Highlights

The Patricia Kind Family Foundation's Partners Fund has awarded grants to the following 27 non-profit organizations working in Philadelphia:

• Andrée Collective, Philadelphia, PA 
  The Andrée Collective serves female survivors of complex trauma who have fled intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking through supportive programs offering employment, therapy, and financial literacy. Their employment program uses wedding and event planning to teach participants transferable career skills through paid apprenticeships.

• Asylum Pride House, Philadelphia, PA
  The Asylum Pride House was founded in 2022 with the mission to provide long-term housing, initial resources, and case management services exclusively for LGBTQIA+ asylum-seeking immigrants.

• Azzim Dukes Initiative, Philadelphia, PA
  The Azzim Dukes Initiative (ADI), Philadelphia's authentic youth boxing nonprofit, uses boxing as a vehicle for youth development and violence reduction. ADI provides skill-based, age-appropriate boxing instruction, mentoring, and meals to people under 25 from across the region. We believe that every kid is a contender, and the best defense is knowing your options.

• Black Girls Love Math, Philadelphia, PA
  Black Girls Love Math (BGLM) builds positive math identities for Black girls by creating joyful out of school time learning spaces (experiences) that strengthen academic skills and inspire career pathways.

• Black Men Heal, Ardmore, PA
  Black Men Heal (BMH) provides free access to mental health treatment, psycho-education, and community resources to men of color.

• Camp Sojourner, Philadephia, PA
  The mission of Camp Sojourner is to help girls/youth ages 8–18 become leaders who take charge of their own lives and help create positive change in their communities. We accomplish this goal by providing educational opportunities for personal growth, community building, and social change, through our affordable overnight summer camp and year-round service projects, mentoring, and creative arts.

• Connectedly (formerly Supportive Older Women's Network), Philadelphia, PA
  Connectedly strengthens community support networks, reduces social isolation, and improves the well-being of older adults. Resources and programming are provided to older adults who are the head of their household and raising their grandchildren. 

• Diamond Beauty Cosmetics & Academy, Philadelphia, PA
  Diamond Beauty Academy's mission is to empower youth through the creative arts of beauty, cosmetic chemistry, and entrepreneurship by providing hands-on education, mental wellness support, financial wellness training, workforce development pathways, and social impact leadership that build confidence, creativity, and economic opportunity for young people from all backgrounds.

• Discovery Pathways, Philadelphia, PA
  Discovery Pathway's mission is to uplift the well-being of the community and environment through experiential, nature-based programs and by providing hands-on environmental education to urban youth.

• El Comité de Trabajadorxs de Restaurantes-the Restaurant Worker Collective, Philadelphia, PA
  El Comité de Trabajadorxs de Restaurantes empowers Philadelphia's restaurant workforce through a worker-led model that blends organizing, leadership development, and community-rooted support.

• Gentle Gratitude, Philadelphia, PA
  Gentle Gratitude provides under-resourced communities in Philadelphia access to fundamental resources such as menstrual products, food, and winter clothing. These resources empower those impacted to lead more dignified lives.  

• Hand2Paw Foundation, Philadelphia, PA
  Hand2Paw provides a safe and supportive work environment for youth, ages 15–24, who are experiencing housing insecurity or in foster care, as a means of building resilience, compassion, and connection with people, animals, and the community. Hand2Paw provides paid internships working with homeless animals that enhance social-emotional learning, job preparedness and healing.

• Karen Community Association of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
  KCAP empowers Karen refugees by preserving Karen cultural heritage and traditional food practices, creating access to essential services and strengthening community wellbeing. KCAP was formed by Karen community leaders to address the unique needs of refugees from language barriers, technology inaccessibility, food insecurity, loss of culture, social isolation, and healing from trauma.

• New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
  NSM supports Philadelphia’s immigrant communities through a three-pronged approach involving accompaniment, political education, and grassroots organizing.

