NPO Conversation Series

We invite leaders of nonprofit organizations to join us each quarter for a brown-bag lunch discussion about issues, ideas, and concerns in the nonprofit and philanthropic community. The meetings are a time for us to “talk shop” and move beyond the usual conversation between foundations and nonprofit organizations.

REINVENTION : GMA’s NPO Conversation on Tuesday, April 30th (new date)

From the 100-year old charity to the start-up organization, nonprofits are constantly reinventing themselves. Whether it is a change in mission, a change in board, or a change in image, organizations are trying new things to continue to matter.

How has your organization continued to reinvent itself in order to continue living your mission, meeting your goals and securing funding? How do you and your colleagues infuse your organization with new ideas and energy? How will your organization stay relevant?

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A Policy and Advocacy Primer for Foundations and Nonprofits

by Mary Phillips, in preparation for a panel discussion by this title at the Students4Giving’s 2013 Social Impact Conference at Northeastern University on March 11^th

Foundation trustees often become frustrated by funding the same direct service programs over and over again without seeing significant progress.   The underlying problems are systemic and complex, requiring a multi-pronged approach including government policy changes.  To be strategic, grantmaking programs should include funding for advocacy.

Advocating for public policy changes can complement and increase the effectiveness of a foundation’s grantmaking agenda.  Some trustees approach the idea with caution because of the prohibition on lobbying by private foundations.    Fortunately there are many ways to fund advocacy and practice advocacy without lobbying. 

In fact, if foundations truly want to be change agents, they have to address the public policy implications necessary for successful implementation of new approaches.   For example, Continue Reading »

CLIENT ADVISORY

Summary

How does collaboration with other funders affect a foundation’s grantmaking strategy?

Champions of funder collaboratives point to visible results – to the large-scale impact that comes from pooling resources and to the institutional learning that comes from sharing information and engaging many and diverse perspectives. But there is more. This collective work also creates the conditions for participating foundations to take bigger risks and for their trustees to move beyond their comfort zones.

As charitable giving seems increasingly dwarfed by intractable and complex problems, collaboration with other foundations may be an essential component of an effective grantmaking strategy. For all but the largest foundations, though, the downsides of funder collaboratives are real. They may be time consuming, costly, ego-draining and they mean a loss of autonomy.

The rewards, however, should be considered.   

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