Our Why

Why The Penny Foundation?

The Penny Foundation provides access to a trusted platform to give and raise funds to specifically help the Black Community, that gives you the ability to strategically fund your interests and passions in the Black Community, and ultimately improves the lives of families in Black communities.

From the widow’s mite of old, to coins and bills tucked lovingly into offering plates, piggy banks and cigar boxes, to hats passed at social events, to savings accumulated in bank accounts, to electronic financial management via apps and the World Wide Web, charitable giving takes many forms. The Penny Foundation’s roots begin in the penny savings banks, social savings clubs and benevolent funds which served as backbones and safety nets for the Black community for years. The Penny Foundation carries forward these efforts and offers a method of empowered, effective, formalized philanthropy that will help ensure that efforts which serve members of the Black community have a firm foundation and solid financial footing — for years to come.

Community, collaboration and creativity are cornerstones that form the foundation of our philanthropic philosophy. These concepts inform the support that is part of our historical legacy and inspires the intentional way in which we carry that legacy forward through identity-based giving.

The Penny Foundation’s foundation is based on stability, transparency, collaboration and sustainability over the long term. To effectively provide financial support to the community’s projects and programs requires support for internal maintenance and to be able to provide funding externally. Your gift, at every level, represents material as well as moral support of the work to strengthen the Black community.

Guiding Principles

  • Money does not inspire people.  People inspire people.
  • You do not give to the Penny Foundation.  You give through the Penny Foundation.
  • We do not just serve the community.  We are the community.

When you entrust your gift with The Penny Foundation, you ensure that your resources will be applied and multiply where they count most.

Give today.