• Northwest Mutual Aid Collective, Inc., Philadelphia, PA
  NWMA's mission is to combat food insecurity and food waste by providing home-delivered fresh produce and pantry essentials to seniors, disabled residents, and low-income families in Northwest Philadelphia while also supporting local pantries, shelters, and community initiatives across the city to ensure no neighbor goes hungry.

• One House at a Time, Ambler, PA
  OHAAT's mission is to help families who are currently lacking resources to establish a self-sufficient life by providing them with the necessities of a functional home. Through the Beds for Kids program, they provide children and youth living in poverty with beds, bedding, and tools that encourage healthy bedtime habits, so they can get the quality and sufficient sleep they need to thrive.

• People's Kitchen Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
  The People's Kitchen's (PKP) mission is to build community by making and serving food with dignity--without stigma, and free to all who need it. They combine perfectly sound rescued food with the highest-quality organic vegetables and pasture-raised meats from local Pennsylvania farms to fight both hunger and the waste of our industrial food system.

• Philly Community Wireless, Philadelphia, PA
  Philly Community Wireless' (PCW) mission is to bridge the digital divide by building large-scale, no-cost internet networks in marginalized neighborhoods of Philadelphia. By developing an alternative model for expanding broadband access and adoption, PCW empowers communities to be involved in the construction, maintenance, and design of a public utility that provides sustainable connectivity for all.

• Philly Goat Project, Inc., Narberth, PA
  The Philly Goat Project (PGP) was founded in 2018 with a mission to provide nature-based programming in education, wellness, and community engagement. The teen internship program offers paid opportunities to neighborhood students, providing leadership training and post-internship employment assistance.

• PMichael Boone Foundation, Philadelphia, PA
  The PMichael Boone Foundation empowers youth in Philadelphia through education, workforce skills, and personal development. They provide hands-on programs in barbering, entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and wellness to help young people build confidence, discipline, and real career pathways.

• Power of Paint Art Academy & Management, Philadelphia, PA
  Power of Paint delivers preventive, direct-service programming through after-school programs, summer and winter recess camps, community workshops, and intergenerational initiatives. These programs serve as a pathway to healing, emotional wellness, leadership, and equity for youth and communities most impacted by systemic harm.

• Rubye's Kids, Elkins Park, PA
  Rubye's Kids empowers children in need, especially those experiencing homelessness, by providing educational and personal care items, as well as joyful, enriching experiences that promote strong values, education, respect for self and others.

• Sanctuary Farm Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
  Sanctuary Farm seeks to address the health inequities resulting from systemic racial oppression and economic injustice by converting abandoned and neglected areas in our community into spaces that promote safety, hospitality, nutrition, and growth.

• Sankofa Healing Studio, Philadelphia, PA
  Sankofa Healing Studio fosters healing, empowerment, and resilience for low-income people and families in Philadelphia impacted by incarceration, adverse life experiences, and systemic inequities. SHS provides direct services, advocacy, and resource navigation from inside and beyond the walls of incarceration.

• Sunday LOVE Project, Philadelphia, PA
  The mission of The Sunday LOVE Project is to share food amongst those experiencing food insecurity in our community. The Project operates as a free-choice community grocery store.

• The Center-Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
  The Center-Philadelphia serves as daytime drop-in shelter for adults experiencing homelessness in Center City, providing a safe environment where guests can access essential hygiene services, warm meals, and comprehensive social support without requiring identification or proof of income.

• Unscripted Project, Philadelphia, PA
  The Unscripted Project equips students with the social emotional building blocks to achieve personal and professional success through the power of improvisational theater education. We aim to create a world in which every child graduates from school prepared to embrace life's challenges, seize opportunities, and unlock their own potential.
  
