CFBE:
The Commonwealth Funders for Birth Equity
The Commonwealth Funders for Birth Equity (CFBE) is a collaborative of philanthropic funders and donors committed to improving perinatal health outcomes and advancing birth equity in Massachusetts.
We have come together with the intention to learn, align philanthropic efforts, and elevate local leadership and community-led solutions to ensure that all birthing people and families in the Commonwealth can thrive, especially those most impacted by systemic inequities.
How We Started
We formed through a mutual connection of grantees in order to best coordinate our efforts in maternal health funding. With our conversations, we figured out that we were doing a lot of overlapping work, spending resources and time on the same issues while not focusing on others. Instead of all of us operating within a vacuum, we now learn from each other and communicate to strategize our funding so that it goes where it is most needed.
Conversations that one of our funders have with grantees or field experts are able to inform all of our work, which lets us focus more on expanding our understanding of the maternal health landscape. We began with a small group that came together in the interest of advancing maternal health equity, and have grown our intimate circle over the past few years with the same message in mind.
Our Goals
Build, activate, and sustain a values-aligned philanthropic collaborative:
To foster a funder collaborative where peers remain independent yet align—sharing learnings, coordinating strategies, and applying collective knowledge and influence to become more transparent, equitable, and responsive in support of birth equity.
Bring greater visibility, access, and influence on perinatal and birth equity:
To elevate the local leadership, voices, and community-led solutions of those advancing perinatal health and birth equity across Massachusetts while increasing their access to financial, relational, and knowledge capital.
Our Values
As funders, we have three values that lead our initiatives. With all that our collective works toward, we do everything we can to be trust-based, equity-focused, collaboration-driven, and community-centered.
Collaboration Driven
Community Centered
