Megha Kulshreshtha remembers the Covid pandemic differently than many of us. As the founder of Food Connect, the nonprofit that helps route would-be food waste to folks who need it, Kulshreshtha couldn’t just stay at home working on Zoom all day. She was too busy working around social distancing and other pandemic barriers just to get her job done.

Through all the ever-changing hurdles, there was always someone looking after her: Valerie Kind-Rubin, managing trustee of the Patricia Kind Family Foundation (PKFF).

“Valerie was always checking in, calling me just to ask, ‘What do you need help with?’” Kulshreshtha says. “When people talk about trust-based philanthropy? That’s it — that level of awareness, compassion and understanding. The Patricia Kind Family Fund embodies what it means to trust the community, trust the people, and allow solutions to flourish.”

PKFF was founded in 1996 by nurse-turned-philanthropist Patricia Kind, who seeded the charity with a gift from the estate of her parents. Her mission was clear from the start: “Support organizations in Philadelphia that help those struggling daily with the effects of poverty.” Since its inception, it has always funded general operating needs and avoided putting onerous paperwork demands on its grantees.

In the years since the pandemic, Food Connect has grown too big to qualify for Kind funding — but Kulshreshtha remains close to the charity, and is on the advisory board of a groundbreaking initiative PKFF has launched this year: The Partners’ Fund.

Launched with a recognition that under President Trump, nonprofits are facing their direst moment since Covid, The Partners’ Fund will combine the financial and community resources of multiple Philly funders, businesses and individuals. The goal is to mobilize resources, expand relationships and increase community impact in a way that can only happen when groups leave their silos and band together.

“This is a time of really intense public disinvestment,” says Lauren Stebbins, PFKK’s first non-family member executive director. “And it’s not as simple as saying, We’re gonna get through this! and, Sometime down the road some of the stuff can get restored! Things don’t just snap back.”

Trust and leverage

Since its founding, PKFF has made trust-based philanthropy their hallmark. They’ve distributed $63.5 million through more than 4,100 grants since 2010 alone, focusing on organizations with budgets under $1 million that support youth development, education, human services, mental and physical health, and community building in communities with high rates of financial poverty.

They give money for general operating expenses and then typically ask grantees for an annual recap that focuses on successes, challenges, what they’ve learned, and how they might incorporate those lessons moving into the second or third year of grant funding. “We are always striving to have honest relationships and partnerships where they feel safe to report on the good, the bad and the indifferent,” Kind-Rubin says.

PKFF’s support has also included opening doors to others in the philanthropic world.

Take Ordinarie Heroes (OH), a Philly-based youth support and leadership program. OH was completely volunteer-led, with a budget of less than $50,000 and hadn’t received any official grants before one in 2024 from PKFF that enabled them, among other things, to purchase a used van to safely transport home youth in their programs. They then used that three-year grant, and PKFF’s name, to secure additional funding — something PKFF urges all its grantees to do.

“Previously, foundations wouldn’t look at them because they were all-volunteer and funders questioned their sustainability — even though they had been operating for nine years,” Kind-Rubin says. “Our three-year investment made a big difference because they could now ensure potential funders that they had the stability to continue operating, thus being a ‘safe bet’ for new funders. They now have a budget of more than $250,000.”

Kulshreshtha says that the beauty of the grantee-grantor relationship she forged with PKFF was that she was not bogged down in paperwork or grant reports. “Our focus didn’t need to be on what the funders needed — we could focus on what the residents needed,” she says. “True trust-based philanthropy allows the focus to be where it needs to be.”

Now: The Partners’ Fund

Like with Ordinarie Heroes, the Partners’ Fund will put a greater spotlight on smaller nonprofits that often get overlooked because they don’t have marketing departments, professional grant writers, or other resources in place to woo funders and apply for grants. PKFF has the credibility, and the history of regular site visits and ongoing relationships, to point partner funders to groups operating in Philly neighborhoods that can slip through the cracks. The Fund will continue to fund groups in communities with a high rate of financial poverty that have operating budgets of less than $1 million, and that are led by folks with lived experience that mirrors the community they’re serving.

PKFF will provide the staffing and administer the full granting cycle in partnership with the advisory committee. This includes reviewing the written applications, attending site visits and providing input on funding recommendations for the board. They will have three to five readers for each application to minimize subjectivity, and will be looking for nonprofits that are “embedded in their communities and providing direct services” in one or more of their five funding areas.

Already The Partners’ Fund has the support of The William Penn Foundation and Hamilton Family Charitable Trust, and an advisory board that includes not only Kulshreshtha but advocates like Penn’s Dr. Howard Stevenson; Jason Ray of Zenith Wealth Management (whose fund will also be contributing financially to the effort); Michelle Carrera of Xiente; Brian Jones of W.W. Smith Foundation; and Tim Massaquoi of Kingsessing Heals. Two Five One, the consulting firm, is also contributing funds and mentorship.

The Partners’ Fund is accepting ongoing pledges now for its first round of funding, which will begin in the new year. The goal for the 2026 pot is to reach $2 million; it’s already at $1.25 million. In year one, they anticipate awarding 25 to 35 grants in the amounts of $10,000 to $25,000 — enough to cover short-term needs like salaries and rent, or any part of a grantee’s general operating expenses. “Those are all essential to keeping the doors open and providing services for the community,” Kind-Rubin says. “Too often money is given for specific programs and does not cover all the necessary overhead costs.”

Although precise local numbers are nearly impossible to pin down as grants are in flux, back in May Billy Penn estimated that “the federal government has attempted to or succeeded in suspending, canceling or otherwise terminating about $278 million in local federal grants.”

Stebbins acknowledges that The Partners’ Fund won’t fill nearly all the gaps the federal funding freeze has created, but also notes that it’s about more than reacting to our current moment. “This is about responding to the current moment plus the ramifications and, quite frankly, the pain that’s going to be felt for years, perhaps even decades, after this,” she says. “We are talking about a lot of other institutions stepping up to support what we know is some really great work that’s being led by some really awesome people.”

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