  These grants were made possible through the generous support of our donors to the Partners Fund:

• Hamilton Family Charitable Trust
• Independence Foundation
• Regional Foundation
• Scattergood Foundation
• Scholler Foundation
• The Philadelphia City Fund
• William Penn Foundation
• AFE Strategies LLC
• Anonymous Business
• Glenmede
• Jimenez Strategies
• Peachtree Catering and Events
• PWP Video
• Shift Capital
• Two Five One Consulting
• Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program
• Zenith Wealth Partners
• Martin Alfaro
• Anonymous Individual Donors (6)
• David and Margaret Berger Bradley
• Richard Binswanger
• Nina Cohen
• Jennifer and Sahil Dhawan
• Carol Gerard Lynn
• Greg Goldman
• Hilary Green
• Alexandra and Paul Herzan
• Amy Holdsman
• Helen and Bryan Horstmann-Allen
• Megha Kulshreshtha
• Christina Kind
• Andy and Valerie Kind-Rubin
• Emily Kind-Rubin
• Liz Kind-Rubin
• Molly Kind-Rubin
• Heidi Knoblauch and Kelly McNamee
• Vanessa Lowe
• Laura and Marc McKenna
• Clemens and Claudia Pietzner

Microsoft Tech for Social Impact is dedicated to providing affordable and accessible technology to help nonprofits of all sizes achieve their mission. That’s why Microsoft offers grants and discounts for our products and services to eligible nonprofits, including products like Azure, Dynamics 365, and Microsoft 365. 

To learn more about Microsoft’s nonprofit offers, download the Microsoft Nonprofit Grants Proposal.

To get started with Microsoft nonprofit grants and discounts, register and confirm your organization’s eligibility. Already registered as a nonprofit? Login to your Microsoft Nonprofit page and access Admin Center.

• Free access to Foundation Directory Professional: our best-in-class prospect research tool that helps nonprofits identify and connect with over 240,000 U.S. grantmakers. Smaller nonprofits with under $10 million in revenue that have lost federal funding are now eligible. Learn more here.

We at Nonprofit Finance Fund are considering what actions we might take to support the sector in this difficult environment. The fight is going to be lengthy, and we all need to muster energy and heart to sustain it. Here are immediate actions we can all take right now:

Three Actions for Nonprofits:

1. Scenario plan. Funding is under threat for many of us with direct or pass-through federal funding. Model out different scenarios, assessing the risk level to different funding streams, and the implications and options should they cease. We offer a free scenario planning tool here that can be helpful; it is part of a series of resources on building resilience during uncertain times.
2. Cash flow planning is critical. Our cash flow projection template (also free) is another valuable tool as organizations plan for uncertainty.
3. Access the many great resources that have been put out there by others supporting the field. Just a few:

• Advocacy tips, tools, and events for nonprofits from Independent Sector
• Catchafire nonprofit planning resources
• Protecting human services resiliency roundup from Human Services Council of New York
• Advocacy resources for foundations from United Philanthropy Forum
• Legally focused resource and updates from Democracy 2025.

Education Law Center has compiled  resources that explain students’ rights, schools’ responsibilities, and tools for navigating issues with confidence and clarity - Immigrant Students’ Rights fact sheet.

ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS AND RESOURCES TO HIGHLIGHT from Education Law Center

• Update forms with Emergency Contacts and Permissions to Pick Up a Child: Schools should remind parents and guardians to update their emergency contact information and permissions for non-parent individuals to pick up their child from school. These forms should be circulated by schools for updates at regular intervals for all students, including now. In the alternative, parents can send an email instruction to teacher and principal.
• Non-Parent Caregiver Enrollment and Education Decisionmaker: In the event a parent is detained or deported, Pennsylvania law allows a non-parent with whom the child is living to enroll the student in school and act as the student’s education decisionmaker, even if the non-parent does not have legal guardianship of the child. While this form should not be submitted unless custodial parent(s) are unavailable, families should consider the option and their preferred designation in advance. More information and sample forms are available from ELC in English and Spanish.
• Planning for Custody: An Informational Guide for Immigrant Families: Family law is state-specific. Information and sample forms under Pennsylvania law regarding child custody or temporary custodian arrangements, parent and child separation, involvement with the Department of Human Services, options for detained or deported parents, and International Travel and Relocation are available from Philadelphia Legal Assistance, https://philalegal.org/resources/planning-custody-informational-guide-immigrant-families.
• For early ed providers on these issues of ICE contacts - This resource from CLASP is the best I’ve seen specific to early ed: https://www.clasp.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/2025_safespacesguide.pdf
• And National Immigration Law Center has great resources:

