Donor Spotlight: The Christopher M. Barnett Family Foundation
This month, MCC was pleased to speak with Kaitlyn and Christopher Barnett of the Christopher M. Barnett Family Foundation, who generously sponsored MCC’s Celebrating Mothers Brunch this year- including a surprise day-of match that prompted participants at the brunch to help break the record for dollars raised.
After years of volunteering and supporting worthy causes, Mr. Barnett and his wife, Julie, and their three eldest daughters, Kaitlyn, Kennedy, and Madison decided to formally create a family foundation because they believed they could develop an even greater impact in the two communities where they have deep roots: Broward County, Florida, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mr. Barnett said, “Our family motto is: We help other people.” Mr. Barnett shared that he and Mrs. Barnett did not grow up having access to what they have now. They come from very modest families, and each has personal experiences of struggle, which drives their will to support others now.
As a family, the Barnetts reflected on their values and potential for impact, which led to the creation of the five pillars of focus for their foundation: housing insecurity, food insecurity, developmental disabilities, underprivileged children, and women’s empowerment. The family makes decisions as a unit, with the five named Barnetts above holding roles on the Board of Directors for the Foundation (two more Barnett girls – yes, a family of five daughters! -- will likely join the decision-making when they are older).
Mr. Barnett, who is a serial entrepreneur and founder of the Inc. 5000-ranked behavioral healthcare start-up ABA Centers, says, “We approach philanthropy like business: we want to see a return- we want to see an impact on the communities we are aiming to serve.” The Foundation has an emphasis on building relationships and mobilizing resources. They value trust-based philanthropy and shared that when they develop a relationship with a nonprofit, it’s not just to make a one-time gift. Mr. Barnett and Kaitlyn said, “If we’ve done that [made a gift], we’ve already done our research, and we trust you. We now want to see what else we can do together. What resources can we get you? What partnerships? How can we use our networks to support? How can we keep developing this relationship to meet your goals and ours?”
The family first became aware of MCC while Kaitlyn was volunteering at Temple University’s Barnett & Irvine Cherry Pantry, where she encountered members of MCC’s Community Engagement Services team tabling and distributing diapers and wipes to local community members. Kaitlyn appreciated the team's ability to meet people where they are and was inspired to learn more about our mission. She visited our headquarters a few weeks later and had a few conversations with staff that day and shortly afterward. Through intentional questions and MCC sharing our impact, vision, and goals, this ultimately led to realizing the strong alignment between MCC’s work and two of Foundation’s pillars of focus: women empowerment and supporting children.
While discussing the importance of championing organizations like MCC, Kaitlyn says, “There is not enough access to care and MCC is filling needs in the community.” As our conversation concluded, Mr. Barnett, who has maintained incredibly close ties to Philadelphia since graduating from Temple University in 2010, let us know that the Christopher M. Barnett Family Foundation isn’t done yet, “We want to do more to help MCC and the Philadelphia community. We are invested in Philadelphia: This is our home too. We want the communities we live in to thrive.”
MCC is so grateful to the Christopher M. Barnett Foundation for their deep and authentic commitment to improving lives in Philadelphia and for their generous support for our work!
