About Kaleidoscope
The Kaleidoscope Project is an intermediary of John Rex Endowment. The Kaleidoscope Project works with community agencies to improve places and spaces where children live, play, and grow. We focus on capacity building of partner organizations to focus on systemic issues that increase vulnerabilities especially for black and brown children. We are a collaborative community initiative focused on the social and emotional development of Wake County children.
We’ve learned that the places where kids spend time and the relationships, they build in those places are critical to a child’s well-being and resilience throughout their entire life. This is especially true for children whose families are impacted by structural racism.
There are many of us across Wake County who are contributing to our children’s development. Yet, we don’t always have time to learn from, or build upon, each other’s efforts. Kaleidoscope was created to do just that: to inspire collaboration, to focus on racial equity, to exchange ideas, to improve local sites, and to provide caregivers, parents, and policy makers with resources.
Kaleidoscope funds Wake County organizations, working directly in communities that have a desire, and readiness to create racially equitable environments for children.
Inspired community action is possible if:
There is an awareness about why social emotional health is important and what works to build it.
We all see our roles, and there is a commitment to take action.
Every setting in which children spend time is intentionally created to help them do well in life.
Decision makers value social emotional health, and they direct resources toward investments that strategically build whole kids.
The Kaleidoscope Project is dedicated to:
Creating racially equitable environments for children and their families
Mobilizing a network of community leaders doing the work
Supporting positive change in systems
Increasing community capacity to take action
Who is The Kaleidoscope Project?
FAQs
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Intermediaries are mission-driven organizations that aim to more effectively link donors (individuals, foundations, and corporations) with organizations and individuals delivering charitable services. They come in many forms: DAFs, giving circles, community foundations, fiscally sponsored pooled funds, fund aggregators, and social ventures. More donors are using intermediaries than ever before, with DAFs in particular seeing tremendous growth in the last three years.
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At their best, intermediaries serve functions that overcome obstacles that curtail the nonprofit sector’s effectiveness.
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Provide an operational backbone. Some nonprofits lack the resources to build their organizational capacity and effectiveness particularly since many funders prefer that their grants go toward programmatic work rather than overhead.
Provide strategic capacity and expert guidance. Intermediaries often go far beyond regranting: many provide expertise and infrastructure that enable nonprofit initiatives to employ more sophisticated tactics than they could on their own
Connect funders and grantees. Intermediaries often connect grantors and grantees who are otherwise unable to work together—because they are based in different countries, operate on different timelines, or face a variety of other practical or legal barriers to establishing a relationship.
Why the name
The Kaleidoscope Project?
Look through a kaleidoscope, and you will always see a new perspective. With light shining in, there are many possibilities for individual pieces to come together and for something beautiful to emerge.
The Kaleidoscope Project is similar. We are bringing together a collection of voices, ideas, and actions for the benefit of Wake County children. Just like a kaleidoscope, when we all come together, we can create endless possibilities to help our kids see more positive futures.