkers at risk of homelessness.  Initial funding was provided by Enterprise Community Partners with additional recycled settlement funds made available by the NYS OAG.

The goal of ERMA is to help low- and moderate-income seniors and people with disabilities avoid foreclosure due to mortgage and condo/coop arrears or a temporary inability to pay property taxes, property insurance, water/utility bills, or other charges. The program provides 0% interest subordinated liens up to $50,000, the payments of which are deferred. In other words, homeowners are not required to make monthly mortgage payments; instead, the loan is only repaid when a property is sold or refinanced or the 30-year term expires.

Since 2020, ERMA has successfully prevented 126 distressed homeowners from facing foreclosure or other home loss. However, in 2023, despite very strong demand for the program, CNYCN had to cease accepting new applications for ERMA once initial funds for the program were depleted. This left over a hundred applicants on a waitlist.

An anonymous donor learned about ERMA and found the program appealing and impactful, due to its strong track record.  The donor’s $1 million in loan capital could be leveraged with additional resources provided by CNYCN, such as free housing counseling and legal services. What’s more, the revolving nature of the funding meant that a single commitment of $1 million could be recycled multiple times.  As homeowners eventually sell or refinance their homes, the subordinated loans would be repaid, allowing the same dollars to be redeployed to other distressed homeowners.  The donor worked with CNYCN to deposit grant funds in a fiduciary account at FJC, which governs the use and revolving nature of the philanthropic loan capital. “This much needed additional investment in ERMA brings additional capacity to a program designed to stabilize the housing and finances of our most vulnerable neighbors,” says Christie Peale, CEO and Executive Director of the Center for NYC Neighborhoods. “This critical funding, combined with the Homeowner Protection Program services provided by our partners across the state, will help seniors and people with disabilities stay in their homes and remain connected to community networks and resources.”

We invite you to read this blog post by FJC CEO Sam Marks about the existential threats facing nonprofits as a result of delayed government payments – and the role philanthropy can play in helping nonprofits manage through these challenges. The blog post was published in Alliance’s online magazine, and is excerpted here.

Imagine being charged with critical life-changing responsibilities while being starved by the same public actors to whom you are accountable. This is the crazy-making situation nonprofits are finding themselves in, whether they are housing the unhoused, providing safe spaces for women fleeing intimate partner violence, or providing childcare, many of society’s most critical services rely on timely, predictable funding from government agencies. The problem is that payments for contracted services have become anything but reliable for too many organisations.

For too long, nonprofits’ business needs have been woefully misunderstood and undervalued, and the bill is now coming due.

Not-for-profit operations face the same financial challenges as their for-profit counterparts — managing cash flow, planning payroll, and navigating financing relationships. However, the segment of the nonprofit sector that carries out necessary services funded by the public sector faces unique challenges.

Public contracts come with immense upfront costs of delivering services, and oft-delayed payments are gumming up the underlying financial machinery for many service providers. As my friend John MacIntosh wrote in City & State last year, ‘Nonprofit vendors regularly complain that the procurement system is complex, antiquated and creates lengthy payment delays that are costly, sometimes even fatal, to organizations waiting for their money.’

The fundamental problem for nonprofits is that without reliable access to capital and credit, something as basic as delayed contract payments can pose an existential risk. To be clear, committed officials at every level of government are delivering important reforms to the public contracting process. Bureaucratic reform, however, is slow. In the meantime, foundations, which provide grants and help nonprofits build capacity in myriad ways, can and must develop creative new ways to support nonprofits and rally the support of committed philanthropists.

Increasingly imaginative philanthropists and foundations are developing creative solutions to help nonprofits navigate unreliable cash flow, providing a model for others to follow.

Please read the full blog post at Alliance Magazine, which includes examples of recent solutions FJC has executed, including a bridge loan to Brooklyn Defender Services, and low-interest revolving loans for Brighter Tomorrows and an LGBTQ youth-serving organization.

