MaineCF's new president, Deborah Ellwood, weighs in on leadership and impact
MaineCF: You arrived this summer as MaineCF's president and CEO. What drew you to MaineCF - and back to Maine?
Deborah Ellwood: A good education and Maine's spectacular beauty, light, special recreational opportunities, and friendly people drew me here in the first place and kept me coming back. But the opportunity to work with a trusted and respected community foundation and a board eager to drive our next chapter drew me to the foundation now. This organization is doing great work and is poised to do even more.
Deborah Ellwood, MaineCF's new CEO and president, at a celebration for the Oxford County Fund's 25th anniversary.
MaineCF: For the past dozen years, you directed CFLeads, the only national network of community foundations committed to community leadership. What is community leadership and why is it important for foundations to take this role? Why is community leadership especially important now?
Ellwood: Community leadership is all about impact. It means using all the available resources to make a real difference in the lives of people in our communities. It means combining grants with other tools. This is important because we are facing some difficult challenges that are going to require institutions from many different sectors to put their shoulders to the wheel.
But community foundations have a unique combination of attributes that make them particularly valuable. They are local, with local relationships and knowledge. They are permanent, with endowments, which means they will be doing good forever and can take the long view on issues when needed. They have broad missions, which means they can take on new issues as they appear — from COVID-19 to climate change. And they are public charities, which means they are accountable to the community because they must seek financial support from the community each year, but it also gives them significant latitude in what they can do in the public realm.
MaineCF: How do you envision MaineCF expanding its community leadership role?
Ellwood: It depends on what is needed from us. We want community to drive our work. Research will inform us. Philanthropy will propel us. And, importantly, we will only achieve better outcomes for all if we work in partnership. Our partners will sustain us. So, we'll soon be holding community conversations and connecting with stakeholders with the expertise in any number of areas to help guide our direction and identify our role.
MaineCF: MaineCF's board of directors just approved a new five-year plan to guide the community foundation's work. Can you explain how this plan affects MaineCF's direction?
Ellwood: The plan does three things: It drives greater impact. It mobilizes additional philanthropic resources. And it aligns the whole organization with the mission to bring people and resources together to build a better Maine. We are clear on the strategic direction and ready to implement the plan.
MaineCF: What do the new strategic goals mean for donors, grantees, and other partners?
Ellwood: For donors it means an opportunity to be part of an organization that is using its influence to make real improvements in the lives of Mainers, and the opportunity to connect with bigger initiatives that will focus on the systems and policies that are holding too many people back. We've also added capacity to help donors identify the not-for-profits that may be doing work that interests them. For nonprofits, it means we will help improve the climate and context for their work in addition to providing the grants for their everyday activities. For partners, it means another voice and more resources at the table. We are not going to solve any of the challenges facing the state by working on these issues alone.
MaineCF: What challenges do MaineCF and other community foundations face as they look to the future?
Ellwood: Community foundations have recognized that they are important institutions in the civic landscape and are stepping up to help create healthy and widely prosperous communities. This current time requires community foundations to be particularly nimble and relevant.
The big trends facing this country right now - the volatile economy, climate change, racial disparities, the threats to democracy, and the continuing public health issues related to the pandemic - have implications locally. At the same time, philanthropic individuals have many options for giving so community foundations need to support them and connect with them in new ways.
