With open communication, and detailed grant guidelines, you can build good relationships with potential partners from the start. At the same time, you can help other grantseekers move onto different funding sources quickly. However, guidelines are just guidelines. If you want to make a grant outside of your stated guidelines, you can certainly do so.... Read More
The Presser Foundation is the only foundation dedicated solely to funding music organizations in the Greater Philadelphia region. Its holistic approach to grantmaking also makes it unique among funders. The foundation gives to music organizations through special projects, general operating support, and capital support grants. At the same time, it supports music students through undergraduate... Read More
When funders get together to connect, talk and build relationships with one another, big things can happen. Consider, for example, this analysis of over $14 million awarded to nonprofits in Frederick County, Maryland, along with a growing understanding of how local giving relates to community needs. The Origins of Our Funders Group About five years... Read More
This post originally appeared on Blackbaud’s sgENGAGE blog. When smaller, place-based foundations collaborate and align their work, they provide unique value to local communities and nonprofits. Still, many foundations shy away from working together, assuming it will require considerable time and a loss of independence. Funder collaboration need not be burdensome. Nor does it require... Read More
In recent years, we have collected data on how our community of lean funders is responding to the pandemic. In April 2020, we surveyed members on what they planned to do. We shared those findings in this report. The next year, our 2021 Foundation Operations and Management Survey (FOMS) collected more detailed information on how... Read More
A few years ago, Robert Sterling Clark Foundation painfully let go of important issues and organizations, believing we could do more for New York City by focusing our giving. Our board of directors decided to invest in both city leaders and their networks as well as the organizations that develop those networks. After that, the board... Read More