Learn what’s happening at the Foundation and in the communities where we work. Hear from staff and partners about their accomplishments and lessons learned along the way.
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Reflecting on how things have gone is something we like to do about this time of year as the days grow shorter and nights grow longer. As 2022 winds down, and we reflect on our equity journey at the Foundation, it is hard not to notice all of the grief that we are carrying and … Continued
Actions and Voices In September, the hard work of the Tower Advisory team culminated in grant awards to 12 organizations in support of their mentoring and counseling work with youth. The ten members of the team independently reviewed a total of 26 applications, then came together to deliberate across two dynamic evening sessions. All the … Continued
Since November 2020, representatives from several grant partner organizations have met monthly to discuss diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in their work. This group, convened by Program Officers Chuck Colston and Megan MacDavey, has blossomed into a network that supports and learns from one another. After many months of meeting by Zoom, this group finally … Continued
Niko DelValle has been a member of the Tower Advisory Team since its first iteration in 2019. This year he joined the Tower Foundation as an intern to help support Advisory Team activities. Here Niko talks about his experience as an Advisory Team member. Back in 2019, I was at a bit of a crossroads … Continued
The Tower Foundation is shocked and saddened by the senseless mass shooting that took place in Buffalo, New York. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims’ families as they grieve the tragic loss of their loved ones. We are also deeply concerned about our community. Our staff members live in Buffalo and are still … Continued
About eight years ago, we shared a blog post outlining our approach to Results-Based Accountability (RBA) as a tool for evaluating our grants’ effectiveness. With the benefit of a few more years of working with and thinking about RBA, a refreshed introduction seemed to be in order. Beyond that, we’re now seeing how we can … Continued
At the Tower Foundation, we are almost at the year and a half mark of a two-year pilot program looking at ways to assess the impact of general operating grants. We selected seven nonprofits with whom we had worked for some time to receive a grant of $70,000 ($35,000 for each of two years). More … Continued
Last week, I attended Mental Health Advocates of Western New York annual fundraising event. It was a milestone occasion in many ways. It was MHA’s 60th anniversary; and for many in the room, it was the first event they had been to in two years. Ironically, this event was also the last event many of … Continued
This year, the Tower Advisory Team heads in an exciting new direction. In 2022, a dozen or more advisors will come together to launch and execute a grantmaking initiative of their own making. The young people that make up the advisory team (target age is 18-30) represent a mix of the communities where we fund … Continued
Last week, I shared our new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) goals. This week, I’ve asked three of our Trustees, Cindy Doyle, Jim Weiss, and Dave Welbourn, to join me in sharing reflections on this milestone. Each of these Trustees have championed the effort to bring an equity perspective to our work and were instrumental … Continued
