Stewards with intentionality: The Legacy Foundation and community leadership

Pat Danahey Janin and Laurie E. Paarlberg

Chapter Chapter 30 in Case Studies on Nonprofit Resilience Management, 2025, pp 248-255 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The Legacy Foundation is a community foundation serving Cowley County, Kansas. A donor-centric community foundation. Legacy lacked strategic direction in addressing persistent economic and social issues in this rural area, instead focusing on the issues identified by donor values. Given the persistent economic challenges in Cowley County, tensions arose in the foundation between a vision of a community foundation focused on donor preferences and services and the new CEO’s vision of a foundation focused on leading the community. This tension undermined the community foundation’s long-term relevance as well as the resilience of the community it was intended to serve. As part of an initiative supported by the Kansas Association of Community Foundations, Legacy Foundation leadership embarked on a year-long exploration of how the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) could advance their leadership on community issues. Through this learning initiative, the Legacy board and staff deepened their understanding about poverty and its consequences in their county. Inspired by their learning the community foundation held a series of Data Walks to inform and galvanize the community to find constructive ways to address local poverty. In doing so, they established themselves as a convener of cross-sectoral partnerships and a reliable source of data about community needs.

Keywords: Community foundation; UN SDGs; Collaboration; Philanthropy; Strategic priorities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035328567
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