Benjamin Franklin, the inventor and statesman of the colonial era, was an early philanthropist. He gave to improve his community and to provide opportunities for people to help themselves. He founded local civic organizations such as the volunteer fire company and institutions such as the Pennsylvania Hospital, the University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia Public Library.

It was not until the early 20th century that individuals generally began to use their philanthropy to seek ways to combat problems, conduct research and promote science. One of the early proponents of modern philanthropy was Andrew Carnegie, a wealthy business entrepreneur.

He viewed the person of wealth as a product of natural selection by the forces of competition. By winning wealth, a person became an agent of civilization, and philanthropy became a tool for improving civilization while at the same time substituting for radical reforms. His philanthropy included starting public libraries and other agencies that would provide "ladders upon which the aspiring can rise."

In an effort to improve the way the Cleveland Trust Company did business, the company's president Frederick Goff established the world's first community foundation, The Cleveland Foundation, in Ohio in 1914. The problem Goff faced was one of efficiency. Like many others, his company managed several small-endowed charitable trusts, some of which were established for specific purposes, such as education or health, and others intended simply to benefit the residents of greater Cleveland. Goff 's company was having difficulty identifying the most worthy recipients for the income from these trusts. His proposed solution created a separate organization (an initial committee would later become an independent corporation) that divided the work of managing charitable trusts. The bank would continue to do what it did best (investments) while the foundation would do what it did best (grant making). Thus was born the first community foundation, a solution to a problem of efficiency.

The Department of Treasury soon gave formal recognition to this new type of organization, granting community foundations the unique advantage of being able to treat multiple trusts and corporations as part of a single institution rather than as separate organizations. Amazingly, a community foundation with 500 different component funds still files only one tax return. Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Chicago and dozens more American cities all had their own community foundations by the end of the 1920s.

Today community foundations manage over $30 billion in combined total assets. The Cleveland Foundation alone holds more than $1 billion, while the largest community foundation, the New York Community Trust, stands at just over $2 billion. Hundreds of community foundations presently manage less than $10 million each.

Almost a year and a half ago, Council member Jorge Mendía and local resident Ana Gloria Rivas-Vázquez –- Chair and Vice Chair -- saw the opportunity to create our own Community Foundation. With a Board of Directors of 16 people (Jorge Mendía, Ana Gloria Rivas-Vázquez, Edgardo Defortuna, Susan Fox-Rosellini, Tere Benach, John Dasburg, John Devaney, Amy Easton, Joe Kiene, Donald E. Lefton, Patricia Molinari, Anne S. Owens, Anne Richards Rothe, Stacia Smith, Stephen Sonnabend and Silvia P. Tarafa), the Key Biscayne Community Foundation is a nonprofit organization that raises money from individuals, families, corporations, foundations and other organizations, and makes grants to support charitable activities vital to the Key Biscayne community. The mission of the Key Biscayne Community Foundation is to enhance the quality of life for all members of the Key Biscayne community.

We interviewed Jorge Mendía to review the current situation of the Foundation.

Why did you start a community foundation?
There are a couple of reasons: First, two of our residents, Ana Gloria Rivas-Vázquez and Raul de la Heria, were prior development directors at the Dade Community Foundation. When I become a Council member, I realized that there were many requests on how to spend tax dollars. People will come to Council and ask for money for… everything!!! Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, art, entertainment… just everything! Philosophically, it is not the role of Council to decide on these matters. Council must focus on security, police, fire and public works; it is difficult to go beyond that. I thought there must be other ways for the community to take care of its own needs. I started talking to Ana Gloria and Raul, and they told me that that was what a community foundation does.

Second, it is a brilliant way to take care of our needs -- not just today, but well into the future. If we are able to create an endowment, over time that endowment will be there forever.

Harvard started their endowment 200 years ago, and now they can provide free admission to the school. Little by little, we can do a lot more. Sometimes we are not ‘rich', even if we are financially wealthy. Everything happens outside the Village. I want to bring more things into the Village and empower the residents to the best use of their talents and connections. Not everything is computers, video games and skateboards. The cultural experience of any large city, such as New York or Buenos Aires, is completely different than what we might find here. We are insulated and we need to bring more things to the Village. That is my vision.

Can you define the concept of ‘community'?
The concept of community has been challenged a lot lately. We are going through growing pains. When I moved here 30 years ago, it was a very homogenous population, very middle class. Several new ‘waves' of population came later at different times, creating the diverse and rich mix we have today. The traditional snowbird has also changed; now the typical snowbird spends more time here and is much more affluent. More than 50% of the population was not born in the United States, and that percentage is growing. We try to incorporate every resident, and make sure they are part of the process regardless of their nonvoting status. Anybody can be every bit as active as everybody else. The Foundation is a very effective way of creating community: One Community, One Future is our motto. This is the main reason why we have such a large board; it is an attempt to have a good and balanced representation of our residents. Community also means being able to talk to everybody else and to break the natural or perceived barriers that might exist.

Under many standards, the Foundation's Board of Directors is huge… Most of our directors are extremely involved. Some of them, even if they do not come to every meeting, are always available when you call them and are well positioned to help us in different –- and much needed —- ways. Some are members of the Board of Winn-Dixie, the Ritz-Carlton and many more. Close to ten of our directors are there for every meeting. We have been advised to keep the Board small, but in our growing phase we might need to have more people involved to secure our goals.

Many of our readers are confused about the famous $1 million pledge, can you explain?
I think the time for the pledge has expired. John and Selene Devaney challenged Key Biscayne residents to make donations for the Foundation. They would match up to $1 million during 2005. But it does not have to be exactly $1 million, whatever we were able to collect up to $1 million they will math dollar for dollar. We were not able to get $1 million. We are almost there in pledges, but many pledges –- like the $300,000 [pledge] by the Ritz-Carlton -- only provide a smaller amount per year [$30,000 in the case of the Ritz-Carlton]. Right now, we are sitting at about $400,000, $250,000 of which [was] provided by the Devaneys as match and seed money to get started.

