Capacity Building and General Operating Support

This article was originally published by The Center for Effective Philanthropy and is re-posted here with permission. In early spring, as the COVID-19 pandemic worsened, foundations in the U.S. began to shift resources and practices. Some funders, nonprofits, and others in the field called for fundamental changes in how funders…

Strengthening nonprofit organizations is not just a nice-to-have but an essential part of our work as grantmakers to ensure that nonprofits have the resources they need to address today’s most pressing social concerns. Indeed, the vast majority of staffed foundations — 86 percent — do just that, invest in organizational…

It is critical that donors invest in the long-term health and sustainability of the institutions we are asking to tackle the world’s most entrenched social problems. Starving organizations of strong strategic plans or essential technology—often viewed as overhead and therefore superfluous—actually prevents their ability to use the limited resources they…

If every funder only pays for a specific program or a specific line item, an organization becomes fragmented and unstable. Without general operating support, an organization doesn’t have the money for staffing, rent, technology, training, or even the phone bill. And, without a strong infrastructure, programs that improve our communities…

This Guide is designed to help deepen thinking about where, when, and how to invest in capacity building, while also helping funders to explore the dimensions of resiliency and help their grantee organizations prepare for eventual independence from grant funding.

New Attitudes, Old Practices: The Provision of Multiyear General Operating Support examines the state of practice in philanthropy regarding multiyear GOS. Findings of this study reveal a sobering disconnect between attitudes of foundation leaders and the experience of nonprofits, as well as a similar disconnect between the attitudes of foundation CEOs…

This companion piece to New Attitudes, Old Practices: The Provision of Multiyear General Operating Support  provides resources for foundation leaders and boards seeking to start providing, or provide more, multiyear general operating support (GOS) grants. It shares insights and suggestions from leaders whose foundations provide more multiyear GOS than typical, as well…

This companion piece to New Attitudes, Old Practices: The Provision of Multiyear General Operating Support features profiles of five of the 43 foundations that participated in interviews with CEP for that research: the California Wellness Foundation, the Claneil Foundation, Foundation for a Just Society, the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. These five foundations…

In November, PFF Program Officer Laura McCargar joined Michael Moody of the Johnson Center for Family Philanthropy and NCFP Fellow and Board Member Katherine Lorenz of the George and Cynthia Mitchell Foundation at the Grantmakers for Effective Organizations conference in Houston, Texas to talk about collaboration in the context of…

Since its creation in 2001, The Brinson Foundation has focused in the areas of education and scientific research in order to create a world where all people are valued and committed to improving the world in which we live.

The Noyce Foundation was established in 1990 by the family of the late physicist, inventor, and computer industry pioneer Dr. Robert N. Noyce, co-founder of Fairchild Semiconductor and Intel, and co-inventor of the integrated circuit, better known as the microchip.

When there is a deep connection between the work of a nonprofit and the mission of a foundation, an endowment-related grant is sometimes made. This sample policy from the Eckerd Family Foundation covers the criteria for considering an endowment-related grant and examines the amount and evaluation of the grant.

The Peer Skill Share program is designed to invest in the professional skills of nonprofit employees, building their individual capacity and by extension, the capacity of their organizations. The Pierce Family Foundation arranges for nonprofit employees to help each other via “skill share” sessions, where grantees can get one-on-one advice…

Overhead is one of the first concepts any philanthropist learns. It includes all of those administrative and fundraising costs that we secretly wish our nonprofit colleagues didn’t have to worry about. But what exactly is overhead, anyway?

As funders, we pay great attention to how potential grantees steward their financial resources, but do we pay equal attention to how they lead and manage their human resources? Volunteers are a vastly underutilized, yet virtually unlimited renewable resource. The need is urgent, the timing is critical, and the support…

The incubation mentality is the belief that effective nonprofits have to eventually “grow” out of whatever partnership they are in, whether it’s with a fiscal sponsor or a funding partner. It is a pervasive mentality, happening all across our sector, and it is downright harmful to our work.

Increasingly, foundations are investing in deep community listening before they design strategies and approaches for capacity building with nonprofit grantees. Hear the stories of family and regional foundations who came up with creative capacity building programs guided by local community partners. Hear about the ways they are leveraging their community…

While some families pay particular attention to the family’s legacy of giving, and some focus on a particular issue or cause, many choose to limit their grantmaking to a specific city, state or region. Hometown serves as both the family’s sense of place and commitment. Gratitude to a supportive community…

Hear the story of how one mid-sized family foundation created a new theory of change for its own grantmaking and shifted from a more traditional giving approach to a highly targeted social investing strategy. This webinar will take an in-depth look at the experiences and lessons learned of the Tauck…