Fearless Fund

When Jennifer Fearing opened her Sacramento-based advocacy firm, she branded it with the nickname she had been given by her mentor years earlier, a fitting name – a beacon – for its cause-oriented approach: Fearless Advocacy. And when she and her husband, Jay, established a Donor Advised Fund at the Foundation, they took just as bold an approach.

“My husband and I want to give more intentionally. We want our giving to be more than the sum of our haphazard impulses, and opening a fund gave us a way to think about the principles that guide our giving,” says Jennifer. “The Foundation gave us a framework that was simple and painless.”

Together, she and her husband use their fund to give unrestricted gifts to nonprofits that pursue the missions they support – and because, through her advocacy firm, she works with nonprofits throughout California and the country, Jennifer is a particularly discerning donor.

The first gift from the Fearless Fund was especially meaningful. Inspired by their close friends’ daughter, Helen, and her bat mitzvah project to collect feminine hygiene products for local homeless women, Jennifer and Jay directed a grant to Maryhouse, the daytime shelter at Loaves & Fishes that serves women experiencing homelessness.

“It is awfully fearless for a 13-year-old to wage a tampon collection campaign,” says Jennifer. “So many of us in the Sacramento area are deeply concerned about homelessness but unsure what we can do about it. Our grant is modest, to be sure, but we hope that it will inspire others to learn about Maryhouse’s work and to act, just like we were inspired by Helen.”

Through their Donor Advised Fund at the Foundation, Jennifer and her husband are turning their giving into planned and thoughtful philanthropy, supporting the causes they care about – fearlessly.