A Message from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving to Our Nonprofit Partners

As your community foundation, we are closely monitoring developing federal policy changes and their impact on our region. We understand these developments, combined with the sunsetting of COVID response funding, are creating significant uncertainty for our nonprofit partners and the communities they serve. 

As the implications of these changes continue to unfold, we want to affirm our commitment to working alongside you during this challenging period. These are the early days of the new executive administration, and we recognize the importance of carefully assessing immediate impact while monitoring and preparing for longer-term implications. Our communities rely on federal resources for basic needs, education, and workforce development, and we share concerns about how recent announcements may affect critical services across our region. 

As we mark our centennial year, we remain committed to serving the diverse needs across our 29-town Greater Hartford region. Our endowment represents a century of building community trust, and we balance our responsibility to preserve these resources for future generations with the pressing needs of today. Clearly, the Foundation's resources cannot match the scale of federal funding. Still, we intend to be responsive and strategic in our support. Our approach includes: 

• Learning how these changes are affecting your work and the communities you serve. 
• Providing capacity-building resources to help you assess funding risks and develop contingency plans. 
• Exploring ways to increase flexibility in our grantmaking and processes including reporting. 
• Drawing on relevant lessons from our COVID response experience. 
• Engaging philanthropic partners locally and nationally to share knowledge and resources. 

Our mission—and our strategic focus on combatting racism and advancing equity and inclusion throughout Greater Hartford—remains unwavering. We believe that inclusive communities are thriving communities, offering stronger economic potential and improved wellbeing for all residents. This commitment guides how we deploy our resources, prioritizing partnerships that address the region's most significant disparities. 

To accomplish this approach, we will need to stay connected. One of the best ways to get in touch with us to talk about changes and challenges is to contact your community impact officer: 

• If you are a current grantee, reach out to your community impact officer by email. 
• If you are unsure who may be your community impact officer or are not a current grantee, contact us at applications@hfpg.org. Our team reviews all messages daily. To ensure we can provide thoughtful responses to everyone reaching out, please allow up to one week for a reply.  
• All community members can visit our page Resources and Tools for Navigating Uncertain Times. We will continue to update these resources as we collaborate with partners across our region to address emerging challenges and opportunities.