FJC Donor Sandra Hughes Waddell wrote this guest essay for our blog, describing how Donor Advised Fund accounts are helping her family sustain the legacy of their ancestor Charles Evans Hughes. The piece is a part of our “Why I Give…and How” blog series.

Every family has traditions and values passed down from generation to generation. For our family, it’s a passion for racial and social justice. We grew up hearing stories about my grandmother Catherine Hughes Waddell, a relentless advocate for racial equality who left her mark through her work at organizations such as the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the United Negro College Fund. My grandfather Chauncey Waddell shared Catherine’s passion for this work, and together they created an enduring and impactful legacy of philanthropy.

The Charles Evans Hughes Memorial Foundation was founded by my grandparents and named in honor of Catherine’s father (our great-grandfather), a former Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, U.S. Secretary of State, Governor of the State of New York and a steadfast advocate for equal justice under law. For over 60 years, the Hughes Foundation was at the heart of our family’s philanthropic endeavors, with programs focusing on legal and human rights; environment, population and health; education; and arts and culture. It was a cherished and impactful institution that helped to guide my own personal journey as a philanthropist.

I vividly remember, as a young child, my parents started me on a small allowance, of which I was to set aside 10% for charity. At the end of the year, my parents would match what I’d saved, and I was to write to my selected organizations, explaining why I had chosen them. Those first gifts were to the organizations where my grandmother Catherine had worked. It was a wonderful way to set me on the path toward my own philanthropy. More than that, I have been forever grateful to have been raised in a family for whom racial justice is a deeply abiding value.

As I grew older, I began to understand that philanthropy wasn’t just about donating money, but also about doing the work to understand the complexities of the issues you’re trying to address. Experience has taught me that effective philanthropy calls for actively listening to and learning from those in the organizations and communities you seek to serve, building relationships and fostering partnerships, and providing funding that best propels change, builds the capacity and resources of your grantees and creates sustainable impact.

In essence, for me, philanthropy is not a financial exercise, it’s an intellectual, emotional and deeply-rooted personal commitment. Building on my grandmother’s vision, and serving on the Foundation she and my grandfather created, has been both a privilege and a responsibility. Yet, in recent years, the private foundation landscape has shifted. The administrative and compliance demands are complex and resource-consuming, putting small family foundations like ours in a challenging position. These obligations can threaten to overshadow the charitable mission that should be the driving force of any philanthropic venture. What’s more, as our family’s involvement in the Hughes Foundation evolved over the generations, it became clear that the governance structure of a family foundation was becoming unwieldy, and our philanthropy could benefit from added flexibility.

This is where Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) come into play. DAFs have been rising in popularity. As a philanthropist familiar with the workload of running a foundation, I’m not surprised. DAFs offer a valuable alternative, empowering philanthropists to shed administrative burdens while continuing to channel their energy and resources toward causes that matter. By moving to individual DAF accounts, we realized we would be able to devote our attention to identifying and building relationships with grantees making the most impact. We believe that is the heart and soul of philanthropy, and, what’s more, true to the vision of our family.

After much thoughtful consideration, the four remaining trustees decided to dissolve the Foundation and continue our cherished philanthropic mission through new DAF accounts with FJC, a boutique sponsor. It had been weighty and even emotional for some of us, thinking about winding down the good work of a distinguished 60-year family Foundation, but being introduced to FJC really brightened our sense of what the next phase of giving could look like. We found that, unlike larger institutions, boutique organizations like FJC offer flexibility, accommodating unique agreements, handling unusual assets and developing bespoke charitable programs. In our case, we found that even as we moved philanthropic assets from the Foundation to our DAF accounts, we could maintain our investment advisory relationship with the Foundation’s long-time funds manager. Our partnership with FJC has allowed us not only to preserve the legacy of the Hughes Foundation but also to reanimate that legacy, enabling us to further invest in the causes and institutions that matter deeply to us. Finding the right partner is, in itself, transformative. We’re grateful to work with a team that understands the philosophy of our giving.

