ABSTRACT
MazanyTerry begins the Second Century Project with a simple proposition: Theory building could help community foundations address the challenges facing the field. The Second Century Project as a seminar series with the intention of engaging colleagues in a sustained dialogue that would integrate theory and practice. National funders, the James S. and John L. Knight Foundation and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, whose contributions to field-building precedes work and proven transformative to the field's success. There is a natural synergy between national funders and community foundations when the granularity of local knowledge pairs with the intellectual and financial resources of national funders, able to strengthen community leadership and accelerate the pace of change in communities. Communities are also shaped by the evolving role of government to governance. The experience resource-strapped governments paring back funding for services once deemed vital to the well-being of the communities. The polarization of political opinion has further limited the ability of government to act.
