For forty-one years, The Forbes Funds has advanced the wellbeing of our region by helping human services and communitybased nonprofits build their management capacity and increase the impact of their mission work.
We believe that no single entity has the ability to cure what ails the community and society at large. That is why we invest in collaborative efforts between change-driven social and human service organizations that are committed to making a difference. We value strategic engagement and collaboration, utilizing human-centered participatory design to provide actionable approaches that reflect the needs and wishes of our partners and peers.
Central to the work of The Forbes Funds is maintaining our notable core programs while embracing a forward-thinking perspective. We find new ways to leverage our long-standing partnerships and coordinate among partners, generating new relationships, sharing resources, and establishing methods to address challenges in the sector while exploring opportunities for continued growth.
We provide nonprofits with resources through grantmaking, cohorts, and learning forums to enable them to manage a disruptive event, reframe their thinking about a specific issue that impacts operations, and prepare for the future. On a broader and deeper level, The Forbes Funds seeks to be a catalyst for strategic collaboration. Thus, creative genius and strategic relationships are the means for collective impact in the greater Pittsburgh area and beyond.
“Today’s challenges require iterative and agile thinking followed by optimizing existing systems that evolve. We can’t make changes in the world until we change ourselves.”
Fred Brown, President & CEO
Envisioning Pittsburgh’s nonprofit sector as innovative, informed, engaged,andeffective,TheForbes Funds advances capacity building within and among the region’s nonprofitorganizations.
The Forbes Funds advances the wellbeing of our region by helping human service and community-based nonprofits build their management capacity and increase the impact of theirmissionwork.
StrategicAlignment Regeneration&CollaborationInclusiveness
CORE AREAS
Data Collection & Research
Equity & Anti-Racism
Grant Making
Learning & Education
Nonprofit Resource Library
Thought Partnership
RacialEquity& EquitableFunding
Greater Pittsburgh Nonprofit Partnership
Partnerships & Collaborations
Sustainability & Development
Transformative Leadership
The Forbes Funds operates under dual frameworks: the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Social Determinants of Health to guide the outcomes for our work. Additionally, the 8 Returns Model guides how we measure the success or returns on various types of investment that demonstrate our strong collaborations.
Social Determinants of Health
Return on Assets
Return on Equity
Return on Investment
Return on Policy
Return on Relationships
Return on Sustainability
Return on Technology
Return on Wellbeing
The late Elmer J. Tropman, alongside The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Heinz Endowments, founded what is now known as The Forbes Funds to support nonprofits facing financial crisis.
The mission of TFF was broadened to include unexpected financial problems due to other causes (beyond government cutbacks).
Community leaders reviewed TFF during a Special Review Committee on November 21, 1988 to be certain it was still relevant.
TFF, with four full-time staff and an annual budget of $1.2 million, celebrates 25-years in providing a decisive difference to the region’s non-profits.
TFF created the Greater Pittsburgh Nonprofit Partnership (GPNP) to address the increasing concern that the nonprofit sector was not connected with then current charitable tax discussions across the state.
Building upon our successful foundation, in 2013 TFF redefined it’s focus to concentrate on three complementary activities which comprise the core of TFFs work. Building, Convening, and Capacity.
TFF advanced efforts to support management capacity building and strategic planning, while also addressing such sector-wide issues as inter-agency partnerships and mergers.
Under the leadership of Fred Brown, TFF launched a 100-day listening tour to bring nonprofit and community leaders together to encourage collaboration and better sharing of data to make sure inclusion and equity complement the rise of regional innovation.
TFF engages 2500 nonprofit professionals per year – through MAGs, EIR, GPNP, and C3.
530+
500+
GPNP is a growing coalition of over 500 members, nonprofits, and partners serving individuals and communities in the 11-county region of Southwest Pennsylvania. Our region’s nonprofit sector gives citizens a greater voice, inspires public participation, and promotes a vibrant community. GPNP strengthens our region by improving the viability, impact, and effectiveness of nonprofits.
GPNP’s mission is to unify the voice of Southwest Pennsylvania‘s nonprofits to leverage their collective power. GPNP convenes, advocates, and builds capacity of nonprofits by connecting them with other nonprofits, cross-sector partners, and critical resources.
Build Capacity:GPNPMembers and partners receive clear access to relevant benefits for nonprofitsofallsizes.
Advocate: GPNP Members and partners receive timely, and coordinated calls to action to activatethenetwork.
Convene: GPNP hosts meaningful engagements and forums to engage a crosssectoralecosystem.