This transition feels like a new chapter in our family’s philanthropic journey – an evolution rather than an ending. Our new approach offers a vibrant, exciting future where we continue to honor the spirit of our forebears, focused on our impact and not on overhead. This is not just about preserving a philanthropic legacy but about propelling it forward. Freed from the confines of private foundation governance, our family members now have additional flexibility to further the mission of the Hughes Foundation, each in our own way. The Hughes Foundation may have evolved, but its spirit, mission and commitment to social justice will continue to guide the path forward.

Reflecting on the journey that brought us here, I am reminded of the young girl who first learned the joy and importance of giving and who, all these decades later, remains steeped in gratitude – to her forebears, for their wisdom and vision in creating an enduring and impactful legacy of philanthropy, and even more so, to the many charitable organizations and projects that inspire us and whose important missions and work we are honored to support.

Special thanks from FJC to Lauren Katzowitz Shenfield, Principal of Philanthropy Advisors, for providing the strategic guidance to the Trustees of the former Charles Evans Hughes Memorial Foundation that led to this exciting, new partnership.

We are pleased to report that FJC donors Amy and Richard Wallman have been recognized on the “Philanthropy 50” list, a comprehensive report on America’s most-generous donors compiled by Chronicle of Philanthropy. 

The recognition follows the couple’s donation of $75 million in 2023 to the University of Chicago, a gift that will launch a fundraising challenge aimed at creating 30 new endowed professorships across the university.  The donors made a 2017 gift of the same size to University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. 

Richard and Amy met at University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business in the 1970s when they were earning their Masters in Business Administration degrees, and both went on to distinguished careers. After earning her MBA from Chicago Booth, Amy Wallman began her career at EY and retired as an audit partner in 2001.  Richard Wallman began his career with the Ford Motor Company and served as the Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Honeywell International, Inc.  He also served in senior financial positions with IBM and Chrysler Corporation, and he currently serves on a number of corporate boards.

Now in retirement, the Wallmans view philanthropy as a critical focus for this next phase of their lives.  “Our goal is to give away as much as we can,” said Richard. “We give away everything we make, and we will give away everything we have.”

The Wallmans’ Donor Advised Fund account with FJC is one component of a larger philanthropic strategy, for which they use a variety of tools.  The relationship with FJC began in 2022 when they sought to make a philanthropic donation of shares in Quala, a leading tank cleaning and maintenance company.  Although the company anticipated a major liquidity event through a corporate merger in the coming year, the Wallmans found it difficult to find a sponsor of DAFs willing to perform the level of due diligence necessary for the contribution of shares that would be illiquid at the time of donation.  Within a week, FJC was able to perform the analysis and receive approval from its Board of Directors, facilitating the donation against a year-end deadline.

“Our ability to gift Quala shares allowed us to increase our charitable giving,” said Richard. “We see opportunities to donate shares in a number of other companies over the next few years, and we look forward to working with FJC again. We love being a part of the FJC family.  They are very client-focused, particularly when it comes to these more complicated gifts and investments.”

Spectrum News NY1 interviewed two charismatic veteran entrepreneurs over the weekend who were recipients of the NYC Boss Up award program.  The entrepreneurs, two of nine who received awards of $20,000 from Boss Up, were Serghio Adams of Brothers Building Blocks and Ron Holloway from Woofbowl.

The program was administered by FJC through a Scholarship & Award Account with funding by the Ron and Kerry Moelis Foundation.  The program was a public-private partnership, organized with the NYC Department of Veterans Services (DVS) and the NYC Department of Small Business Services (SBS).  

Serghio Adams spoke of the impact of the program in his business, Brothers Building Blocks, which works with middle and high schools to prepare underrepresented students for careers in STEM fields.  “As a small business,” said Adams, “it’s very important to ensure we are creating a larger footprint in the community.  These are monies that we can inject into our companies to take our companies farther.”

