2018
Year in Review
Delivering impact on people and environment
From a field of sixty-six applicants in our inaugural year, we selected four organizations as our 2018 grant partner cohort. Meet our grant partners here and watch their videos.
Word spread, and 105 organizations applied for next year’s cohort. Finalists submitted video pitches to demonstrate potential for impact, viability, and change. Learn more about 2019 finalists here!
Our unrestricted operating grants increase capacity for growth and expansion.
“We regularly leveraged the funding and partnership provided by The Greater Sum Foundation to secure additional grants. We are confident that The Greater Sum Foundation played an important role in signalling that we have the quality of programs and institutional capacity necessary to receive national grants. — Adena Moulton, Digital Harbor Foundation
Our dedicated volunteers offer both specialized subject matter expertise and general-interest expertise of value to our entire network.
View our 2018 nonprofit resources
“Greater Sum’s subject matter experts were wonderful sources of advice and encouragement throughout the year. They answered nitty-gritty questions from how to prepare for fundraising meetings and events to how to orient new staff to how to choose the best software. -Dorothy Tegeler, Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project
Outcomes
In 2018, the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP) provided legal assistance and support to over 3,000 asylum seekers in over 40 states.
In 2018, Trans Student Educational Resources reached millions of new people while doubling our budget & presenting at over a dozen LGBTQ conferences to hundreds of transgender people.
In 2018, the Digital Harbor Foundation provided technology and career-readiness education to 1,250 Baltimore youth and trained 241 educators around the country to incorporate technology education into their curriculum, with an indirect impact on 38,505 youth.
In 2018, the West Virginia Alternative Wastewater Coalition identified and analyzed 6 new alternative wastewater treatment systems with potential to improve health and environmental outcomes and presented findings to 3 public service districts and 2 state agencies.
Director’s Letter
Anna Taylor
Executive Director
I've learned a lot about start-ups in my first year with The Greater Sum Foundation. During my first month, you might have found me surreptitiously Googling terminology on my phone. ("MVPs? Surely he’s not talking about baseball.") The experience has been a valuable lesson in empathy with the nonprofit founders we serve.
In 2018, we helped the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project, Digital Harbor Foundation, Trans Student Educational Resources, and WVU Land Use & Sustainable Development Law Clinic increase their ability to solve significant problems in new and innovative ways.
As I review applications for our 2019 cohort, I’m awed by the potential of early-stage nonprofits to bring about positive change in our focus areas of education, health, environment, and community building. Our services are clearly needed; we want to increase our impact by providing funding, mentoring, and professional development opportunities to a greater number of nonprofits.
Thank you for taking a look at what we've built so far and what we have planned for next year. Our goal is to identify promising, early-stage practices in the nonprofit sector whose work most deserves our amplification efforts and connect them with caring citizens who can make that happen.
As we begin a second year of service, we’ll work to connect those who wish to help with meaningful work that taps into their talents. Thank you to all who have donated, volunteered, and opened your networks. Every five-minute favor has contributed to this year's impact. The whole is indeed greater than the sum of the parts.
