GCF unveils $1B plan to boost regional impact

The Greater Cincinnati Foundation has launched a new strategic business plan with a bold goal: investing $1 billion over the next decade to address growing community needs across the region.

The plan outlines a broad realignment of the foundation’s structure and priorities, including hiring new leadership, expanding national partnerships, and setting clear, measurable goals to track progress.

“This is a vital step in rolling out our new business strategy and delivering the positive outcomes our community deserves,” said Matthew Randazzo, president and CEO of GCF. “We’re making sure we have the right people in the right seats, with clear accountability for our contributions.”

To help drive its new strategy, the foundation is creating key leadership roles focused on education and housing. It also plans to restructure its Community Investment team to improve coordination and effectiveness. Other changes include:

• A new Strategic Partnerships team to grow relationships with corporate and national funders.
• An expanded Philanthropic Strategies team to support a more proactive fundraising approach.
• A new technology roadmap to support innovation and long-term growth.

GCF will invest $150 million of the planned $1 billion in three priority areas: education, housing affordability across income levels, and cultural and community vibrancy. Funding will come through grantmaking, impact investing and collaboration with public and private partners.

To meet its $1 billion investment goal, the foundation will need to raise more than $1.5 billion over 10 years.

“Our path to reaching this goal includes establishing new partnerships with corporate donors and activating even greater generosity from individual and family donors,” said Sarah Weiss, GCF’s director of philanthropy. “We’re also focused on attracting more regional and national funding.”

Investing in the city, people

GCF recently added three staff members to pursue national funding opportunities and secured a $5 million investment from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to support regional health-related initiatives.

As part of the new plan, GCF is developing new tools, including a possible community dashboard, to measure and communicate the impact of its work in collaboration with local partners.

“The disparities in our region are getting bigger,” Randazzo said. “We’re being very intentional about where we go deeper and which big outcomes we want to help create. We’re going into much bolder work.”