Toward the Next 25 Years

by | Dec 29, 2021

Last month, I had the pleasure of participating in a video interview with other founders and past board members of Community Initiatives to celebrate the organization’s 25th anniversary. Serving on its board of directors for 10 years after its 1996 incorporation gave me the opportunity to go beyond giving clients occasional legal advice on specific sponsorship problems to helping to oversee the whole project management process. It was truly a laboratory for best practices, including intake and separation, policies and procedures, anticipating hazards, and staying in the black financially. Here’s more about the anniversary celebration from President and CEO Ruth Williams.
Greg Colvin   

Toward the next 25 YEARS

By Ruth Williams, President and CEO, Community Initiatives

This year marks Community Initiatives’ 25th year In Service to Great Ideas generated by and for the nonprofit sector. We are grateful to our projects and stakeholders, past and present, for being a part of our successes, which we could not have accomplished without them.

In 1996, when the need for fiscal sponsorship was identified, Community Initiatives began sponsoring San Francisco-based projects as part of the San Francisco Foundation. When Community Initiatives separated from the San Francisco Foundation, it expanded sponsorship to include organizations both inside and outside the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, it partners with more than 115 projects in 27 states nationwide and in four countries.

For our 25-year celebration, we plan to present new assets that will enrich our ability to assist our fiscally sponsored projects and the greater nonprofit community. These include:

  • Educational social media and blog posts
  • A special anniversary annual report
  • Sage Intacct Training videos
  • Lunch n’ Learns (new opportunities for fiscally sponsored projects to share)
  • White papers on finance
  • Quarterly newsletters
  • Project newsletters
  • A video tribute

An anniversary-themed annual report, to be published in early 2022, will include a spread featuring a timeline and highlighting pivotal Community Initiatives events. To gather details about this legacy, we interviewed past staff and board members Greg Colvin, Prudy Kohler, Jan Masaoka, Frances Phillips, John Kreidler, Sarah Bacon and others.

Community Initiatives is very proud of our successes and looks forward, in the next 25 years, to continued growth and achievements on behalf of all our past, current and future projects, and the greater nonprofit sector.

Watch a video announcing the kick-off of our anniversary celebration.


Community Initiatives board President and CEO Ruth Williams is a guest contributor