Question: What does any broker, 401k advisor, or wealth management professional want to know from clients before they invest? Answer: Their risk profile. Some investments are riskier than others, and successful financial advisors need to know in advance how comfortable the client is with risk. But what about our philanthropic dollars, the grants given to... Read More
As my fellow Exponent Philanthropy staff, colleagues, and board members continue on our journey to actively embrace equity, inclusion, and diversity I find myself, as a funder, thinking about things differently. Each new seed of insight doesn’t cause an immediate seismic shift in my grantmaking, but is a catalyst for cleaning my glasses, opening my... Read More
There is no doubt that measuring impact is the hottest trend in philanthropy today. How can our organization track the outcomes our grants are having? How can we track more useful information to make better decisions? At Foundant, we hear iterations of these questions regularly. From working with almost 1,000 grantmakers, we’ve identified some steps you... Read More
To create change, improve lives, or find a cure, philanthropists must approach their work as an investment and not simply as a gift. By definition, gift giving requires nothing in return. So when our sector talks about major gifts or big givers, we lose track of what effective philanthropy should be: a carefully constructed investment... Read More
For more than two decades, Foellinger Foundation has provided capacity building grants to nonprofits in Allen County, Indiana. We are proud to support the external work those organizations do in our community, and we are equally proud to support the important work they do internally to improve their effectiveness. In 2018, we reflected on the... Read More
At Exponent Philanthropy’s 2018 National Conference, author Tiffany Dufu introduced a simple yet novel concept that helps her thrive in her professional and personal life: dropping the ball. As Dufu’s responsibilities increased at work, her husband took on a more demanding job with greater travel, and the two became parents, there were not enough hours... Read More