How Co-Investment is Helping Donors Multiply Their Impact
By Erika Ritchie, Greater Green Bay Community Foundation
August 18, 2025 — Sometimes the most meaningful opportunities to give come when we least expect them. A need arises. A story catches our attention. And suddenly, giving becomes more than a personal gesture — it’s a chance to be part of something bigger.
This idea is at the heart of the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation’s local granting opportunities. These invitations connect donors with vetted requests from local nonprofits, giving individuals, families, and businesses the chance to co-invest with other donors and with the Foundation. By pooling resources, each gift becomes part of a powerful collective effort to fill funding gaps and bring important projects to life.
Tom and Kathy Adrians experienced the unexpected benefits of co-investment after opening a donor-advised fund to simplify their giving. As they began reviewing the granting opportunities presented to them, they quickly realized that giving through the Community Foundation could also expand their impact in meaningful new ways.
“While we were familiar with organizations we had historically given to, these opportunities opened us up to new organizations, and in some cases new needs and projects we likely would not have heard of,” shared Tom.
One such request from CASA of Brown County was among those that caught the Adrians’ attention this past spring. CASA trains volunteers to advocate for children who have experienced abuse or neglect and are under court protection. For each child, a CASA volunteer provides something simple yet profound: a consistent, steady adult presence in an uncertain world.
As the number of court appointments rose from 232 children in 2023 to more than 300 children in 2024, CASA’s leadership saw an immediate need for additional resources to recruit, train, and support new advocates.
“We were experiencing an all-time high in the number of children being referred to our program,” said Taylor Connell, Associate Director of Youth and Mentoring at CASA. “Without additional resources, we simply wouldn’t have been able to keep pace with the number of children needing an advocate.”
The Adrians were among five donors who came together to co-invest $11,700 in support of CASA’s request. With an additional $3,300 granted by the Foundation, CASA received a total of $15,000 — helping to ensure every child has an advocate and a voice. This was just one of several funding opportunities the Adrians and others supported.
For Tom and Kathy, the chance to step into shared giving opportunities has been both eye-opening and rewarding.
“We see this as one of the biggest advantages of working with the Foundation,” explains Tom. “It allows us to make contributions across many organizations within our community, helping with a variety of needs, to make a greater overall impact.”
They are far from alone in their experience. Just last year, Foundation fundholders made 80 gifts to local granting opportunities. Three out of every four were to organizations the donors had not previously supported through their fund. Altogether, they contributed $269,132.
For donors like the Adrians — and for nonprofits like CASA — co-investment transforms generosity into something bigger than a single gift. By pooling resources, each contribution not only helps meet a specific need but also expands the reach of the Foundation’s grantmaking resources. As donor gifts fund one request, more grant dollars are freed to support the next, creating a ripple of impact across the community.
Together, we accomplish more.
Discover how you can join with other local donors to make a greater impact at ggbcf.org/donors.
