Susannah Taylor & Phil Marriott

As both a Brooklyn Org board member and the COO & Director of Development at READ 718, a nonprofit striving to close the literacy gap in Brooklyn, Susannah Taylor is intimately aware of the vast and varying needs of our borough. For her and her husband Phillip Marriott, philanthropy is an important way for their family to give to the community and bolster nonprofits advancing racial justice across Brooklyn.

“For us, philanthropy is a key element of living an outward-facing and engaged life, to support real and needed change and not be complacent in the face of inequity,” they shared.

As longtime Brooklynites, Phil and Susannah love the strong sense of community here. From neighbors shoveling snow for each other to gathering on the stoop on hot summer nights, the borough is defined by its people and how we show up for one another – and so they chose a Donor Advised Fund as another way to express that spirit of communal support. “We wanted to put our DAF in a local organization, so it made good, intuitive sense to open our fund with Brooklyn Org,” they shared.

Opening a fund with BKO offered an effective way to thoughtfully plan their giving process as a family, with the added benefit of organizing their annual giving: “From a tax standpoint, it’s much simpler to have one or two things to record, and it’s a wonderful resource for us to focus our resources.”

Susannah and Phil also appreciate the value that our longstanding experience and deep roots in the borough bring to our donor advisors. “Having a fund with Brooklyn Org is a great way to learn about a wide range of local nonprofits that are addressing challenges in our borough, and to support those organizations,” they said.

In addition to their family fund, Phil also co-founded a men’s giving circle, The 1834 Project. He saw the giving circle as a unique opportunity to bring together his network: “Our pooled financial resources give us a chance to make grants that can really help organizations move forward in fulfilling their missions,” Phil explained.

Thanks to the structural support that BKO’s donor services team provides, Phil says that running the giving circle is “remarkably easy.” “We get to focus on learning about terrific grassroots organizations that are driving change for the good of Brooklyn with very little administrative burden,” he shared.

With their sustained giving, Susannah and Phil are helping to shape a Brooklyn that has the capacity and resources to dismantle structural barriers – and we are proud to partner with them to support the borough, from the ground up.