Featured Blog Post:
Category
2022 Outsized Impact Award Finalists
The Outsized Impact Award honors an individual at an Exponent Philanthropy member organization whose style of philanthropy is achieving outsized (or greater than expected) impact. Read this year’s finalists’ inspiring stories. Danyelle O’HaraMortenson Family Foundation (Minneapolis, Minnesota) As the community relationship officer at the Mortenson Family Foundation, Danyelle O’Hara is centering community in the foundation’s decision-making. Danyelle and the... Read More
Help Your Foundation Board Conquer Fear and Anxiety About Engaging in Advocacy
Advocacy is a long game, and it can be messy at times. However, when combined with grantmaking, advocacy is a powerful tool to advance system change, strengthen relationships with your grantee partners, and enhance learning and understanding around the issues your foundation supports. Helping your board understand the broader concept of advocacy will help shift... Read More
Actionable Ways To Add Diversity to Your Foundation Board and Staff
“Philanthropy relies on the amassed wealth of families and institutions that have benefited from systemic racism. As a result, the institution has a power imbalance in where funds go and what organizations and initiatives receive support,” said Maya Pendleton and Juanita Gallion of The Center for the Study of Social Policy in an Exponent Philanthropy... Read More
10 Tactics To Simplify and Streamline Paperwork
Having specialized grant applications and reports imposes a big administrative burden on nonprofits. Consider, a nonprofit receives grants from 20 or 30 foundations—and some are funded by many more. The nonprofit spends its resources in two major ways: It applies for funding from 40, 50 or 60 different foundations. Each foundation has its own application... Read More
Going Beyond the Grant To Support Nonprofits
A little over 30 years ago, Pro Football Hall of Famer and venture capitalist investor Ronnie Lott and his wife Karen founded All Stars Helping Kids. Ronnie modeled his philanthropic efforts on the lessons he learned playing football and investing in technology starts-up. Much like how venture capitalists invest in startups, All Stars invests in... Read More
Grantmaking Due Diligence: Organizational Budget Size
This post originally appeared on GMA Foundations’ blog. Organizational budget size is a favorite proxy indicator in philanthropy. Donors use rules of thumb to streamline grantmaking due diligence, but generalizations are imperfect. Using organizational budget size as a proxy indicator can reinforce funding inequities and lead to lost opportunity. Here are a few ways to... Read More