Through trusted partnerships in communities negatively impacted by systemic inequity, Windy Pines Foundation aims to provide financial resources for transformative social and economic change.

Our Story

The Windy Pines Foundation was established in 2021 with funds from the sale of Lindsay Precast, a family business founded and successfully grown by Roland and Linda Lindsay. As second and third generations of the family, we are committed to restoring resources to the communities that contributed directly and through systemic marginalization to create this generational wealth.

Windy Pines Foundation was formed to support systems change to create more equitable economic, gender, ability, and general social equity through a reparative racial equity lens. We seek projects that address problems caused and perpetuated by historic privilege and inequities.

Our name signifies that our work is strongly rooted in justice and equity while creating movement and change. Pine trees in the wind remind us of the breath and roots that support all life to its fullest, what we would hope for all people. The importance of pine trees to both founders’ fathers also carries a heartfelt connection to the natural world and the value of our family roots that has led us to this work.

(Mural by Jasmine Holmes-Piesco, Poem by Ashley Cornelius)

WPF’s Five Tenets of Equitable Grantmaking

Accessible

The Foundation is an active partner and seeks out opportunities to engage with and support its community. The Foundation's grantmaking processes are approachable and straightforward.

Transparent

The Foundation communicates regularly with its community and ensures that all decision-making processes are clear, consistent and fair.

Accountable

The Foundation regularly seeks and incorporates feedback from its community within its practices. The Foundation recognizes its position of power and proactively addresses feedback openly, thoughtfully, and in partnership with its community.

Flexible

The Foundation listens to and responds to the shifting needs and challenges within its community and adjusts is grantmaking and decision-making when needed.

Trustworthy

The Foundation trusts its community to know what is best and demonstrates that it is invested in its community's longterm success and sustainability. The foundation follows through on its commitments.

Meet the Team

President
Melanie is a nurturing community leader, mother, grandmother, and friend.
After studying social work at Hunter College, Melanie built a career of working with people of different backgrounds and needs, relying on her knowledge and intuition to work with her clients. With deep experience across interpersonal, sexual, domestic violence, and mental health fields, she observed firsthand how societal and systemic structures negatively impact many individuals and communities.
Throughout her life and career, Melanie always felt driven to give back and weave philanthropy into her family values. Despite reservations about our complex philanthropic system, Melanie embraced the opportunity to make a difference when her family's precast concrete business sold in 2021. With a mission to give back to the communities that contributed to generating generational wealth, Melanie actively collaborates with QTBIPOC+ consultants and directly affected community members, recognizing their invaluable expertise and leadership in Windy Pines’ philanthropic endeavors.
In her spare time, Melanie finds joy in being outdoors, traveling to new places with her husband Randy, reading, and spending time with her family.

Board Member

Vice President
As Vice President of Windy Pines, Randy aims to support and empower BIPOC-led organizations and leaders by challenging the conventional practices of white-centered foundations.
Randy's passion for community and global-mindedness can be traced back to his high school exchange program in Ecuador during the 1978/79 school year. The experience opened his eyes to how many of the truths we hold are formed entirely by our environment and the stories we hear. As a young person, this revelation turned his world upside down—he began questioning the values he held about things like religion, class, and most importantly, how history is interpreted.
After college, Randy and Melanie moved to Washington DC and later Brooklyn, NY to engage in community organizing. Witnessing the power of collective action, Randy saw first-hand the potential for individuals to drive meaningful change through collaboration and grassroots efforts. He also witnessed the challenges organizations face in accessing funding, inspiring him to adopt a more inclusive and trusting approach to philanthropy.
Following a 28-year career at Lindsay Precast, Randy today invests in and supports organizations that seek to address problems caused and perpetuated by historic inequities and work with the community to establish and create more just systems. He is a caring, family-focused grandpa and loves traveling with Melanie to experience new food, music, and adventure.