Transparency and accountability

Vision and Strategies for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: A Three-Year Plan in Service to Oregon (2016-2018)

Posted on June 21, 2019 by The Collins Foundation

The Collins Foundation commits to employing an equity lens in both our internal structures and how we engage externally with Oregon’s diverse communities as a funder and partner. Employing an equity lens means we welcome and encourage diversity, practice and promote inclusion, and pay attention to how we conduct our business both inside our walls and out in the community… Read More

Hiring a Communications Consultant

Posted on January 29, 2019 by S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation

Communication involves the purposeful delivery of information to create awareness, understanding, or action. It’s a big topic, with application to virtually everything an organization does, inside and out. This brief tutorial can help people working in foundations and nonprofits effectively prepare for and conduct engagements with communication consultants. This guide begins with the below summary of the types of organizational… Read More

Transparency in Family Philanthropy: Opening to the Possibilities

Posted on October 10, 2018 by Elaine Gast Fawcett

What choices do you have when it comes to transparency? How open and accessible is your family foundation—to the extended family, to grant seekers and partners, to the public? What approach do your colleague foundations take, and why? This guide examines how family funders are thinking, acting—and not acting—when it comes to how transparent they are with others. It encourages… Read More

Balancing Family Privacy and Public Trust: Transparency in Family Philanthropy

Posted on May 11, 2017 by Chris Rurik, Richard Russell, Richard Woo

While transparency is an important value in principle, what do you do when your foundation’s privacy is also your family’s privacy? How do we balance the need for public accountability with a family’s right to privacy? What do the tough but important questions regarding transparency and accountability mean for family philanthropy and how can foundations think strategically about these questions?… Read More

Cultivating Nonprofit Leadership

Posted on May 9, 2017 by Niki Jagpal, Ryan Schlegel

Leadership development is an integral component of any work that seeks to address long-standing structural barriers to sustainable change. We cannot succeed without substantial investments in leadership at the grassroots level, specifically among groups working to address rigid structural barriers to equity and creating sustainable change. … Read More

Sharing What Matters: Foundation Transparency – Center for Effective Philanthropy

Posted on July 21, 2016 by 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

How long should a foundation keep grantee reports?

Posted on February 19, 2016 by Andras Kosaras, James P. Joseph

Are there legal requirements, IRS or other, for foundations regarding receiving and retaining paperwork from grantees that documents how grant dollars were spent? A good rule of thumb is to keep grant materials for seven years. We suggest four years at a minimum. The IRS audit statute of limitations is three years. So, it is important to keep grant materials… Read More

Are there any lobbying red flags to look out for in final grantee reports to our foundation?

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Andras Kosaras, James P. Joseph

Are there any lobbying red flags to look out for in final grantee reports to our foundation? The foundation should look at grantee reports for lobbying flags or electioneering flags. If grantees are not following the rules it is better to know sooner rather than later. This way it can be corrected going forward. For more information, see The Rules… Read More

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