-for formerly protected/sensitive locations (hospital, church, daycare): https://www.nilc.org/resources/factsheet-trumps-rescission-of-protected-areas-policies-undermines-safety-for-all/
-for employers generally: https://www.nilc.org/resources/a-guide-for-employers-what-to-do-if-immigration-comes-to-your-workplace/
-about warrant requirements: https://www.nilc.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2025-Subpoenas-Warrants_.pdf

• ICE contact in public, at home – good video explainers in multiple languages: https://www.wehaverights.us/

Demographics via Candid empowers nonprofits to share vital information about their organizations one time (Data1x) on their Candid profile, where it can be accessed and re-used by all. If you are a nonprofit organization, you can get started right away by updating your free profile. Learn more.

We encourage funders, nonprofit member associations, and philanthropy serving organizations to join us in standardizing demographic data and reducing reporting burdens on nonprofits.

Over the past 2 years the Patricia Kind Family Foundation (PKFF) has been involved in developing a strategic plan which will strengthen the focus of our grantmaking and community networking activities. The information we gathered from over 500 partners and community members will enable the Foundation to fine tune our work in the coming years.

In order for PKFF to extend grantmaking in Philadelphia for the long-term, the Trustees have agreed to pause new direct service grants until 2026. This decision will give us the opportunity to thoughtfully align our grantmaking practices with our budget as we evaluate our spend rate and explore creative funding opportunities. During this time, we will continue with our capacity and collaboration efforts as well as our ongoing grant commitments.

The next online application cycle will open Summer/Fall 2025 for funding in 2026. In addition to continuing our primary focus of direct service general operational support to help communities struggling with the impacts of poverty, we are also supporting capacity and collaboration building. Additionally, we are reaffirming our commitment to prioritize funding smaller Philadelphia organizations supporting historically marginalized communities with operating budgets less than $1 million.

As we go through this process over the next year, we will continue to update the community and schedule conversations to share our progress and get feedback. In the meantime, if you have thoughts you would like to share, please feel free to contact us as we are interested in hearing from members of the community.

Please reach out if you have any questions.

The Patricia Kind Family Foundation is pleased to announce that we awarded 33 Organizational Capacity Building grants to BIPOC-led Philadelphia non-profit organizations with budgets under $1 million. We are doubly excited that the William Penn Foundation will match $100,000 towards these grants. The total amount awarded was $282,500. These new one-year grants were part of a pilot program implemented as part of our Strategic Plan which we approved in January 2023.

Throughout the previous year, the Patricia Kind Family Foundation was led by Strategy Arts through a strategic planning process. In January 2023, the board approved a three-year Strategic Plan for the Foundation that emerged from a stakeholder inclusive, in-depth decision-making process.  The Patricia Kind Family Foundation looked three years into the future as we considered our vision for the foundation. PKFF’s commitment to direct service grants will remain the emphasis of our grant-making. Additionally, we agreed on four areas to form an expanded vision which included capacity building, coalition building, advocacy, and trustee and staff development. These focus areas are intended to supplement and enrich PKFF’s commitment to direct service grants. 

After almost 25 years of leadership in the day-to-day management of The Patricia Kind Family Foundation, Laura Kind McKenna has resigned from being an active board member effective June 3, 2022.  She is now serving as Trustee Emeritus.

Laura was our first Managing Trustee, running the Foundation for the first years of its existence from 1998-2016. From 2016 to 2022 she served as Treasurer and Head of our Finance Committee.  Laura is well known as a strong, consistent voice urging all foundations to use their endowment assets to support mission along with grants. Under her leadership PKFF became one of the earliest adopters of mission aligned investing, eventually steering PKFF’s endowment to over 95% mission alignment.

Laura and her husband Marc have four grown children and nine grandchildren living all over the country and she's looking forward to having time for more travel.  Laura has been trying to "get bored and eat bonbons" for several years, although we all doubt she will.