Spotlight On: Jennifer O’ Flannery Anderson, President & CEO, Community Foundation of Broward
October 2023 — One of the greatest challenges of philanthropic institutions is to make sure more people benefit from economic prosperity. “The economic situation is benefiting part of our society and it’s leaving behind another segment,” Jennifer O’Flannery Anderson, president and CEO of Community Foundation of Broward, told Invest:.
What is the overarching contribution of your organization to Broward County?
No. 1 is to elevate the role of philanthropy across our community. We want to inspire everyone to find a way to give and to support their own community.
What are the primary highlights or milestones of the past 12 months for your organization?
The key highlight has been our effort to support the nonprofit community by helping them be more efficient and effective in their operations, to be able to look more long term and also to help inspire and cultivate new nonprofits that are serving the community.
We have a new nonprofit Center of Excellence that was established with an anonymous gift and we’re in the process of starting that center. Last year, we had over 3,000 people attend sessions, workshops and access our website resources. I think that commitment to the philanthropic community is one of our major highlights this year.
If we don’t have a strong, well-running and efficient nonprofit community, we can’t meet the needs of our citizens and help lift them up out of poverty, support a great educational system, and provide a healthy environment. That doesn’t all happen through government or private enterprise; it happens a lot through nonprofits. Supporting a strong nonprofit community is a really big initiative for us.
What is the major role of your organization in the community?
To inspire giving, to serve as a source of research and information, to help our donors be as effective as possible with their giving, and to lift up the nonprofit community. Oftentimes this requires research and the perspective to help look at topics or look at specific communities to uncover underlying issues and challenges. Then we can direct funds for an exploratory project that may produce enough results that we can then seek greater funding from government or national funders. So, we try to be a place that incubates ideas and outreach to then see how that could be expanded. I always feel like that’s a great role for philanthropy to play: problem-solving for our communities and helping to jump-start ideas.
Another role is to bring communities together to sit down and have conversations about a specific neighborhood or challenge. I think we have a long-standing and strong reputation in the community and we can invite a diverse group of people to the table. A good example of that is an initiative we’re doing around Markham Park Elementary School that serves a community of people who depend on that school for support for their children and their families. Somehow, that school has been neglected. We are working with the City of Pompano and with other nonprofits in the community to bring attention, service and support to that neighborhood. We can shine a light and bring attention to it in a special way that gets people’s attention, initiates a response and draws respect.
How is the economic situation affecting the community?
Some days it’s very frustrating for me because I see people’s businesses are thriving, they’re doing very well. I look at the offices on Las Olas and I see a thriving community there but for people who are in the service industry on an hourly wage, it’s becoming more difficult. The economic situation is benefiting part of our society and it’s leaving behind another segment.
In Broward County, a family of four needs to have an income of almost $80,000 to simply survive. That means an hourly wage of $39.15. We look at the minimum wage now and it is only $15. How is a family going to afford the cost of living? It has to be market driven. I’m not advocating for supplements. It’s about how we grow our economy so everybody benefits and that’s a challenge right now. Some folks are benefiting so greatly and then others aren’t – hopefully we can take a deeper dive and figure out how we make sure that all have that chance to benefit from economic prosperity.
What does philanthropic giving look like in Broward County?
When you look at philanthropic giving nationwide, about 70% to 75% of it comes from individuals, either through their giving or through their estate plans. About 15% comes from private foundations and about 10% comes from corporations. We have very few corporate headquarters in Broward. The companies that are in Broward may be a branch of a large company and that company’s major giving happens where their headquarters are. We do have an abundance of small businesses and many of their owners are born and raised in Broward. Those folks have a strong connection and pride in our community; they all find ways to support their neighborhood. I think for us in Broward, the challenge is getting people who have relocated to south Florida because of the lifestyle and tax benefits to take ownership and make gifts to organizations and causes important to them right here in Broward.
What is your strategy to promote nonprofit initiatives in the community?
We did a study a few years ago about giving in Broward and the results showed that our giving lagged other metropolitan cities in Florida and nationwide. We also found that private foundations based in Broward grant a majority of their funds outside of Broward. That hurts my heart a little bit. We are working to build a relationship with each of them and to help introduce issues and causes right here in Broward that may align with their foundations’ priorities.
One action is that we’ve established a private foundation roundtable. It is a small group and we have regular meetings to discuss a specific issue of interest to the group. We’re all trying to learn from each other and share best practices, which is happening, of course. But I believe that we’ve zeroed in on what our gaps are and where we need to focus as a community in this regard. We have a lot of opportunities to improve.
What is your outlook for the next two to three years?
The Community Foundation of Broward is in a very strong place. We have a very committed board, and our staff is strong and focused on knowing what the critical issues in the community are and how we can best direct our funds for impact.
We’re also seeing a lot of strength in our fundraising. This year, we granted out almost $19 million. Last year, we granted out $15 million. That is a dramatic jump.
A very positive factor going forward is the fact that the state of Florida is diversifying its economy. We’re not grounded in citrus, banking and real estate anymore and we’re all benefiting from that. But with that growth and expansion comes increased needs and complexity of challenges we need to face.
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