When John and Gwyn Beagle attended the Bradley Impact Conference last year, they saw familiar faces from nonprofits they had been funding for years. The Beagles are active supporters of a number of charitable organizations that further education and anti-poverty goals, including Stand Together, Cross Trainers Academy, and Acts Housing. Gwyn is a lifelong science teacher and curriculum developer, having worked in a variety of environments ranging from an inner-city Milwaukee charter school to the college preparatory Brookfield Academy. John, an engineer, is the CEO and co-founder of the investment bank Grace Matthews.
The Beagles generally invest in nonprofit organizations that share their values of individual self-worth, alignment of goals among the interested parties, and a bottom-up approach to problem solving. The Bradley Impact Fund is a good fit for them.
John and Gwyn have a passion for Acts Housing in particular and the way it effectively integrates a functional housing strategy with emphasis on family relationships. Acts Housing’s mission is empowerment through home ownership. Before joining the Impact Fund, the Beagles sought out organizations like Acts Housing and Cross Trainers Academy, because they make family involvement foundational to their mission. As Impact Fund members, John and Gwyn appreciate that they are no longer “going it alone” and value The Bradley Foundation’s imprimatur, as well as gathering with like-minded donors and nonprofit leaders at the Impact Fund’s learning events and conferences.
“Nonprofits changing the status quo in Milwaukee are successful because they align the interests of families and neighborhoods, and donors too,” notes John. “They’re uniting people in their investment in a shared outcome, whether it be achieving home ownership or gaining access to education, and the relationships they’re building are real.”
— JOHN BEAGLE
