Letter from Chair & CEO

I from the I C H A I R & C E O

A Collaborative Effort to Strategically Invest in Albuquerque’s Future

For years, community foundations have taken a slightly segregated approach to their work; the development staff engage with donors, communications and marketing staff secure press connections and brand foundation identities and grantmakers allocate philanthropic dollars into the community. While this approach is not necessarily a weakness, it doesn’t prioritize partnership and a shared vision of positive change. In recent years, the Foundation decided to merge these functions under a larger umbrella of Philanthropic Services. We acknowledge creative grantmaking can’t be accomplished without coordination and collaboration. We believe fundraising cannot be sustainable without strategic grantmaking that both addresses community challenges and bolsters opportunities for economic growth.

Our key goal for the Foundation is to maintain relevance as a trusted voice of knowledge and influence within the community. With this in mind, the Foundation surveyed the community to better understand the issues Albuquerque faced, across all sectors of the city. The information collected spoke of a dire economic landscape, which signified the root of nearly all subsequent social issues—including poor education, high crime rates, child welfare concerns and limited access to healthcare. Put simply, Albuquerque suffered from entrenched poverty, making it difficult to attract national businesses and challenging local businesses to grow.

In tandem with community conversations, we were observing trends in our city that demonstrated these economic challenges: 25% of children and 18% of the general population lived in poverty and 32% of parents lacked secure employment. Nine of Albuquerque’s 17 zip codes had a poverty rate greater than the national average, with some approaching two and a half times that rate. Albuquerque has struggled to recover from the 2008 recession, and in fact, we were recently ranked last in job growth.

These statistics showcased a clear, pressing need: to create and ignite economic and workforce development initiatives for the city to sustain itself. The question we asked our team and our partners was: how can we leverage—and increase—philanthropic dollars to help catalyze economic growth in our community? The Foundation developed an overarching theme that will now guide all avenues of grantmaking: mobilizing individual donors and the local business community to stand behind philanthropic investments in powerful new ways.

This year, we introduced the concept of providing access to economic opportunities within all fields-of-interest of our grantmaking. The results have been transformative both for us and the Albuquerque community—not only within our grantmaking programs, but by increasing donor gifts to the Foundation. This has also helped place the Foundation’s voice and vision in prominent platforms throughout the community and on the national stage. For the first time in the history of the Foundation, we have successfully integrated the internal roles of fundraising, communications and grantmaking to achieve a result that has positioned us as an influencer in philanthropic investments and in the revitalization of our community. We are now, truly, partners within our organization and with the community as a whole.

We’ve seen the result of these efforts stretch beyond our walls, opening opportunities. We now have a voice and presence in public-private community partnerships like City Alive, Healthy Neighborhoods Albuquerque and in the ongoing efforts to bring the biotech industry to New Mexico. These partnerships demonstrate that philanthropy is not only enhanced but becomes more of a critical component to a community’s overall economic, social and cultural health and well-being.

While we’ve just started to see the positive effects of these structural shifts, we’re proud of the possibilities they’ll create. Embracing our own entrepreneurial philosophy, we created a vision, cultivated partnerships to achieve that vision and forged ahead to raise and invest funds to contribute to Albuquerque’s overall success.

We did this as a team—an engaged Board with an integrated staff with a shared vision—and through community input. We did this with the belief that philanthropy can only exist in an economically stable community, where people have access to education, healthcare, jobs and opportunities for a sustainable future. We did this together and we can’t wait to go even further—in partnership with you.

Carl Alongi Randy Royster Board Chair President & CEO

S S

I N V E S T I N G

This year, the Foundation’s Board of Trustees authorized a social impact investing initiative to reallocate a portion of endowed assets into social impact investments. We committed to a five-year pilot period where up to $2.5 million will be invested in programs that stimulate entrepreneurial initiatives and economic development. These programs will improve the lives of low income people through the creation of living-wage jobs with benefits and access to affordable capital, affordable housing and quality education. We know these social impact programs will enhance the quality of life in our city.

Why are we embarking on this idea of investing in programs with “social impact?” With over $600 billion in the endowments of U.S. foundations, the next step is considering how these funds can be put to use—beyond generating income for grantmaking. We’re excited to take part in the spirit of creativity and originality that’s flowing into philanthropy. This new approach allows philanthropic organizations to unlock a larger share of their capital and deploy it in innovative ways at the local level. Impact investing is becoming a permanent part of the philanthropic toolkit of many community foundations and we feel certain that it will be a valuable part of ours, too.

Our first two investments were made in 2016. Those investments supported the work of the following two efforts:

ABQid

The Accelerator is a partnership formed to make investments in early-stage, high-growth companies. Operated by ABQid, The Accelerator was created with the belief there is substantial untapped entrepreneurial potential in the Albuquerque area and that training, support and seed investments are necessary to realize that potential. Selected companies will receive resources including three months of intensive coaching in a variety of entrepreneurial skills.

Verge II.5X

The Verge II.5X, a high-growth portfolio venture, is committed to building an innovation-led economy in New Mexico. Consisting of a powerhouse team of professionals who have joined forces to build a portfolio of highgrowth companies based in our state, Verge II.5X is a four-year venture fund, designed to yield serious results and incredible impact. Verge II.5X will focus its investment activity in four specific high-technology sectors: cleantech/energy, electronics/instrumentation, human factors and software-as-a-service (SAAS).