Mr. Holloway agreed.  “To be able to have this access to capital is invaluable,” he said.  “When you’re an entrepreneur you make every dollar count, so this money will go a very long way.”  Holloway’s business, Woolfbowl sells healthy fresh food for “dog foodies” with a goal to “make pet food fun and exciting.”

View a clip of the interview here. 

The nine winners of the NYC Boss Up Veteran Entrepreneurship Program were announced at a ceremony at Gracie Mansion yesterday by James Hendon, Commissioner of the New York City Department of Veterans’ Services (DVS), who was joined on stage by NYC Mayor Eric Adams.

The program is administered through a Scholarship & Award Account at FJC – A Foundation of Philanthropic Funds, with funding by the Ron and Kerry Moelis Foundation, in partnership with DVS and the NYC Department of Small Business Services (SBS).  The application process yielded dozens of applicants, and finalists participated in a juried pitch competition. Each winning small business owner will receive a $20,000 grant, and enrollment in SBS’s small business mentorship program to help build and grow their businesses.

NYC Boss Up is a philanthropic program committed to encouraging excellence in entrepreneurship across New York City, and this program follows the successful NYC Boss Up Entrepreneurship Program partnership with the New York City Public Housing Authority (NYCHA) that provides $1 million in grants over five years to budding entrepreneurs living in NYCHA residences.

The winners of the veterans competition are:

• Analiza Quiroz Wolf – Women of Color Rise
  Women of Color Riseis a mission-based organization with the goal of elevating diverse leaders—especially women of color –to positions of power. CEO Analiza Quiroz Wolf served in the U.S. Air Force, attaining the rank of Captain. Analiza intends to use her grant as startup money to expand her organization’s reach.

• Ron Holloway – Woofbowl
  Woofbowl was started as a food truck for neighborhood dogs and has since expanded to work alongside other institutions ranging from the MLB to the Brooklyn Museum in a shared mission of building community. Owner Ron Holloway is an American disabled-Veteran who served in the U.S. Navy from December 2001 through June 2010. Ron plans to use his grant to take Woofbowl nationwide with a new subscription system.

• Nick & Joelle Lynch – Tree ARMY Co.
  Tree ARMY Co.is a Bronx-based tree removal, tree-pruning, planting, and tree-emergency response business that hires transitioning veterans and dependents. Owners Nick and Joelle Lynch both served in the U.S. Army. Nick and Joelle will be investing their grant money in new specialty machinery and equipment that will allow them to hire more Veterans with disabilities.

• Dan Rossi – AJM Business Service, Inc.
  AJM Business Service, Inc. is a food vending service once described by the New York Times as “the New York Hot Dog King.” Owner Dan Rossi is a service-disabled Veteran of two tours of duty in Vietnam with the U.S. Marine Corps. Dan will use his grant to build a new cart with all-new “Hot Dog King” branding.

• Marlin Yinet Santos – Mariachi Mexican Cantina
  Mariachi Mexican Cantina is California-style Mexican restaurant on Staten Island. Owner Marlin Yinet Santos served in the U.S. Army, including a yearlong tour of duty in Iraq. Marlin will use her grant money to purchase a conference bike that will allow her to bring customers directly to her business from the Staten Island Ferry while also giving historical tours of Staten Island’ North Shore.

• Sergio Rodriguera, Jr. – Straylight Systems
  Straylight Systemsis an artificial intelligence company that helps commercial and government entities operationalize data by analyzing thousands of disparate information streams across various file types. Co-Founder Sergio Rodriguera, Jr., served in the U.S Navy as a Naval Intelligence Officer. Sergio will use his grant as seed money to foster additional growth and service more customers.
• Vance Gorman, Jr. – Vanso Visual Imaging
  Vanso Visual Imagingis portrait photography studio and design service. Owner Vance Gorman, Jr., served in the U.S. Marine Corps. Vance is planning to use his grant to scale up his studio and expand.