Chances are, we will end up having $500,000 after a year and a half. The number of $800,000 did not help us when it came up, even if it is a great achievement to have almost a million in pledges. Many people that could have donated refrained from doing so under the belief that we already had the $1 million.

Many of the Foundation's meetings are in very high-profile places, like the Ritz-Carlton or large boats. Who pays for them?
Everything is in kind or donated by members of the community. We did two anniversary parties at the Ritz-Carlton, they hosted those; the Sonesta and the Devaneys have been extremely helpful, too. It is important to remember that community foundations grow over long periods of time, thanks to estate and funds available, mostly, when people die. Key Biscayners are not famous for their patience; many people wanted the Foundation to be up and running tomorrow. The challenge that John Devaney made was very generous, but it was not the way community foundations typically get funded. We were planning to do a fund-raiser event for the whole island, but after hurricanes Katrina and Wilma, we decided it was not the best time to do it. To answer your question, none of the Foundation funds have been used to pay for the parties.

How much money goes to administrative costs and how much to the projects?
I cannot answer that question. I can tell you that we do have an operating budget that covers the expenses of our Executive Director Liz LaCorte [$75,000 a year] and our mailing and advertising costs. The overall budget is under $100,000 and we need to make sure that we cover that. The money that goes into the endowment stays in the endowment. In the first years, it is difficult to cover the operating expenses, and that is what John [Devaney] did cover our operating expenses… he also gave us the office and computers, phone systems, and much more. The Ritz-Carlton gives us $30,000 per year; $15,000 go[es] into the endowment and the other $15,000, they want to see it at the community level. In our year-and-a-half of operations, we have given away more than $60,000.

The maximum amount of money a single entity can receive is $2,500. Is this true?
Yes and no. Yes, that is what we say. In fact, we have given more than that, we have given $5,000.

Isn't it painful that Sister Mary Angela's housemaid program has received only $2,500 when just her food expenses are way over $6,000?
She is the only person that received our grant twice. We have also helped her not only with her service, but also with her operations. In that case, the institution or person that receives our help has to show us how they have used the funds. There is a limit, but it is flexible, we go above and below. We do not have that much money to give away, and we do not want to waste anybody's money. We need to expose people to the concept of how we operate.

We respond to grantees, and when they tell us their ideas –- if we think it makes sense, we fund them. It is not what the Foundation wants to do, but what the community wants to do. The ideas come from the community.

The goal is to be able to have enough money in the bank so as to fund the programs with the interest generated every year?
Right. There are five types of funds that donors can establish to accomplish their charitable goals: Unrestricted or discretionary, field of interest, designated, donor advised and scholarship. The most common type is donor-advised. For instance, every year you give up $50,000 to different organizations. When you give them to us and over time we manage according to the wishes. We take a 10% management fee to help us fund our needs.

If we manage to have $2 million in our endowment, we can generate, every year, close to $200,000 to do different projects. We expect to fund our operations in the long term with the activities we do to help the philanthropic wishes of our residents.

Aren't there too many foundations in Key Biscayne?
We have a lot of foundations in Key Biscayne; many of them are managed part-time while taking care of the kids and families. Liz is a resource for everybody. In the case of Sister Mary Angela's foundation, we have put her in contact with much larger organizations that are actively looking for programs like the one she has. Our help comes in many ways, not just the grant, but also our management expertise. We are also in contact with other service organizations, like the Kiwanis and the Lions. They can set up a fund inside our Foundation and we help them reach their goals. We want to create a philanthropic network, a belief in philanthropy. It is a very American concept… Yes.

As a matter of fact, Ana Gloria works with Spanish philanthropies. They have a different approach, based on their cultural experience and tradition. Usually in Latin America, you give only to people you know, and for a very specific purpose. It is very social in a way. We are trying to make people understand what is it that we do, why it makes sense. There is a new movement in Europe and Latin America, to create community foundations.

The heads of many large local corporations [Fortune Intl., Ritz-Carlton, Sonesta, United Capital] sit at the board of the Foundation. How does that affect the role of Council member Mendía?
I do not think I would have been able to start the Foundation if I had not been a Council member. I understand your question perfectly well. People come to the Village Council for things. Many companies do think that it might help them, from a public relations perspective, to be involved at the community level. Even if it might appear at some times to be a conflict of interest, I have to take my chances. But I do want to make a point very clear: just because anybody participates or contributes to the Foundation, that does not mean that they would get a deferential treatment or any kind of privileges at the Village Council.

What effect does your busy schedule have on you at a personal level?
My wife and kids know that Tuesday nights belong to the Council. So far, the hardest parts have been the campaigns, when for a period of a month and a half you are expected to be someplace different every night. I meet with people at 5:30 PM. I do not miss my children's soccer games or fishing with friends. The Foundation Board meets six times a year, and the executive team gets together mostly over the phone.

What has been your biggest accomplishment so far in the Foundation?
I think we did many things in many little steps. I cannot pinpoint a single accomplishment, but a string of small goals achieved, one after the other, since its inception.

What has been the largest frustration or challenge?
To continue to get the message out and make people understand what we are about. Public relations and communications is our biggest challenge; we have not done a great job so far. Now we have a budget and are preparing an action plan. What we have done so far is not nearly enough. We need to get people involved and to know what we are doing. It takes time, a lot of time.

Jorge Mendía leads a busy life. His goal is to build a strong, integrated sensible community. It will take a lot of work and finesse to position the Community Foundation where he wants it to be, but in all likelihood it will happen. Just not tomorrow.