The SOUL of Community

Dear Friend,

When we launched the SOUL Fund last year, we weren’t sure what to expect. If 30 or 40 people had joined this new giving circle dedicated to supporting Black-led and Black-serving organizations in Fairfield County, we would have considered its first year an inspiring start.

Earlier this month, the SOUL Fund closed out its inaugural year with 114 members, far exceeding our expectations. Together, they raised $58,000 and invested in five Black led and Black serving organizations across our region.

Something is happening here that goes well beyond a giving circle. The SOUL Fund is showing us what becomes possible when people practice community together. And as we mark Black Philanthropy Month, with this year’s theme, Many Voices, One Movement, I’ve been reflecting on what the SOUL Fund is teaching us about philanthropy, collective action, and the practice of community.

Practicing Community

At the Community Foundation, we believe community is more than a place. Community is something we practice together.

The SOUL Fund began with that practice.

Two years ago, we invited community members to a conversation about Black philanthropy in Connecticut. Nine people gathered that August day, drawn together by a belief in the potential of Fairfield County’s Black community and a shared desire to contribute to its thriving.

Inspired by Black giving circles in other communities, they asked a simple question: Why don’t we have something like that here?

And then they decided to build it.

But before they could decide where to invest their resources, they needed to know one another and their community more deeply. They heard directly from nonprofit leaders. They learned about collective giving. They shared ideas, relationships, and connections.

Nine people became 18. Then 27. By the end of its inaugural year, the SOUL Fund had grown to 114 members.

The growth matters. But what happened between those numbers matters even more.

People built relationships. They developed a deeper understanding of their community. And from those relationships and that shared understanding came the will to act together.

More Than a Giving Circle

That collective action is already making a difference.

In its first year, the SOUL Fund awarded grants to My Architecture Workshops, House of Darla, Sawubona Cares, Youth Business Initiative, and Connect Us. Together, these organizations are creating opportunities for young people in STEM, entrepreneurship, and the creative fields, supporting youth mental health and well-being, and addressing inequities that limit opportunity.

But the SOUL Fund’s impact is bigger than the dollars it distributes.

The SOUL Fund didn’t create its members’ generosity or their commitment to the Black community. Those things were already there. What changed was their capacity to act together.

People found one another. Relationships formed. Understanding deepened. Individual commitment became shared purpose, and shared purpose became collective action.

That is what it means to practice community.

And it reflects the role we aspire to play as a Community Foundation: creating the conditions that allow the assets already present in our community, its people, knowledge, relationships, generosity, and commitment, to become a force for meaningful change.

Two years ago, nine people gathered and began asking questions about what might be possible.

By the end of the SOUL Fund’s first year, 114 people had joined them in building the answer.

Many voices. One movement. Community, in practice.

In Community,

Mendi Blue Paca
PRESIDENT & CEO
FAIRFIELD COUNTY’S COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

P.S. There’s a seat at the circle for you, too. Renew or join today.