Blog | Voices from the Field

Strategic, Responsive, or Both?

October 14, 2016 | Kris Putnam-Walkerly
Responsive grantmaking is being open to receiving proposals and ideas from any nonprofit, and allowing the nonprofits to drive the agenda. Requests are initiated by the nonprofit, rather than by a funder seeking them out. This doesn’t mean that a foundation doesn’t have core areas of focus, but that within those areas is wishes to be responsive to the needs nonprofits feel most keenly. Read More
Events & Webinars | Conferences and Workshops

2016 NCFP CEO Retreat: a Joint Retreat for Family and Non-Family CEOs

The role of a family foundation CEO is unique, often bridging generations of family members, community leaders, staff, advisors, and partners. Expectations can be challenging to meet and boundaries are sometimes vague and ever-changing. Success in this role requires a cadre of specialized leadership skills. This 3-day retreat, to be held at the family home of David and Lucile Packard, Read More
Knowledge Center | Sample

Fist to Five Voting and Consensus

September 13, 2016
Fist to Five is quality voting. It has the elements of consensus built in and can prepare groups to transition into consensus if they wish. Most people are accustomed to the simplicity of “yes” and “no” voting rather than the complex and more community-oriented consensus method of decision making. Fist to Five introduces the element of the quality of the Read More
Knowledge Center | Report

Core Components of Foundations that Learn

There is a growing sense in the philanthropic field that knowledge, strategically applied, is as important to community-change efforts as money. If this is true, then foundation leaders must re-imagine and reconstruct the role of learning and give it a central place in their organizations’ missions, goals, strategies, internal structures, and external partnerships. In short, foundations must become learning institutions. Read More
Knowledge Center | Report

Creating Choices Before Making Choices: One Family Foundation’s Journey to Finding a Strategic Focus

July 21, 2016 | Kelly Medinger
Rooted in business principles, philanthropic study, and reflective practice, this article examines the first step of building a grantmaking strategy – finding an issue or problem to address – and presents a three-part model for creating choices that reflect a foundation’s donor intent, organizational talents and resources, and broader community needs. Ultimately, this process illustrates how a family foundation can find a strategic focus, either for all or simply Read More
Knowledge Center | Report

Sharing What Matters: Foundation Transparency – Center for Effective Philanthropy

We drew these conclusions from analyses of surveys of 145 independent and community foundation CEOs, a review of more than 70 foundation websites, and surveys of more than 15,000 grantees. Three profiles included in the report—Baptist Healing Trust, Central New York Community Foundation, and an anonymous foundation—provide a more in-depth look into what guides how transparent a foundation chooses to be, and what it means in day-to-day practice Read More