Community Development: Revitalizing Neighborhoods Through Strategic Investment
Aligning philanthropic capital with community-driven development priorities
A regional community foundation with $50M in assets recognized that its traditional grant-making approach — distributing small grants across dozens of organizations — was producing incremental improvements but not the transformative change its board envisioned. Neighborhoods that had received foundation support for years still faced persistent challenges in housing, education, and economic opportunity. The board wanted to shift toward a place-based strategy that concentrated resources for deeper impact, but feared alienating long-standing grantee partners and lacked experience with more complex investment vehicles.
We began with an extensive community listening process, conducting focus groups and interviews in three target neighborhoods. Rather than imposing a top-down strategy, we helped the foundation understand what residents themselves identified as priorities and assets. This community-centered approach became the foundation's strategic north star.
We designed a place-based investment framework that blended traditional grants with program-related investments (PRIs) and mission-related deposits. This multi-tool approach allowed the foundation to deploy capital in ways that matched the complexity of neighborhood challenges — grants for direct services, PRIs for affordable housing development, and deposits in community development financial institutions.
We facilitated a transition plan for existing grantee relationships, helping the foundation communicate its strategic evolution transparently while creating pathways for current partners to participate in the new approach.
We established a community advisory board in each target neighborhood, ensuring that residents had genuine decision-making power over how foundation resources were deployed in their communities.
- $12M in place-based investments deployed across three neighborhoods
- 150 units of affordable housing financed through program-related investments
- Community advisory boards established with 45 resident leaders
- Existing grantee retention rate of 85% through transparent transition process
- Foundation recognized as a national model for place-based philanthropy
"Barakah Group helped us reimagine what a community foundation could be. We went from writing checks to building neighborhoods — and we brought our community along with us."
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