Whats been behind Motts efforts to build community foundations, and community philanthropy?
Most of the problems, if you think about it, occur on Main Street. You know, that’s where people live, and that’s where tensions play out, that’s where neighbor helps neighbor. There are a lot of people who wish to exercise formally their charitable impulse, particularly through the giving of money, as opposed to voluntary services. Community foundations meet that need. And, if you help a community foundation build up that philanthropic muscle and strength, then you’ll leave something lasting behind. Even with the Mott foundation, which is one of the larger foundations in the country, we just don’t have the resources to be able to mount multiple programs all over the country. But if you can partner with community foundations and local philanthropic outfits to work on common problems, overnight you can get a program going in ten different communities. We’ve done that on neighborhood issues, immigration issues, environmental issues, etc. What you end up with is not just one foundation-di