• Tsikata Apenyo – indeHealth provides a comprehensive healthcare management platform that functions as an intermediary between students and university campuses. Owner Tsiktata Apenyo served as a Fulbright Fellow in China, and as a Medical Corps officer in the U.S. Army. Tsikata will use his grant to scale up his business operations after recently securing a contract with Yale.

• Serghio Adams – Brothers Building Blocks
  Brothers Building Blocksis a cohort-based educational enrichment program designed to empower youth and promote interest in STEM career paths. Founder Serghio Adams served in the U.S. Army and was stationed in Seoul, South Korea. Serghio plans to use his grant to expand his business’ after school curriculum and reach more mostly BIPOC students in LMI communities.

“FJC is thrilled to be helping expand the groundbreaking NYC Boss Up program to provide philanthropic awards to these dynamic veteran entrepreneurs,” said Sam Marks, Chief Executive Officer of FJC. “Programs like NYC Boss Up epitomize the best of philanthropy in bridging the gap between imaginative donors and powerful community partnerships. By bringing together government agencies, nonprofits, and private philanthropy around a common goal we are delivering vital new support to New York City’s veterans.”

Earlier in November, FJC’s CEO Sam Marks was a guest on Get Connected with Nina Del Rio, New York City’s 106.7 Lite FM’s weekly talk show featuring NYC’s influencers, experts, and vibrant non-profits.

Del Rio interviewed Marks about his background and the world of Donor Advised Funds, as well as the creative ways that FJC puts philanthropic resources to work. 

He spoke about FJC’s Agency Loan Fund, an impact investment vehicle that allows donors to invest some or all of their accounts in a pool of loans to nonprofits, so that funds are actively supporting nonprofits even before they are disbursed as grants. He cited capital grants and contract receivables as payments FJC’s loans typically bridge. “We do a lot financial intermediation, during these timing gaps for nonprofits,” said Marks.

He also spoke about innovative transactions with nonprofits like The Fortune Society and the Tenement Museum. 

From the interview:

People typically think, my philanthropy is to make grants to help an organization hit their goals to operate in the black for the year. But you could also use philanthropic dollars to help organizations be more entrepreneurial and take on more exciting projects that will help them grow and expand their services.

The nonprofits we work with understand the challenges that their businesses face, whether it’s cash flow issues because of late payments or a dearth of capital to take on new, exciting projects.  The nonprofits really know where their gaps are.  The challenge for us is finding donors with the imagination to put their philanthropic dollars to work to fill those gaps. If we could get more of our donors to think about, while the dollars are with us, how they could be invested for the benefit of nonprofits, we could really help nonprofits worry less about where their next dollars are coming from. We could go to the heart of what makes these nonprofit businesses challenging.

You can listen to the whole interview at this link.

We invite you to read this guest essay by CEO Sam Marks published in Inside Philanthropy.  The article suggests that “this is a time to experiment with deploying philanthropic dollars more strategically to help nonprofits address those issues more effectively and spend more effort on mission-critical work.”

The essay recommends that donors look beyond grantmaking for their philanthropy and consider other approaches to using philanthropic capital.  Examples cited include the revolving predevelopment fund FJC arranged for the Fortune Society, and the refinancing of the Tenement Museum’s mortgage through a DAF investment.

From the essay:

The conversation between philanthropy and nonprofits very often begins and ends with grantmaking, and there is no question that grants are a key component of nonprofit business models. But the nonprofit sector could surely benefit if this conversation were more expansive — on both sides. Nonprofit practitioners could be more explicit with their philanthropic partners about their cash flow challenges that distract senior management from a full focus on their missions, or the capital resources they need to grow and be truly transformative. Donors could consider more inventive and mission-focused uses of the philanthropic dollars that are currently invested in the private sector, whether in foundation endowments or in DAF accounts. These approaches depend on donors and nonprofits engaging more deeply and finding a common cause.

