by Phil Hall

Most of us would agree that lasting change seldom occurs through a collection of isolated grants.  Instead, change begins when a complex web of leaders across sectors and communities works simultaneously to embrace a common mission, collaborate for a sustained period of time and inspire others to do the same.

Large-scale movements for change are often considered the province of only the largest foundations. In fact, funders of all shapes and sizes can adopt the skills and attitudes that are associated with supporting movements. Knowingly or not, even the most individualistic funder is in one way or another contributing to long-term, large-scale change.

This past November, I attended the Grantmakers for Effective Organizations’ conference on movements in Washington, DC. The key learning points of this conference are outlined below and detailed in GEO’s publication, Many Hands More Impact: Philanthropy’s Role in Supporting Movements.

What is a Movement?

One of the most basic decisions any foundation must make has to do with scale.  Do we focus on helping people in need, on a set geography, or a group of favored organizations?  Do we collaborate with other funders?

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NPO CONVERSATION on MARCH 12:   COMMUNICATIONS

What do you know about your nonprofit’s work that others should know too?

Please join GMA’s associates for a guided lunchtime conversation with a small group of leaders from the non-profit sector.  Although this is an opportunity for us to get to know one another, we’ll talk primarily about communications. 

Come ready to tell us about your efforts to raise awareness and money through your communications program.  We’d like to hear about what has worked, what hasn’t and how funders can help.

These are some of our questions:

• Do you have a favorite story that you use to demonstrate the impact of your work?
• How do you keep your content fresh, without spending more time and money than you have? How do you use technology?
• Are you looking for a new audience?  How will you try to reach them? Continue Reading »

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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