Letter from the Chair
The Generosity Commission has been created to reimagine generosity in America. It will do so by commissioning new research, analyzing trendlines, conducting a national conversation and making policy recommendations based on what we learn. Those recommendations will be an important result of the Generosity Commission and our approach to them is purposeful. The aim is to make recommendations that are both data-driven and politically possible.
Our work to understand the current perspectives and challenges for policymakers is underway. Through conversations with legislators and their staff, we are introducing the work of the Generosity Commission and expressing our desire to work together. We also recently provided an overview of the Generosity Commission’s goals and key areas of work to the participants of United Philanthropy Forum’s Foundations on the Hill, an event that brings individuals representing various aspects of philanthropy together to meet with elected officials and staff.
We are confident that policy ideas and recommendations originating from a research-led, data-driven, non-partisan, and collaborative approach will lead to a brighter, reimagined future of generosity.
Thanks for your interest in the work of the Commission. You can learn more at The Generosity Commission website.
With warmest regards,
Ted Grossnickle
Chair, Working Committee
The Generosity Commission
Member Profile
Sonya Campion
President, Campion Advocacy Fund; Trustee, Campion Foundation
About Sonya:
Sonya is the president of the Campion Advocacy Fund and a trustee of the Campion Foundation where she provides leadership and direction for the organization’s mission to end homelessness, protect public lands and climate, and strengthen nonprofits.
Sonya’s civic engagement is an extension of her personal passions and her professional pursuits in bringing the sector together, and she actively uses her own voice to advocate for change. She is a founding board member of Funders Together to End Homelessness; helped launch the national “Stand for Your Mission” board advocacy campaign with BoardSource; established “A Way Home Washington” to end youth homelessness and is currently chairing a COVID response task force for Washington State Governor Inslee. She serves on the board of Seattle, King & Snohomish YWCA, Whitman College Board of Overseers and Independent Sector and is an active political leader locally and nationally.
She brings 35 years of professional fundraising experience to her work at The Campion Advocacy Fund, including 20 years as Vice President of The Collins Group. Committed to strengthening the fundraising profession in order to leverage more effective philanthropy, she is one of the rare philanthropic professionals to be honored for lifetime achievement in both professional fundraising and grantmaking, with distinguished honors from Puget Sound Business Journal, Nonprofit Times, and Association of Fundraising Professionals.
In Sonya’s words:
Why is the work of the Generosity Commission so crucial?
I believe that the nonprofit sector is critical to everything that makes our communities worth living in. If giving continues to decline, our relationship to civil society’s values of inclusion, opportunity, fairness, inspiration and so much more is at risk.
“We are confident that policy ideas and recommendations originating from a research-led, data-driven, non-partisan, and collaborative approach will lead to a brighter, reimagined future of generosity.” – Ted Grossnickle, Working Committee Chair
Current Insights on Generosity
DC Download Highlights Important Policy Changes
The DC Download is a regular blog from Independent Sector on policy impacting the charitable sector. Learn More: DC Download April 2021 — Independent Sector
National Council of Nonprofits Tracks Policy Trends for Nonprofits
The National Council of Nonprofits tracks regional and national trends to identify how policies and practices within the nonprofit community and at all levels of government – local, state, and federal – affect the ability of community-based nonprofits to meet their missions. Learn More: Trends & Policy Issues | National Council of Nonprofits
“We Must Embrace Radical Generosity With or Without COVID”
Asha Curran, CEO of Giving Tuesday and a member of the Working Committee of the Generosity Commission, has written an opinion piece about the need for radical generosity to help society recover, reimagine and rebuild from the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn More: We Must Embrace Radical Generosity With or Without COVID | Opinion (newsweek.com)
Urban Institute’s Podcast, Critical Value Discusses Value of Children Developing Charitable Identity
The Urban Institute’s podcast, Critical Value discusses how children learn about charitable giving and develop their own philanthropic identity. Listen Here: Critical Value Podcast | Urban Institute
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