Grantmaking Strategy and Evaluation

Engaging Organizations and Developing Relationships With Their Leadership

Posted on October 20, 2020 by Stanford PACS

Best practices when it comes to interacting with potential and actual grantees including volunteering and board service. In many instances, you can conduct adequate due diligence on a nonprofit without ever communicating with the organization’s staff—using information from its website and from third parties. Also, in many cases—especially but not only with large national or international groups—you will feel satisfied… Read More

Community Foundations Network Topical Call: Holiday and Winter Family Meetings

Posted on October 5, 2020

How are you preparing for holiday and winter meetings with your donor families during this challenging and partisan moment? Donors are looking for guidance as they navigate uncertain times and a changing giving landscape. Join this safe, facilitated dialogue to talk with your peers about common strategies and important questions. Resources: Civil Conversations & Social Healing at The On Being… Read More

Values-based Leadership for the Future of Health: A Conversation with Barbara Bush and Global Health Corps

Posted on October 5, 2020 by Joanna Galaris, Barbara Bush, Sandra Isano, Heather Anderson

Join us in welcoming to our virtual stage Global Health Corps (GHC) Co-Founder and Board Chair Barbara Bush and CEO Heather Anderson. Barbara will share a brief history of her inspiration and initial vision for the organization, and then engage in a conversation with other panelists that illuminates GHC’s journey from launching as a small startup in 2009 to building… Read More

How to Do A Trust-Based Grantee Meeting

Posted on October 2, 2020 by Trust-Based Philanthropy Project

How can funders approach grantee check-in meetings to foster productive relationships and glean important insights, all while proactively alleviating power imbalances? And how can we consider grantee check-ins  as an alternate approach to reporting? This funder-specific tool offers a checklist of trust-based considerations before, during, and after grantee check-in meetings… Read More

Trust-Based Philanthropy Self-Reflection Tool

Posted on October 2, 2020 by Trust-Based Philanthropy Project

Trust-based philanthropy is a holistic approach that requires alignment in a grantmaking organization’s four interrelated areas: 1) practice, 2) leadership, 3) culture, and 4) values. This tool is designed to help funders at various stages of the trust-based journey examine how trust shows up across your organization, and identify areas that may need more inquiry, refinement, or deepening. This is… Read More

Trust-Based Philanthropy At-A-Glance

Posted on October 2, 2020 by Trust-Based Philanthropy Project

This 2-page overview provides the overarching context for trust-based philanthropy, descriptions and rationale for the six interrelated principles, recommended steps you can take, and the benefits you will see. This introductory primer will be most relevant to foundation leadership, trustees, and staff. It can be used as a general reference point, or for more in-depth discussion and reflection among colleagues… Read More

Balancing Purpose, Payout, and Permanence

Posted on August 30, 2020 by Council on Foundations, National Center for Family Philanthropy, Tony Macklin

How much should we spend? This is an essential question for foundations, and one of the most complex, particularly in moments of change or turmoil. This Strategy Guide invites you to reflect more deeply on how your foundation chooses to balance four factors—purpose, conditions and trends, time horizons, and assets for mission—especially in times of greater crisis or opportunity. It… Read More

Listening to Those Who Matter Most, the Beneficiaries

Posted on August 25, 2020 by Valerie Threlfall, Fay Twersky, Phil Buchanan

To become more effective, nonprofits and foundations are turning to various sources for advice. Some look to experts who can share knowledge, research, and experience about what works—and what does not. Others turn to crowdsourcing to generate ideas and even guide decisions about future directions or funding. Experts and crowds can produce valuable insights. But too often nonprofits and funders… Read More

Deciding Together: Shifting Power and Resources Through Participatory Grantmaking

Posted on August 24, 2020 by Cynthia Gibson

Deciding Together: Shifting Power and Resources Through Participatory Grantmaking looks at why and how funders are engaging in participatory grantmaking and shifting decision-making power to the very communities impacted by funding decisions. Through examples and insights from a diverse range of participatory grantmakers, the report explores the benefits, challenges, and models of participatory grantmaking… Read More

Bridging The Gap: A Review of Foundation Listening Practices

Posted on August 24, 2020 by Ekouté

While much has been written about how funders can pursue direct listening at the local scale, comparatively less has been written about how larger systems-level funders working across multiple geographies can approach this work in meaningful ways. Based on their research, the authors recommend the following as particularly promising and relevant practices. Advisory committees, if structured correctly, can be powerful… Read More

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