You are not alone if you feel stuck administering grants for your small-staffed foundation using sticky notes, whiteboards, or spreadsheets. For many lean foundations, the high costs of implementing and maintaining a purpose-built grant management system (GMS) can be prohibitive. However, by leveraging the nonprofit license donation programs from industry-leading technology providers, you can create... Read More
This post originally appeared on GMA Foundations’ blog. Organizational budget size is a favorite proxy indicator in philanthropy. Donors use rules of thumb to streamline grantmaking due diligence, but generalizations are imperfect. Using organizational budget size as a proxy indicator can reinforce funding inequities and lead to lost opportunity. Here are a few ways to... Read More
Multiyear funding offers something nonprofits value deeply: predictability. When a foundation commits support for two or more years, it shifts the nature of the relationship. Organizations can plan beyond the next grant cycle. Retaining staff becomes more feasible. Strategic investments carry less risk. Leaders are able to focus less on short-term survival and more on... Read More
This post originally appeared on the Foundation Source blog. Many private foundations fund specific organizations multiple times over several grantmaking cycles. Doing so can help continue a particular charitable program or project, or simply provide a subsequent round of general operating support. As organizations seeking continued support (“returning grantees”) are viewed in a different light than first-time... 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. buy... Read More
On a cold day in February 2015 at a board retreat on the coast of Maine, the board of directors of the Emanuel and Pauline A. Lerner Foundation made a big decision. After five years of funding nonprofits in Maine focused on civic engagement, cultural tolerance, and women and children, the board decided to take... Read More