GPNP hosts weekly, monthly, and quarterly engagements to learn about benefits and evaluates benefitsquarterly.
Members have access to a 3part advocacy agenda and the calendar of convenings with elected/governmentofficials.
GPNP hosts the 24 Months of Learning series with relevant affinity group supports for hubs ofmembersregionally.
587 Members in the last five years have joined or renewed theirmembership.
On average, 1000 have people attended biennial Summits since 2015.
GPNP with The Forbes Funds has hosted over 5000 meetings with over 42000 participants to date sinceMarch2020.
More than 50% of GPNP Members havebudgetsunder$1M.
In response to regional members’ desire to network within their counties on local and county-level needs, GPNP is developing regional county affiliates including universities and community foundations to expand networks and collaborative organizations.
Many member organizations are BIPOC-led or serving and in communities that do not have equitable access to power and funding. GPNP is committed to intentionally supporting organizations with close connections to their communities and enhancing their capacity for transformative impact.
Since 2019, the Catalytic Community Cohort Model (C3) helped organizations improve:
Community Ties
Financial Sustainability
Number of Strategic Partners Staff Wellbeing
Understanding of Regional Nonprofit Networks
Board Governance & Leadership
Existing Partnerships
Public Policy and Advocacy Awareness
Understanding of Regional Nonprofit Needs
Understanding of Technology Needs
100% of participants say they benefitted from C3 funding
85% of program leads identify as women and/or POC
>180 original C3 partners
Community Coffees across Allegheny County
45 Communities since 2019
$2M invested
Most Represented Funding supports all 5 Social Determinants of Health
No Poverty (Goal 1)
Zero Hunger (Goal 2)
Good Health and Wellbeing (Goal 3)
Quality Education (Goal 4)
Organizations gained:
Educational Assets
Fixed Assets
Miscellaneous Equipment
Strategic Assets
Technology Advancements
Decent Work & Economic Growth (Goal 8)
Reduced Inequalities (Goal 10)
Sustainable Cities and Communities (Goal 11)
Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions (Goal 16)
The Forbes Funds awards Management Assistance Grants (MAGs) to promote collaboratives of human service and community-based nonprofits building their capacity and increasing the impact of their mission work. Our investments focus on Strategy, Finance, and Organizational Realignment with two or more organizations partnering together.
$1.2M
164
100%
Invested in collaborative capacity building programs across Southwestern PA since 2019
Partners received capacity building investments across 57 grant projects
Funding supported 17/17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
The Forbes Funds’ Executive in Residence (EIR) envisions a nonprofit sector where professional development is attainable and low-cost. Through coaching, learning cohorts, access to higher education, technical assistance and sector research, The Forbes Funds supports current leaders and prepares future leaders to thrive. Our learning curriculums increase leaders’ capacity for transformative leadership. Transformative leadership protects and promotes justice, democracy, and equity through improved communication skills and honors the larger social, economic, environment, and community context.
350+ digital badges allocated to local professionals
950+ cohort participants since 2019
250+ Organizations worked 1-on-1 with a TFF Executive-in-Residence Coach since 2019
Today’s complex social challenges demand innovative responses. At The Forbes Funds, we believe that innovation is often born at the margins of our efforts and organization in non-traditional or collective approaches, emerging technologies, and cross-disciplinary partnerships.
Whether done individually or in groups, mentorship & coaching are catalysts for learning. These engagement help nonprofit executives pursue goals in the service of their organizations’ mission. The Forbes Funds takes a practical approach to learning & education, acting as a platform and catalyst to encourage the development of tools, models, and approaches that positively impact large numbers of organizations and, by extension, the communities they serve.
Launched in November 2022 as a pilot program of The Forbes Funds. Participants meet biweekly for training sessions at First Tee, Pittsburgh. The cohort uses golf to deal with complexity and through cohort development, we are fostering collective genius. Today’s challenges require leaders to become more agile and iterative, not only in thought but also in action. Golf is being used as a metaphor for dealing with complexity and using the cathartic nature of golf to manage social and mental health.
In partnership with Slippery Rock University’s Institute for Nonprofit Leadership, The Forbes Funds launched two learning circle cohorts. Each learning circle meets weekly for 8 weeks. With facilitation, participants gain peer support and mentorship. Relationships built via the learning circles are typically long-lasting. The first circle recruited executive directors managing the social, emotional, and professional challenges of nonprofit work. The second cohort was for professionals working with youth-oriented nonprofits.
