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Grantmaking for Equity: Essential, Fundamental Practices
This fundamental set of practices is a great place for funders to start advancing racial equity in philanthropy. That said, these actions are just the beginning. They complement a continual journey of learning about systemic racism. Equitable Grantmaking Practices Eliminate Barriers to Entry Don’t impose a minimum organizational size or budget in your grant guidelines. Instead,... Read More
Essentials for Creating Grant Guidelines
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
Foundation Transitions Happen: Are You Prepared?
A leadership succession plan is an essential source of guidance, and a commitment to organizational stability, when foundation transitions occur. Specifically, this written document identifies a course of action for when key leaders depart, whether planned or unplanned, permanent or temporary. To illustrate, consider what happened to one of our members: “Our foundation had succession... Read More
Why Your Net Grant Matters
What is a net grant and why does it matter? Well, time is money and grantees incur costs while applying for grants. For instance, think about how long it could take a nonprofit to customize their financial documents to your specifications, and language to your unique questions and formatting. According to Project Streamline, nonprofits can... Read More
Collective Giving and Foundations: Learning From and With One Another
As a co-founder of Impact100 Philadelphia with my colleague Beth Dahle, I have worked in collective giving for the past 14 years. That means: Thinking about member recruitment, engagement and management This year, we have 454 women members who joined to have their individual donations pooled into our larger collective grants to nonprofits in the... Read More
I Used To Be on the Other Side: Reducing the Power Dynamic in Philanthropy
For the past 30 years, I have had the privilege of working in leadership positions at nonprofit organizations from local through international regions. I’ve also worked as a consultant for nonprofits doing strategic planning, staff and board development, and fundraising. I know first-hand what it’s like to run programs, engage in advocacy, and have to... Read More