A year in philanthropy: Atlanta is what you make it

By Alicia Philipp, president, Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta

By Alicia Philipp, president, Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta

The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta recently released our 2018 Annual Report where we reflect upon our year and the donors and nonprofits that help our region to thrive. The Atlanta region is as diverse as it is beautiful. We are green and vibrant, the city in the trees where urban landscape meets rural beauty through hiking trails and our lifeblood, the Chattahoochee. We are an economic center, home to an international airport, Fortune 500 companies and one of the country’s best music scenes. Atlanta hums with civil rights history, incubates creativity through a dynamic arts sector and fosters learning at renowned colleges and universities.

But the best part of Atlanta? Well, that’s the people. It’s you, it’s all of us. Our Annual Report shines a light on some of those people who are leading the charge for positive change. It’s the family scholarship that helps students with last-dollar need so that they can complete college and go on to greater things. It is the dedicated group of donors getting hyper local to ensure that a child’s zip code doesn’t dictate their life’s potential. It’s the collaboration among a hospital system and a group of nonprofits who understand that eating good food goes hand-in-hand with health. And that’s just a sampling of the stories in the full report.

In 2018, the Community Foundation granted out more than $128 million to nearly 3,000 nonprofits – more than 83% of that funding stayed here in our region. Yet, there’s always more we can do. Our region is facing a crisis of opportunity. The city of Atlanta is #1 in income inequality, we’re a city where 95 of every 100 children born poor will be unable to climb the economic ladder no matter how hard they work, how smart they are, or how much they desire to get ahead. And our region is experiencing one of the fastest-growing suburban poverty trends in the nation. This is the issue of our time and we’re putting a stake in the ground for long-term impact. It’s critical that all of us work to create a region where all of our neighbors have the opportunity to thrive.

Read our Annual Report here to see how we made our mark in 2018 and to learn more about our road ahead.