As managing director of a small family foundation, I had often wondered what would happen if the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or the state attorney general came knocking on our foundation’s door. Would we be prepared for an audit? Would the foundation be in compliance with legal and tax reporting requirements? Did our original organizational... Read More
Budgets are both a financial tool to help manage operations and a fiscal control mechanism. They give your board a clear sense of available, committed, and unrestricted funds, and help the board understand the relationship between operating costs and grantmaking expenditures. Read on for a comparative look at two different foundation budgets—one from each coast—to... 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 job description is a general, global view of the job and its responsibilities. It should include the title of the position and a broad view of the requirements of the job; for example: The executive director is the chief executive officer and is responsible for carrying out the policies established by the board, interacting... Read More
Consultants allow your foundation to gain expertise on a part-time basis without the cost and office space for full-time staff. Moreover, the board doesn’t need to supervise the consultant as they would a staff person. Consultants are skilled professionals who can help you move your program forward. Depending on the task at hand, they can... Read More
There’s more to recordkeeping than meets the eye. Some foundations have discovered that good recordkeeping helps them improve their grantmaking and stay informed in their communities. In search of trends The Vine and Branches Foundation goes beyond the rules of recordkeeping. It uses records to assess where the foundation has been and where it wants... Read More