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Book It and Ship It
Earlier this year, Jim Morgan of Morgan Family Foundation published Applied Wisdom for Nonprofits: Eight Practical Tools for Leadership to share leadership tools and techniques with nonprofit emerging leaders, executive directors, and board members. Developed through his varied experiences—farming, military, venture capital, the Fortune 500 company Applied Materials, the Nature Conservancy, and his family foundation—Jim’s... Read More
Small-Staffed Funders Can and Do Influence Policy and Engage Voters: New Toolkits
To help more foundations get involved with policymaking, candidate education, and voter engagement, Nonprofit VOTE worked with the Council on Foundations and Independent Sector to create resources that would illustrate best practices and put to rest concerns. The result is The Voter Engagement Toolkit for Private Foundations and The Voter Engagement Toolkit for Community Foundations.... Read More
Free to Fee: Help Your Nonprofit Partners Generate Earned Income
Imagine the benefit to society—and to funders—if nonprofits generated income, operating with the efficient, effective practices that are necessary to do so? Stronger operating models. More money to drive mission. More people served. More philanthropic dollars available in the community. This has been our experience after working with nonprofit organizations on plans to generate mission-related... Read More
Good Meetings Require Good Ground Rules
A man named Henry was once asked to chair a meeting at his local church. A seasoned military officer and engineer, he was embarrassed when conflict erupted and he lost control of the meeting. “The best of men, having wills of their own, are liable to attempt to carry out their own views without paying... Read More
Funder Collaboration: It’s Not Always What You Think
At Common Counsel Foundation, we support, advise, and manage some amazing donor advised funds and family foundations. It is clear, however, that an individual funder (and a small-staffed one no less!) will not solve the world’s intractable problems alone. In fact, it will take a whole network of funders—including grant partners and others—at the same... Read More
Much More Than Money – The Impact of Small Rural Foundations
When most people think of foundations, they think of deep pockets. That’s understandable, since the popular public perception of philanthropy has been shaped by the creation of multimillion-dollar foundations by titans of old, and enforced by the glamour of new foundations launched to much fanfare by today’s billionaires. In rural communities, the creation of big-dollar... Read More