For many years, small-staffed foundations have been at the heart of the impact investing movement, joining with—and, at times, leading—larger philanthropies. Small-staffed foundations tend to be more agile than their larger, staffed counterparts and also may have greater knowledge of the needs in certain issue areas and geographies. They are better positioned than larger foundations... Read More
Hiring takes a good deal of time and sometimes money. The more thorough and careful your recruitment process is, the more likely the staff you choose will be successful and long term. Here are several tips: Decide whether to manage the search internally or with outside assistance—If your foundation decides to handle it, designate a... Read More
A conflict of interest can occur any time a board member or staff’s outside involvements (e.g., business interests, family relationships, political affiliations, other charitable activities) intersect with those of the foundation. The benefit, or potential benefit by board or staff, can lead to biased decisions and unethical behavior, or the appearance of such. In instances... Read More
The past 10 years have been exciting ones for the Hill-Snowdon Foundation and the Snowdon family. For 40 years prior, we acted as a typical family foundation, coming together once a year to nominally approve grants recommended by family members. We funded some wonderful organizations reflecting the varied interests of the family, but you would... Read More
A fairly simple review using any of the following sources will give you information about a nonprofit’s finances. As you get more comfortable with financials or seek detailed information about particular organizations, you can examine financials more extensively: Charity rating services—These Web-based rating services are great starting points for information about nonprofits you are considering.... Read More
Funders scan to learn everything there is to know about an issue. They scan to uncover key needs, especially those that are overlooked. They also scan to find out more about their chosen focus areas and to design or refine their strategies. Through scanning, you can learn about promising programs, unsuccessful strategies, barriers to progress,... Read More