Guiding Community Development on New Tracks
A narrow band of steel almost hidden within the massive infrastructure of a railway track, the switch point is the mechanism to change the course of a train from one track to another. At the Switchpoint Foundation, we make strategic investments to get nonprofits on the right track, making investments that lead them to sustainability and self-sufficiency as they make positive changes happen in our communities.
EIN: 93-4955624
Our mission
We specifically seek to work with 501(c)3 organizations in the Pottstown area who are looking to put our region on a track toward a better future. We prioritize building basic industries and enterprises that bring resources into, and improve the quality of life in, our region. Specifically, our giving will prioritize the following:
Mentorship
Switchpoint sustains mentorships through strategic funding initiatives that prioritize equitable access, collaborative partnerships, and long-term impact.
Economic Development
At Switchpoint, we ignite economic development through targeted funding initiatives, empowering local entrepreneurs and revitalizing communities for lasting prosperity.
Homelessness
We provide financial support to direct-service organizations that address the underlying causes of persistent poverty by implementing proven solutions to complex social and economic issues. We prioritize backing programs that have successfully promoted economic self-sufficiency and enhanced family and/or resilience. Additionally, we favor initiatives with the capacity to expand effective strategies to serve a larger number of individuals in need.
Mentorship
Switchpoint sustains mentorships through strategic funding initiatives that prioritize equitable access, collaborative partnerships, and long-term impact.
Economic Development
At Switchpoint, we ignite economic development through targeted funding initiatives, empowering local entrepreneurs and revitalizing communities for lasting prosperity.
Homelessness
We provide financial support to direct-service organizations that address the underlying causes of persistent poverty by implementing proven solutions to complex social and economic issues. We prioritize backing programs that have successfully promoted economic self-sufficiency and enhanced family and/or resilience. Additionally, we favor initiatives with the capacity to expand effective strategies to serve a larger number of individuals in need.
The Switchpoint Foundation seeks to make transformational and lasting positive change in its service area, the greater Pottstown region. The Foundation hopes to make contributions of $2.5-$3M annually to non-profit partners committed to making transformational, positive change in Pottstown. The Foundation will sunset in 2054.
Switchpoint Foundation Tranches
Anchor Institution
Incubation
Amplifying Change
The anchor institution building program will work with 3-5/4-6 nonprofits located within a 30-mile radius of Pottstown each year with the goal of helping them fulfill their mission and reach sustainability. These nonprofits should themselves be basic employers, or have a reasonable chance to grow into basic employers. Basic employers bring revenue into a region. Alternatively, Anchor Institutions with which we partner should provide services that assist with housing and homelessness, personal finance management, substance addiction, mental health and life coaching, the alleviation of suffering and the promotion of care of the elderly, the infirm, and animals.
Assistance from the Foundation will take the form of direct funding (preferably as match funding), grant seeking assistance, grant writing assistance, donor development, endowment development, board and staff capacity development, and strategic planning. The Foundation will, on average devote 5-8 hours of staff time each week to each Anchor Institution with which it partners. Roughly 80% of the Foundation’s resources go to supporting the incubation of these anchor institutions.
Amplifying Change
The remainder of the Foundation’s resources are invested as match funding to non-profits within 45 miles of Pottstown, or whose work impacts Pottstown. The work of these non-profits shall compliment the Foundation’s goals of making transformative change in Pottstown, and can include service areas such as housing and homelessness, personal finance management, substance addiction, mental health and life coaching, the alleviation of suffering and the promotion of care of the elderly, the infirm, and animals. Priority is given to projects whose work falls into one of the four core interests, Mentorship/Empowerment, Homelessness, Economic Development, and Arts and Culture, with the possibility that a charity funded through this program could be chosen as one of the anchor incubation partners at a later time.
Switchpoint funding in this category would be used as match funding and would prioritize new initiatives, capital projects, or endowment support rather than merely funding normal operating costs. Switchpoint would enter into multi-year agreements for funding only if the proposed project was (1) a new initiative, (2) a capital project, or (3) endowment support, or was part of a growth plan whose goal was independent sustainability.