(Oakland, CA) May 25, 2021 -- Full Circle Fund (FCF), a community that leverages resources and accelerates nonprofits to build a better Bay Area, today announced three new Grant Partners as part of its initiative to Accelerate Social Justice in a Post-COVID World. Funded by GitHub and Medallia, the Healthy Communities cohort was created to help nonprofits working on solutions to entrenched challenges and the underlying systemic issues that are behind the disproportionately detrimental impact of COVID-19 on communities of color. In addition to Healthy communities, the Post-COVID initiative includes Economic Security and Equitable Education.

“We understand that nonprofit services have been directly impacted by COVID-19 pandemic this past year at a time when many individuals seek help from local community groups,” said Jay Hirschton, CEO of FCF. “Support from GitHub and Medallia will help our nonprofit Grant Partners emerge stronger from this time of uncertainty and better serve their communities.”

Last summer, FCF interviewed and surveyed over 100 local nonprofits, funders, and others in the FCF community. The proactive outreach identified three critical strategic areas where the social sector needs support to continue to help those impacted by major public health, economic, and social upheaval. Those discussions led to the creation of the new funding initiative to help nonprofits prepare for the Post-COVID era.

“We are proud to support FCF and its Grant Partners as part of our commitment to bring together technology experts and community service organizations to improve the quality of life where we all live and work,” said Admas Kanyagia, Head of Social Impact at GitHub, the software collaboration platform home to more than 65 million developers.

“At Medallia, we're committed to helping create a world where every experience matters. That's why we're excited to collaborate with FCF and support health nonprofits leveraging technology to provide equitable experiences for their communities,” said René Carayol, Executive Vice President of Environment, Social & Governance at Medallia, a global leader in customer and employee experience.

Grant Partners will receive $15,000 in funding provided by GitHub and Medallia as well as volunteer project team members who will apply their professional skills and experience during a six month project to help Grant Partners address the biggest problems affecting the communities they serve. Grant Partners include:

• Children Now focuses on building power for kids in public policymaking to transform the systems that serve kids and improve children’s well-being, especially for kids of color, children living in poverty, and youth in foster care. The FCF project will help develop a strategic marketing analytics plan to improve communications with members of The Children’s Movement of California, a network of 4,200 direct service, business, parent, student, civil rights, faith, and community groups who care about kids and want to see public policies that support their best interests.

• CoachMe Health works to improve the lives of underserved Americans on Medicaid with personalized, culturally-sensitive, and tech-enabled care. The FCF project seeks to create a scalable marketing and brand awareness strategy to increase physician referrals and help CoachMe change the lives of 1000 patients by the end of 2021.

• Fresh Approach works at the intersection of food security, nutrition education, and public health to create long-term change in local food systems by connecting California communities with healthy food from California farmers and expanding knowledge about food and nutrition. The FCF project will create a comprehensive marketing and development strategy to support and expand the on-going Emergency Food Network program, which provides farm fresh produce sourced from mainly Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC), and organic growers in the region.

Last year as part of the Post-COVID initiative, FCF announced Okta as the sponsor of the Economic Security cohort to support disrupted retail and service workers and minority-owned small businesses. Those Grant Partner projects were completed this spring and FCF will release an Insights Report with project highlights later this year. Healthy Communities cohort projects are expected to be completed this autumn. There are still opportunities to support the Equitable Education cohort of the initiative to support nonprofits with digital transformation to build equitable education opportunities. Companies interested in assisting local nonprofits with grants and volunteers may contact dan[@]fullcirclefund.org.

About Full Circle Fund

Full Circle Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and community that leverages its professionals’ time, resources, and intellectual capital to accelerate nonprofits and build a better Bay Area. For 20 years, members from the private, public, and nonprofit sectors work in partnership with local community groups to scale solutions to the biggest problems affecting communities. Through its unique model of engaged philanthropy, Full Circle Fund has unlocked over $12 million in positive social change. For more information, visit www.fullcirclefund.org.