This blog is a part of a year-long series called “Roots to Horizons” commemorating AFN’s 20 years in the nonprofit sector.
Mark Constantine is Senior Vice President of Community Investment at Dogwood Health Trust, a private foundation focused on dramatically improving the health and wellbeing of all people in the 18 counties and Qualla Boundary of Western North Carolina. Previously, he was President and CEO of Richmond Memorial Health Foundation. In addition to his extensive experience consulting for foundations and national nonprofit organizations, he is the author of Wit and Wisdom: Unleashing the Philanthropic Imagination (2009), Travelers on the Journey: Pastors Talk about Their Lives and Commitments (2005), and the award-winning monograph Where Hope and History Rhyme: Reflections and Findings from the Mid-South Commission to Build Philanthropy (2005).
Q: How did you first get involved with AFN?
I first became involved with AFN at the Jessie Ball duPont Fund. At the time, I was leading the fund’s strategy around asset-based development work, particularly influenced by the works of scholars like Michael Sherraden’s Assets and the Poor (1991) and Melvin Oliver and Thomas Shapiro’s Black Wealth/White Wealth (1995).
I also worked closely with CFED (now Prosperity Now) and began to connect with AFN through their focus on wealth-building in philanthropy. Over time, AFN became a critical resource for me, especially in its ability to simplify complex concepts and set the table for thoughtful strategy and action.
Q: How has AFN played a role throughout your professional journey?
AFN has been a constant across my roles, helping to shape frameworks around asset building. Early on, it was at the forefront of tracking demonstrations of children’s savings accounts and individual development accounts (IDAs), playing a pivotal role in guiding funders like me to better understand and deploy these tools for advancing asset development.
In historically under-resourced regions like the South, AFN’s approach was transformative, illuminating the deep connections between assets, wealth, well-being, and health, which became even more evident in my next role as CEO of Richmond Memorial Health Foundation. As a Southerner, I found AFN to be an extraordinary resource.
Q: Why is the connection between assets and health so crucial from a funder perspective?
At Richmond Memorial Health Foundation, AFN’s work highlighted the critical connection between assets and the social determinants of health, showing funders like me that economic stability and asset building are central to improving health outcomes. AFN resources illustrated how assets impact health throughout life—from maternal and child health to broader economic opportunities. This approach helped funders who may not have traditionally focused on asset building recognize its direct relevance to their areas of interest, whether early childhood development or advancing gender equity. AFN excels at understanding how funders operate, what resonates with us, and how to situate asset-building within the context of our work and the communities we serve.
Today, I’m with Dogwood Health Trust, where we’re spearheading a major initiative on digital opportunity and inclusion because, in rural areas, the lack of broadband access creates significant barriers to healthcare, employment, and education. While some have questioned why a health foundation would focus on digital inclusion, AFN’s resources and insights—such as the “Unlocking Equitable Wealth” primer recently shared at the 2024 GIH Annual Conference on Health Philanthropy—provide a critical framework for this work.
The connections between economic opportunity, health equity, and well-being are undeniable. As health legacy foundations grow, investments that support these links can be increasingly transformative.
Q: What excites you most about the future of asset building, and how do you envision AFN contributing to this future?
I’m energized by the expanding focus on policy and advocacy, particularly around anti-poverty strategies like the child and earned income tax credit. I’m also excited by the growing role of impact investing, supporting homeownership and business development. With new funding streams, such as the EPA, community development financial institutions (CDFIs) have significant opportunities to drive wealth creation and infrastructure development.
AFN demonstrates remarkable foresight, spotting emerging challenges and opportunities with sharp peripheral vision. Its ability to distill and communicate these insights is invaluable. By uniting funders for cross-sector collaboration, including other philanthropy serving organizations (PSOs), AFN proves that we can work together—not in competition—to achieve common goals while advancing commitments to racial and gender equity.
I hope to see AFN continue fostering regional conversations and initiate demonstration projects that showcase the power of collective philanthropy. These efforts can address statewide, regional, or city-specific issues and help “grease the wheels” for more collaboration among funders, amplifying our impact.
Q: What questions aren’t we asking in philanthropy that we should be?
With wealth increasingly concentrated in for-profit enterprises, we need to explore how to effectively partner with these powerful entities as they play a major role in wealth distribution and public life. This is a harder table to set, but it’s a critical question we must address to move the field forward.
Another important question is: How can we help municipalities adopt an asset-based framework for their policies and investments? We could make substantial strides in advancing our field by embedding this approach into city budgets and financial planning.
We also need to consider the following: How are we ensuring that the asset-building work we’re doing will continue to thrive long into the future? Are we preparing, nurturing, and sustaining the talent of folks who will carry this work forward for the next 20 to 30 years? Supporting the long-term health of asset-based organizations through general operating support and focusing on leadership development is vital for sustaining our impact.
