Since 2019, The Columbus Foundation has led a human-centered design practice that helps nonprofit and social sector leaders gain a deeper understanding of our community’s assets, challenges, and needs. Done in collaboration with local nonprofits, city and regional partners, and members of the community, this innovative approach empowers individuals with firsthand experience of a community issue to help co-create solutions that promote positive change. In 2024, The Columbus Foundation’s Designing for Community Well-Being team sought to better understand why some high school students in Columbus are chronically absent from school.

In today’s hyper-paced world, political and social powers are seemingly in a perpetual state of disruption and disorder. Why is this? What has changed in the early days of the 21st century to make it so? The recently released, bestselling book, New Power, looks at the way ideas and movements spread in this new age of connectivity.

Dorothy Cage Evans’ dream was to ensure underserved and economically challenged youth in our community had the tools they needed to succeed in life. These tools far exceeded her investments in laptops, books, and school-related expenses, though her significant contributions to academic success cannot be understated. Over the course of 25 years, Dorothy and her family awarded hundreds of scholarships through the Cage Family Scholarship Fund and the Greater Columbus Community Helping Hands, Inc. Scholarship Fund.

What can we do to bolster the culture and the practice of working together to meet the formidable challenges of our day despite our differences? If we can vote together, we can work together, and the bonds we strengthen and the bridges we build will define us for generations to come.

Strengthening our community's social fabric begins with forging meaningful connections and relationships. On the blog, Kate Oliphint, Director of the Center for HumanKindness at The Columbus Foundation, discusses the powerful role of social connections on individual and community well-being.

Discover how Mansion Day School, one of The Columbus Foundation’s 5 Nonprofits to Watch in 2024, fosters academic excellence and lifelong learning. Located in Columbus' Near East Side, this coeducational school builds strong educational, social, and cultural foundations for preschool through 5th-grade students in a diverse, nurturing environment.

For more than 75 years, the Foundation has served as the vehicle through which thousands of people have expressed their own ideals and optimism through philanthropic investment in our community. While the work continues, and the hills to climb remain steep, we applaud the generosity of our donors’ commitment to our community and those who call it home.

Most people are uncomfortable talking about grief and loss. So why should professional advisors do it?

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