From the Columbus Foundation

What does it take to be a “sophisticated giver”? Care for others, yes. Curiosity, yes. Discernment, yes. Clearly you have all three, as you have opened this valuable publication to see what catches your eye, what impresses you, and what motivates you to give from within this impressive array of great people and organizations doing important work for our community.

The Columbus Foundation has, for 80 years, been dedicated to the pursuit of helping others through the most effective philanthropy possible. The donors to and of The Columbus Foundation, as well as our partners across this great region, have built this place of beneficial practice to a scale that is now larger than New York City’s community foundation—a truly impressive accomplishment.

For all that suggests about the generosity, the sense of place, the connection we feel with the well-being of our fellow residents, and the stewardship track record of The Columbus Foundation, we are all far from done. Borrowing from the notion pioneered by academic James Carse, this is an “infinite game.” Milestones and accomplishments are not stopping points, but rather fueling stations for the next frontier of philanthropy.

We are proud to support this Charity Register as a well-designed way to intrigue you about some of the extraordinary work being done in our community. Some of the organizations you’ll see are household names and others will no doubt be new to you. I have recently been referring to the nonprofit sector as the Ready Sector, because, if properly supported, these organizations are where our community ensures that everyone can be ready to take advantage of the vast opportunities that have been earned by our economic development successes. Nonprofits are the necessary other half of what it takes to make the most of those opportunities. But, they definitely need your support—your fuel, if you will—to make our community whole. Please consider how you can help them help us realize a magnificent future for all.

In a year when the music headlines were dominated by epic tours by Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, when I look for inspiration across the musicians I’ve worked with or admired over the years, I turn to Tina Turner, who we lost in 2023, and who was summed up by Wesley Morris in The New York Times as follows: “Tina was an average height—5’4”, maybe. But here’s where a scale fails. Put her in an arena, she scraped the sky.”

That’s what we wish for you—to reach your own potential to make a difference in the lives of others as you expand your success to include greater significance. These might go down in history as the glory days of promise for our community, but we cannot parlay that promise into reality, indeed “scrape the sky” together, without you and your discerning, caring, and bountiful generosity.