Simply put, there’s an opportunity to grow beyond the conventional relationships between donors and nonprofits by elevating creative, entrepreneurial thinking. Sponsors of DAFs, in particular, can play a role in helping small donors align their funds and execute some of the more inventive uses of their philanthropic dollars, such as loans, recoverable grants or impact investments. DAF sponsors have always offered donors operational scale and efficiency; why not also offer technical and legal assistance to facilitate these more complex transactions? Or to pull together multiple donors that want to work collectively to create a solution?

This vision for DAFs is not just about more effective donations; it’s about building a more robust philanthropic ecosystem where the interests of donors, nonprofits and beneficiaries converge.

Read the full essay here.

We invite you to read this op-ed by FJC CEO Sam Marks in City Limits, an investigative journalism nonprofit that identifies urban problems, examines their causes, explores solutions, and equips communities to take action.

Read the entire op-ed, which is excerpted here:

We often hear that solving New York City’s myriad challenges—from an affordable housing crisis to growing a more equitable economy that works for all New Yorkers—will require an all-hands-on-deck approach. Usually, leaders use the “all hands” phrase to signal the need for cooperation between the public, nonprofit, and private sectors.

It can be challenging at times to bring these parties together, but the charitable sector, when it’s working at its best, can act as a catalyst to invent new solutions. With its creativity, flexibility, and mission-driven focus, philanthropy can be a linchpin, capable of bringing together the public sector’s authority and agenda-setting power and the private sector’s financial resources and dynamism.

The piece continues with a description of the Boss Up program, administered by FJC through a Scholarship & Award Account, and funded by the Ron and Kerry Moelis Family Foundation.

The initiative was inspired by research from Center for an Urban Future, and partners included the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), NYC Department of Small Business Services, the BOC Network, and the Brooklyn Public Library.

The program supports entrepreneurs living in NYCHA housing expand their businesses, providing $20,000 grants and business development courses to the  winners of a “Shark Tank”-style competition.

As Marks wrote in the piece, “The Boss Up program is an example of philanthropy at its best and it should prompt all of us to think differently about how we work. If we can form more connections between imaginative donors, entrepreneurial nonprofits, and the public sector there is no limit to the new, creative solutions we can develop to improve people’s lives.”

This fall FJC is working with the Moelis Foundation and the NYC Department of Veterans’ Services to replicate the program with veteran entrepreneurs. 

When Academy Award-winning actress Ellen Burstyn was offered the chance to reprise her role in a sequel to the 1973 horror classic, “The Exorcist,” she thought, “The devil is asking my price!”

Ultimately, Ms. Burstyn agreed to appear in “The Exorcist: Believer,” set to open this weekend, so she could fund her philanthropic legacy, via an account at FJC. 

Ms. Burstyn recounted her story for Philanthropy Women, an online home for women donors and their allies to read about, understand, and amplify feminist philanthropy.

Below is an excerpt from Ellen Burstyn’s Lasting Legacy as a Philanthropist for the Art of Acting.

At 90 years old, Ellen is still incredibly active and currently serves as the co-president of the Actors Studio in New York City, which has launched the careers of people like Al Pacino and Marlon Brando. It’s a labor of love for Ellen, and she recently reprised her role in the Exorcist franchise to fund a $1 million scholarship fund for the studio’s MFA. Burstyn wanted the fund to be specifically geared towards assisting BIPOC artists. She chose an independent partner in FJC – A Foundation of Philanthropic Funds, with a history of creating custom philanthropic programs like this one.

As Ellen herself tells the story:

“I became a philanthropist last year, and I owe my newfound role as a grantmaker to my decision to appear in the Exorcist sequel. Since I appeared in the original “The Exorcist” film in 1973, I have lost count of the number of times I’ve been offered roles in sequels. This time, I was offered it again—for a lot of money—and I said no. They came back and doubled the offer. But something told me, “Don’t say no too fast.” I closed my eyes, and the next thought that came to my mind was, “The devil is asking my price.” And my price is a scholarship program for the Masters in Fine Arts program of The Actors Studio, currently at Pace University.”

Read the rest of the story here.