The Ross and Ruth Downing Family Foundation is a private operating foundation that provides technical assistance to area foundations and provides resources for funders and agencies.
Groups may seek technical assistance from foundation staff in terms of start-up, strategic planning, and program development. The Ross and Ruth Downing Family Foundation also provides training to nonprofit and community organizations to help them fulfill their missions. From time to time, the staff may provide assistance with grant-writing, but all services are dependent upon the availability of the Executive Director. Whenever possible, we believe that new groups benefit from working within the structure of existing organizations, partnering to provide services, rather than setting up a new and wholly separate infrastructure. We work to foster collaboration and coordination between entities.
One of the highest interests of the Ross and Ruth Downing Family Foundation is to work with funders to explore new strategies for investing in initial and ongoing projects. We believe that funders and communities must create strong partnerships that result in ongoing investments in strategies that achieve long-term tangible outcomes for the individuals and the neighborhoods served. Emphasis must move from a focus on funding programs to greater attention being paid to program evaluation results and positive change for beneficiaries. We also believe that a stronger voice must be given to persons who are the recipients of services in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of programs or services.
The Ross and Ruth Downing Family Foundation believes that youth and families are critical resources and more emphasis need to be placed on strategies that improve outcomes for individuals from birth through age twenty-two. To this end, most of the time spent on providing technical assistance or promoting new funding strategies will be expended on organizations that positively touch the lives of children.