“Innovation is in the eye of the beholder,” says Sandy Herz, director of global partnerships at the Skoll Foundation. “Different foundations see it in different ways.” Convening grantees may be innovative for some foundations, even though others have been doing so for years. Or, another foundation might add program related investments to its grantmaking portfolio,... Read More
Why does Atkinson Foundation, a small-staffed funder, engage in grantmaking abroad? Locally we can make site visits, but that’s usually impossible when the project is in the Bolivian highlands, the Moroccan desert, the Brazilian rainforest, or a rural village in Eritrea or Honduras. Yet, overseas grants justify one-fifth of our foundation’s grantmaking and at least... Read More
Developmental evaluation is a hot topic in philanthropy today. It emerged in response to the need for real-time learning in complex and emerging situations—just the situations in which funders tend to find themselves when working with others to find innovative solutions to social problems. “Evaluation is about critical thinking; development is about creative thinking,” writes... Read More
Without open, honest conversations, funders can’t learn what nonprofits really need to deliver outcomes desired by funders, grantees, and, most of all, people and communities in need. One of the biggest barriers to getting the complete story is the lack of trust between funders and grantees. Another task is creating the conditions necessary to listen... Read More
Generally, a worker may be classified as an independent contractor if the employer has the right to control or direct the result of the work but not the means or methods of accomplishing the result. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) uses a 20-factor test to determine whether a worker is an employee or an independent... Read More
“We’ve always been interested in young people and their college education,” said Mr. Smyth. While working in Wilmington, DE, he worked with inner-city kids. “That was the real impetus to set up the foundation. When we left Wilmington and retired in Virginia, we decided to create a local scholarship program.” Nelson County, a rural area... Read More