Andre Garvin is a 35-year-old Hempstead native and business consultant who is among the younger generation of the Long Island African-American Chamber of Commerce (LIAACC).
As a younger member, Garvin figures to play a major role in a new effort by the nearly 20-year-old chamber: Establishing a foundation aimed at raising $1 million in the next few years to support small businesses in the Black community and in the wider Long Island business community as well.
“Business is more than having good ideas,” Garvin told the Press. “Those ideas are necessary, of course. But access to capital is a major issue too.”
Garvin said he has noticed that too many people who want to start small businesses lack adequate access to capital.
“We plan to raise money through the foundation and if we can give it out to people, that will spell hope for them,” Garvin said.
The foundation will seek funds from corporations, individuals and a wide-variety of organizations on and off Long Island, Garvin said. He said he hopes the foundation will raise the $1 million “in less than a few years.”
The plan for the LIAACC’s foundation comes as the Trump administration cuts funding for a variety of nonprofits. Business leaders fear they cannot count on the federal government for much aid in the coming years. Federal funding is drying up not only for nonprofits but for health and educational programs as well. Several nonprofits on Long Island, including environmental and housing organizations, are facing stiff cutbacks.
Phil Andrews, president of the Garden City-based chamber, told the Press that the organization had become too busy with a variety of projects, and needed to split off its workload to include a separate fund-raising program. The foundation will have a separate board and an executive director, Andrews said.
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Foundations have been a part of the business scene on Long Island since the end of the Civil War, according to historical records. They grew significantly between 1900 and 1920, with key figures such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller playing major roles in building them over the years.
Foundations are able to provide grants to 501c(3) public-charities and schools or cities, and can also make donations to other privacy foundations or to individuals and businesses.
According to a recent county report, there are more than 76,000 grant-making foundations in the United States worth more than $646 billion in assets.
They have continued to grow in the U.S., even after the dot.com bust and the Great Recession.
The LIAACC foundation is off to a good start, Andrews said. Ikea, the furniture-store chain, has made a $25,000 donation to the project.
“This is a major step for us,” Andrews said.
The foundation, according to the chamber, will offer financial literacy training, entrepreneurial training, workforce development, as well as access to capital.
There will also be efforts to promote economic development in struggling communities and workshops and counseling programs.
The chamber held a kick-off dinner in Freeport this past spring — on Andrews’s 62nd birthday — to promote the foundation.
Rose Ward, the chamber’s vice president and owner of NFocus Management Group, LLC, was master of ceremonies.
“If you don’t have funds, you run out of steam quickly,” Ward told the Press. “We hope to be able to dedicate a lot of time to this. Small nonprofits don’t have a lot of staff and need the help.”
Anthony Quinones, also a chamber member who is playing a role in the development of a foundation, told the Press, “Foundations are agents of change. This is going to help us bring change to small businesses and to the larger community as well.”
“This will drive revenue,” Quinones said.
The LIAACC got its start almost 20 years ago in the Freeport library. Only a few people attended meetings. The organization now has about 400 members and an office in downtown Garden City.
