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
Foundations are always looking for leverage. Where and how can we invest our limited assets to get the best returns? Will our grantees survive these times of shrinking resources and growing needs? As investors in the nonprofit sector who look for innovative ways to maximize our efforts, we must challenge ourselves to better support and... Read More
A full version of this post originally appeared on Resilia’s company blog. Most funders already understand the importance of supporting nonprofits with capacity-building resources “beyond the grant” to help them achieve their mission. But where do you begin as a funder with many areas to focus on? One clear area of focus is fundraising. While... Read More
Lana Vento Charitable Trust (LVCT) recently tailored its grant process to fit a local theater’s organizational capacity and reflect the size of its grant. Read about the steps it took to minimize the theater’s paperwork and maximize its time spent on programs. For the past 7 years, Lana Vento Charitable Trust (LVCT) awarded Pistarckle Theater... Read More
Five years ago, The Belk Foundation looked very different than it does today. When I was asked to come on as the foundation’s first full-time director, the objective from the board was clear: help us connect this 80-plus-year-old foundation more fully into the community, so that we may better understand the impact of our grantmaking.... Read More
Not all that much good comes with getting older, but one exception is time spent with the best teacher of all: experience. After 27 years in foundation philanthropy, I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to learn firsthand some important lessons, and today I share a key one: Publishing your guidelines, and generally being transparent about... Read More