Laird Norton Family Foundation is in its 84th year and is a family-involved organization. Today the family is in its 8th generation and numbers more than 500 members across the globe, but by many other measures, we’re a small foundation, with approximately $40M in assets and grantmaking of about $2M per year. We do our work with nearly 75 Laird Norton Family members engaged across our five grantmaking priorities. We try to listen and learn from our grantee partners and adapt as the field evolves, embracing the practices in Trust Based Philanthropy and Catalytic Leadership in Philanthropy. Part of this has led us to give grants to organizations we turn down.
Streamlining Our Processes
As we worked to streamline our processes, we saw an opportunity to compensate organizations for participating in our invite-only processes. Since we ask organizations to educate us about their work and the communities they serve, it felt logical to compensate them for their time, even if they don’t become full grant partners.
Introducing Administrative Grants
Our staff proposed a range of “administrative grants” to compensate and honor organizations for participating in our invite-only process and the time they spent educating us. This includes:
- Declination or Minimum Grants: Compensation for organizations we decline or give smaller grants.
- Participation Compensation: Payment for participating in learning panels or hosting us for site visits.
- Land Acknowledgement Grants: Support for Native organizations in areas where we hold meetings as a way to honor the stewards of those lands.
Board and Committee Support
Our board and grantmaking committees quickly embraced these new practices. We discovered that this wasn’t common among other foundations, so we created our own guidelines for determining grant amounts. These vary depending on the process:
- Declination or Minimum Grants: $500-$2,500
- Participation in Panels or Site Visits: Similar range as above
- Full Grants: Generally range between $15,000-$50,000
We also simplified our application process, making it more conversational rather than requiring lengthy written documents
Transparency and Impact
We decided to be transparent with new organizations we invited to apply, and the feedback has been very positive. We currently budget around $50,000 per year for administrative grants, which is a small percentage of our overall grantmaking but has an outsized impact on our relationships with grantees.
Encouraging Other Funders
Respecting the time and energy organizations put into educating us has been incredibly rewarding. We encourage other funders to find ways to decrease the burden on grantee partners and honor their time and expertise. Small changes can lead to big impacts, and we’d be happy to discuss how you can implement similar practices. The Exponent discussion community has been an incredible source of inspiration and learning for us, let’s continue the conversation there!
About the Author
Katie Briggs is managing director of the Laird Norton Family Foundation, a private foundation in Seattle, Washington.