GMA Foundations’ Grants 2013 report released

Forty independent and corporate foundations and individual donors working with Boston-based GMA Foundations increased their giving in 2013 to a combined total of $37.3 million, up nearly 20% from the previous year. The philanthropic advisory firm’s newly released report describes the grantmaking reach of its clients, who awarded more than 1,500 grants to 1,100 nonprofits around the world.

Reflecting stronger investment returns, the amount of the average grant increased 9% over the prior year to $23,565. “We look to the nonprofit sector for innovation, agility, and strong connections to the community,” says Phil Hall, GMA’s Director of Grantmaking.  “Operating on a small scale, these nonprofit organizations are leading the way to social change, and we are proud to support them.”

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DISTINCTIVE GRANTMAKING

On the heels of a recent site visit, the group of trustees I was with wrote a check to the school. To be clear, our visit was not made in conjunction with a grant application. Their spontaneity impressed me and started me thinking.
Is it necessary to leave a tip for good learning?

A trustees’ learning tour…an educational site visit…a funders’ day out…a local nonprofit visit as an option at a national conference.  Such hands-on learning adventures have become commonplace in our field, and with good reason.  To better understand what nonprofits do, what their leadership accomplishes, and what may be possible with additional resources, there is no substitute for seeing with our own eyes. Site visits can even re-connect us
with our own mission.

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by Prentice Zinn

The Association of Small Foundations’ website hosts a helpful checklist of annual foundation board to-dos, describing the various financial, legal, governance, grantmaking, and administrative tasks that foundations should undertake each year.

Like all housekeeping chores, however, some of the more difficult tasks may get neglected.  Updating grant policies is one of those.  Critiquing your own work is not easy.  Nevertheless, setting aside a little time to validate and question your foundation’s transactional practices is a great way to recalibrate, to maximize impact.

Consider adding these three hard grantmaking policy questions to your foundation’s housekeeping list for 2014:

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