In 2020, The Forbes Funds’ board adopted an equity focus as part TFF’s mission. Among other objectives, this equity focus prioritizes humanitycentered design as a framework for program implementation, community development, and capacity building for nonprofit organizations.
As a result, The Forbes Funds partnered with Headstorm to create HCD in a Box, a community driven human centered design process that centers equity while working with community-based organizations to identify opportunities for collaboration, areas of growth, existing platforms to utilize assets and strengths, and shared next steps to create ecosystems that prioritize just, not best, practices. Under the direction of senior leadership of The Forbes Funds, HCD sessions have been facilitated with community-based partners across the region.
The Hack-a-thon invited professionals across nonprofit, government, & business sectors to advance equity in the Pittsburgh region. These leaders formed four teams focusing on the Social Determinants of Health to goal was create and pitch an innovative equity “hack”. Winners received funding and wrap around support for their project
Inaugural cohort hosted 150 participants in 2021
Focused on the Micro, Meso, and Macro levels to advance equity in the Pittsburgh region
The Forbes Funds, The University of Pittsburgh, The Department of the Future, and The Heinz Endowments launchedtheAnti-RacismCohort(ARC).
ARC is a year-long learning cohort that builds on the best practices of diversity, equity, and inclusion training and optimizes these core practices into human-centered design exercises that aid in systemicallyshiftingorganizationalcultures.
TFF uses Humanity-Centered Design (HCD) toharnesses the assets and talents already at the tableandidentify opportunities for collective impact.It is neither intended to be a strategic planning process nor is it intended to schedule a calendar or determine a task list. It is a process that will allow consenting participants to explore new opportunities to work together.
We UNCOVER | AtTheForbes Funds, we believe HCD can help groups discover shared goals and opportunities. It can also reveal past, present, and/or future challenges while setting the stage for healing, problem solving, and resolution.
We IDENTIFY | TFF believes that, depending on what a group is trying to achieve, HCD can help them name and understand overlapping areas of interest, opportunities for coordinated work, and any number of outcomes or deliverables. Specifically, the naming process is important, especially when it comes to partnerships where conflict can arise.HCD can also help groups prioritize how they work together and where their resources are best concentrated to achieve a shared goal.
We COPOWER | As co-facilitators, TFF encourages participants to workwith each other, coalescing their individual ideas or perspectives into a cohesive whole. It is apower-sharing, information-sharing, and resource-sharing structure,rather than a hierarchy. Regardless of titles, levels of experience, or skills brought to the table, all are welcome and valued in a true HCD process.
Designed to help nonprofit organizations in Southwest Pennsylvania develop a profile of their organizations’ leadership, adaptive, management and organizational capacities to create an accurate portrait of overall capacity. The Forbes Funds can develop a baseline for your organization, identify systemic trends across organizations, and better connect you to resources through our programs and partners.
Over 250 assessments completed
Due to a lack of an equitable and just response to the coronavirus pandemic by regional governments and health authorities, a group of Black leaders came together to form the Black COVID-19 Equity Coalition. The group was united by a shared passion and urgency to address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Black community and then proceeded to develop equitable strategies, opportunities, and actions necessary to improve the lived experience of Black people in the Pittsburgh region and beyond. The coalition designed culturallyrelevant responses to identify health, social, and economic inequities that quickly became evident as the virus spread and as morbidity and mortality increased disproportionately in the Black community. These actions resulted in recommendations for interventions, rapid solutions, and built capacity to address the inequitable identification and improve COVID-19 responses.
Today, the coalition is led by a core team, The Huddle, and accomplishes its work through subject matter-specific committees and working groups comprised of community leaders.
The Forbes Funds developed The Commons to harness and empower individual communities across Pittsburgh. The Commons’ process aims to aid and support community development and to help amplify the voices that make up those communities. The Commons is designed to be both a digital place where community input is gathered and ideas are exchanged, and a consensus-building tool to achieve the equitable distribution of shared resources.
“In our eyes, success is a dedication to transformation and the use of our community’s talent to impact the common good.”
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Share your questions, concerns, and ideas in a weekly community of practitioners working to solve organizational challenges and empower nonprofits to overcome regional challenges in a community of practice.
Follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Vimeo and visit the website today to connect with the TFF team; capacity building begins at ForbesFunds.org
Based on the Needs Assessment and ongoing member feedback, GPNP has built a series of engagements over the 24 Months between Summits. Join is for relevant opportunities and resources shared in this space.
Sign up for our weekly e-newsletter, become a GPNP member, visit our nonprofit resource library, and more. We look forward to you being a part of the TFF eco-system!
