Tag Archive
giving strategy
Opportunity in Communities: Developing the Whole Picture
March 7th, 2013
Three years ago, Opportunity Nation brought together a coalition of over 250 nonprofits, businesses, educational institutions, faith-based groups, community organizations, and individuals with a ten-year goal of expanding economic opportunity and closing the opportunity gap in America. We kicked off our campaign with a listening tour, where we heard from hard-working young people who feared their zip code would affect their lives more than the their GPA. ...
Mission Driven Investing: Philanthropy’s Surprising Returns
February 20th, 2013
“We know that America thrives when every person can find independence and pride in their work; when the wages of honest labor liberate families from the brink of hardship. We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an American; she is free, and she is equal, not just in the eyes of God but also in our own. ...
When “Dependency” is Not a Bad Word
January 15th, 2013
I have a dependency problem. No, it’s not drugs or alcohol. ...
Data Point: Donor Motivations for Initially Establishing Funds at Community Foundations
December 14th, 2012
As the nation discusses ways to avoid the so-called “fiscal cliff,” there has been widespread debate over the likely impact of changes to the charitable tax deduction. Since 2009, CEP has been providing community foundations with insight and analysis based on rigorous surveys of their donors, working with CEOs and foundation leaders to enhance their effectiveness. ...
Philanthropy’s Innovation Pile Up
October 4th, 2012
This piece was also posted on Impatient Optimists, where Jeff Raikes will be blogging regularly about challenges and opportunities facing the philanthropic community. At the Gates Foundation, we believe in the power of innovation to improve lives. ...
Recasting the Relationship Between Foundations and Nonprofits
September 20th, 2012
In their well-done report, Room for Improvement: Foundations’ Support of Nonprofit Performance Assessment, authors Brock, Buteau, and Herring lay out a vexing tension that exists between foundations and their nonprofit grantees. Their survey demonstrates that nonprofit leaders are hungry for more financial and technical assistance to drive the quality of ongoing performance assessment, while the vast majority of nonprofits receive no foundation support to establish and/or improve our assessment efforts. ...
A Wake-Up Call for Funders: Effectiveness Requires More Support for Grantees’ Assessment Efforts
September 18th, 2012
Room for Improvement is a wake-up call for foundations that seek to promote effectiveness in the nonprofit sector. Based on survey data reported by foundation grantees, it clearly documents what we and others have found: that most nonprofits desire to measure their performance, many are already engaged in trying to do so, and they desperately need resources to do it well. ...
A Crucial Missing Link: Where’s the Foundation Support for Nonprofit Assessment Efforts?
September 13th, 2012
Earlier in my career, I consulted for a number of nonprofit organizations, helping them think about how they could collect, analyze, and interpret data. What struck me at almost every one of these nonprofits was the lack of resources and knowledge they had to work with data. ...
Is Anybody There? Does Anybody Care?
April 3rd, 2012
The title of this post is borrowed from a song in the musical 1776, in which George Washington repeatedly writes the Continental Congress, requesting badly needed assistance, only to be met with evasive responses. The lines were called to mind by the experience one of my colleagues had with approximately thirty foundations when he sought support for a project to explore the basic question: “What is Philanthropy? ...
Data Point: Finding Out Whether Your Assistance to Grantees Makes a Difference
March 1st, 2012
Believing that their foundations’ effectiveness depends on the effectiveness of those they fund, many foundation leaders have embraced the idea of adding value “beyond the money.” In the words of one program officer interviewed for our More Than Money research, “It can often mean the difference between making a grant and making an impact. ...
assessing performance
beneficiary feedback
beneficiary perceptions
communications
community foundations
comparative data
conferences
developing strategy
Donor Perception Report
economy
effective philanthropy
Essentials of Foundation Strategy
foundation effectiveness
foundation governance
foundation performance
foundation staff/program officers
foundation strategy
foundation transparency
Funder/Grantee Relationships
funder/grantee relationships
funder effectiveness
giving strategy
goals
Grantee Perception Report
grantee perspectives
Grantee Voice
indicators
leadership
nonprofit sector
overall foundation performance assessment
performance assessment
performance measurement
philanthropy
role of philanthropy
social media
Staff Perception Report
stakeholder engagement
strategy implementation
youth
YouthTruth
Lessons from a Risk Taken
I really appreciate your willingness to share this and your assessment of what didn't work out as planned or anticipated. Thanks.
I really appreciate your willingness to share this and your assessment of what didn't work out as planned or anticipated. Thanks.
Lessons from a Risk Taken
Jon, thanks for the comment. If there’s one thing we learned, it’s that the cost in time and effort and dollars were all higher than...
Jon, thanks for the comment. If there’s one thing we learned, it’s that the cost in time and effort and dollars were all higher than...
Lessons from a Risk Taken
Thanks for sharing the lessons learned, and what I sense are second thoughts about the cost/benefit of the whole enterprise. I appreciate the thirst for...
Thanks for sharing the lessons learned, and what I sense are second thoughts about the cost/benefit of the whole enterprise. I appreciate the thirst for...
Foundations and Impact Investing: What Is Really Going On?
Great insight. Sometimes it's great to invest in multiple countries as security as the economy in one country might decrease and increase in another.
Great insight. Sometimes it's great to invest in multiple countries as security as the economy in one country might decrease and increase in another.
Foundations and Impact Investing: What Is Really Going On?
Great questions. It is likely still too early to get a handle on whether the (potential) results reflect the hype meaningfully. However, I will be...
Great questions. It is likely still too early to get a handle on whether the (potential) results reflect the hype meaningfully. However, I will be...
