What We Do
In 2015, Community Foundation Sonoma County launched the Latino Leadership Fund. Through the grants we make with this fund (and through our advocacy and support beyond our grantmaking), we seek to cultivate a stronger network of leaders who are equipped with knowledge, skills, and support to create real and lasting change to benefit all residents in Sonoma County, and who are representative of the diverse communities in our region.
We do this from an equity standpoint and through good grantmaking practices. We strive to build trusting partnerships with our grantees and, through general operating support, provide them with the flexibility and empowerment to make decisions. We listen to and learn from our grantees and deeply trust their knowledge and experience while giving them room to test new theories of change.
We also recognize many facets of leadership and many opportunities for service in a leadership role. Our grants through the Latino Leadership Fund focus on:
- Building leadership networks for professionals already deeply engaged in the nonprofit field
- Fostering leadership potential for promising youth that have demonstrated an acute interest in becoming positive changemakers in our community.
In recognition that we need more people of color in nonprofit positions of leadership and acknowledging the high attrition rate among Executive Directors of color, we strive to support and partner with emerging leaders in our community, to reduce barriers to their success.
Grantmakers for Effective Philanthropy has observed that restricted dollars are disproportionately given to people of color and other constituency-led nonprofits. This suppresses those grantees’ ability to adequately plan, invest in staff, deepen the impact of their work, and ultimately impact the community. Through our grantmaking, we seek to support organizations rooted in uplifting and empowering the Latinx community, particularly through advocacy and leadership, and to provide flexible support to emerging leaders of color at the forefront of these local organizations.