Mayors Speak Out About Impact Foundations Have on Local Jobs and Economies

WASHINGTON, March 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Mayors from cities across the country are cited in a report released today by The Philanthropic Collaborative (TPC) summarizing the positive impact foundations and the nonprofits they support have on local economies.  The report can be found at TPCJobs.org. These mayors include Los Angeles Mayor Anthony Villaraigosa; Lincoln, Neb. Mayor Chris Beutler; Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker and Durham, N.C. Mayor Bill Bell. Case studies mentioned in the report focus on non-profit organizations that have provided jobs in each of the mayors' cities, therefore improving the local economy.

The report details how private and community foundations support job creation programs and also highlights the role of foundations as laboratories of innovation for addressing our country's unemployment issues. The report also illustrates that foundations are both direct and indirect employers, investing in self-sustaining programs that create jobs and expand economic opportunities in communities nationwide.

Referring to the Los Angeles non-profit organization, Summer Night Lights, featured in the report, Villaraigosa said, "It is only through public/private partnerships that we are able to build effective violence reduction programs like Summer Night Lights. As providers and supporters of crucial services in our City, we are at our very best when philanthropy and government partner together as we have around this initiative."

The most recent statistics show that the work of private and community foundations supported more than 9.2 million jobs nationwide. The latest data available indicates that the nonprofit community as a whole provided 12.9 million jobs, or approximately 9.7 percent of the country's workforce. Every dollar they provided to charities and other programs produced more than eight dollars in direct economic benefits to cities and communities nationwide. Foundations are able to do this, because they are able to take risks to find solutions to social problems that for profit businesses and governments cannot. Foundations are able to support flexible, responsive and creative solutions to social problems, not simply in alleviating symptoms.

"Among other things, foundations fund job training and life skills enhancement programs that lead to employment and lay the groundwork for financial security. They also fund extraordinary research that leads to innovations that advance human welfare and to new companies and jobs," said John Tyler, chairman of TPC and vice president of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

Additional case studies in the report focus on the impact foundations and non-profits have in Augusta, Maine; Baltimore, Md.; Boston, Mass. and Great Falls, Mont.

For more information, please visit TPCJobs.org

About The Philanthropic Collaborative

The Philanthropic Collaborative (TPC) is a non-partisan organization that brings together foundations, charities and elected officials to provide information to policy makers and the general public about the positive impact of philanthropic foundation giving. TPC promotes understanding about the important role private and community foundations play in improving America's communities, and specifically, how foundation giving generates substantial and widespread economic and social benefits for all Americans.

SOURCE The Philanthropic Collaborative