An Initiative of the Nancy Neffson & Wetmore Family Foundation

Theory of Change

Where We Are Going

To build long-term, trust-based relationships with partners, we started by paying attention. We found a rich tapestry of nonprofit organizations solving problems created by inequitable systems, and stretching shrinking funding to meet growing needs.

These relationships revealed two areas where we can partner with our community to deepen and strengthen our collective impact. In 2025, we launched the Place-Based Project to Serve Refugees and the Youth Mentorship Collaborative.

Focusing on a microcosm of the San Diego region in El Cajon, where refugees from the Middle East and Latin American immigrants have settled, we’ve joined forces with a group of non-profits that serve this population. Together, we are laying the groundwork for a future where flourishing isn’t the exception – it’s the norm. Because when communities are rooted in connection, transformation is possible.

We also recognize the crisis facing our youth, especially those who also face Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) that negatively impact a child’s development, health, and well-being. The impact on a child’s ability to thrive due to effective mentoring is unmistakable, and our project seeks to elevate this community-based solution so that every youth navigating adversity has access to mentorship.

GOAL:

To practice bold, community-driven, trust-based philanthropy that fosters meaningful, long-term partnerships so everyone in our community can thrive.

STRATEGY AREAS:

  • Mentor at-risk youth to foster thriving and interrupt the pipeline to prison
  • Catalyze and sustain flourishing in a refugee community

Levers of Change:

  • Unrestricted, multi-year funding to San Diego non-profits (Kinship Fund)
  • Nonfinancial assets in support of nonprofit organizations (Kinship Fund)
  • Relational support to keep kids in school and out of detention (Grantee Partners)
  • Partner collaboration to increase reach of services

Inputs:

Financial Resources

$2 million over three years (2025-2027)

People Resources

  • Facilitate collaboration
  • Leverage power to increase resources and funding
  • Implement a learning plan
  • Programming toward mutual outcomes (grantees)
  • Partners (public and private) to augment the projects

IMPACT:

SHORT TERM

  • 100% of funding is unrestricted
  • $2 million in grants distributed
  • Development of a place-based model
  • Deployed assets and influence in the service of strengthening partners

INTERMEDIATE

  • Place-based community improvement model implementation
  • Increased number of youth in mentoring programs
  • 85% of funding is multi-year

LONG-TERM

  • Decrease the number of girls incarcerated in San Diego County
  • Increase funding for mentorship programs
  • Increase number of youth accessing mentoring
  • New public and private partners join the place-based project

OUTCOMES:

FOR YOUTH

  • A decrease in the number of incarcerated girls
  • Coordinated mentoring support for youth the number of incarcerated girls
  • An increase in first-generation college graduation
  • Access to mentorship for every justice-involved child

FOR OUR GRANTEE PARTNERS

  • Trust in our partnership
  • Consistent, unrestricted funding with less administrative burden
  • Increased innovation in their sector
  • Increased reach of their programming

FOR COMMUNITY PARTNERS

  • Stronger, healthier communities
  • Youth mentoring is championed
  • Philanthropic community embraces unrestricted funding and trust-based practices
  • Stronger, healthier communities
  • Youth mentoring is championed
  • Philanthropic community embraces unrestricted funding and trust-based practices

OUR APPROACH WILL:

  • Disrupt the status quo
  • Invest in lasting change
  • Collaborate in transformation

Context and External Factors:

  • The conditions and factors that affect the social determinants of health are complex.
  • Healthcare access and quality
  • Education access and quality
  • Social and community context
  • Economic stability
  • Neighborhood and built environment
  • Collaboration must include local public and private industries.
  • The Kinship Fund can help reshape and seed change, but community buy-in and support are necessary to sustain momentum.
  • Racial inequality and systemic oppression endure and hinder progress.

Assumptions:

MENTORSHIP

  • The incarceration of girls is counterproductive and increases their risk of future involvement in the legal system. 
  • Race and gender discrimination against girls of color disproportionately leads to arrest and legal contact.  
  • Gender responsive programming can more effectively address the unique drivers of the incarceration of girls, which include sexual abuse, commercial sexual exploitation, family conflict, and housing instability.
  • Girls deserve access to safety, healing, and opportunity in their communities. 
  • Reaching girls at a younger age and focusing on education, leadership development, and self-determination will prevent the incarceration of girls as they age.

Neighborhood Flourishing

  • Services that address needs through an individualistic approach do not change the fundamental conditions that allow people to thrive.
  • Individual problems do not exist in isolation, but feed off each other.
  • Focusing on social determinants can transform disconnected communities.
  • Place-based models address disconnection, identifying and strengthening weak or unsupportive social ties and institutions.

The Kinship Fund

  • Provide financial support to nonprofit organizations that collaborate to address community needs through a place-based model, and offer youth mentorship programming.
  • Facilitate and advocate to strengthen the nonprofits’ collaborative efforts.

The Kinship Fund

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