A Guide to Good Practices in Foundation Operations

E x p l o r e n e w w a y s t o b r i n g g r e a t e r e f f i c i e n c y

t o y o u r f o u n d a t i o n

October 17, 2017

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A Guide to Good Practices in Foundation Operations

Jacob HaroldPresident & CEO

GuideStar

Austin LongDirector, Assessment and

Advisory ServicesThe Center for Effective

Philanthropy

Emily WexlerSenior Program Manager

Grantmakers for Effective Organizations

AGENDA

Introduction

Discussion of concepts outlined in whitepaper

How GuideStar’s work addresses these concepts

How CEP’s work addresses these concepts

1

2

3

4

5 How GEO’s work addresses these concepts

6 Q + A

Introduction to a Guide to Good Practices in Foundation Operations:

1. Be Transparent to the Public

2. Be Rigorous- But Remain Respectful of Your Applicants

3. Be Responsive to Your Constituents

4. Be Proactive about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

1. Be Transparent to the Public

• strengthens a foundation’s credibility

• increases public trust

• improves relationships with grantees and regions served

• reduces duplication of effort among foundations

• facilitates greater collaboration

• cultivates a community of shared learning

2. Be Rigorous—But Respectful

• Keep it simple

• Resist a one-size-fits-all approach

• Be rigorous but not unrealistic

• Do no harm

…be mindful of your demands to grantees!

3. Be Responsive to Your Constituents

• The perception of a foundation’s mission and workings among internal and external constituents is key

• Your staff ultimately determine the success or failure of the organization by…

-setting strategy-make decisions-represent the organization’s work

• Implement employee perception survey-eg: Center for Effective Philanthropy’s Staff Perception Report

• Seek to encourage and incorporate feedback from beneficiaries. Fund for Shared Insight offers grants in this area.

4. Be Proactive about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

• Making philanthropy as diverse as America itself

• The push to diversify a foundation’s staff needs to be internalized and systematized, enshrined as a keystone value for an organization.

• Recruit for both board and staff with an eye toward diversity

• Foundations can build trust by issuing regular reports providing data about diversity efforts

Poll Question 1

Which of the following concepts outlined in the Whitepaper does the funding community best address currently?

1. Transparency

2. Respectfulness to grantees

3. Responsiveness to grantees

4. Incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion into grantmaking

Poll Question 2

Which of the following concepts outlined in the Whitepaper does the funding community need to make the most improvements?

1. Transparency

2. Respectfulness to grantees

3. Responsiveness to grantees

4. Incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion into grantmaking

GUIDESTAR’S MISSION

… to revolutionize philanthropy by providing information that advances transparency, enables users to make better decisions, and encourages charitable giving.

Better Data, Better Decisions for a Better World

Data & Information Flow in the Social SectorBetter data.

Better decisions.

Better world.

Data & Information Flow in the Social SectorBetter data.

Better decisions.

Better world.

1

2

3

1. Nonprofits update their profiles on GuideStar

2. Foundations enable GuideStar for Grant Applications (G4G) in their Grant Management Software

3. Nonprofits automatically populate grant applications

Less Paperwork. More Impact.

THIS IS YOUR

GRANTEES

THIS IS YOU

THIS

CAN

REALLY

HAPPEN

NOW!

Building the Data Infrastructure for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

GuideStar as a repository for DEI Data

GuideStar is committed to providing the data and intelligence that can inform organizational efforts, foundation practice, and grantmaking.

10,000 nonprofits have shared race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability data for their staffs and boards.

We look to:• Expand the number of organizations providing

demographic data• Expand the types of data collected• Ensure that the data is accessible to be searched,

downloaded, and analyzed to drive intelligenceThanks to the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for their anchor funding, and to the California Endowment for their advocacy around the collection of diversity data through GuideStar Nonprofit Profiles

CEP’S PERSPECTIVE

Interactions Communications

DEFINING STRONG RELATIONSHIPS

Understanding Transparency

WHAT IT TAKES

Grantee strategy and goals

Grantee challenges

Grantee fields and local communities

Social, cultural, or socioeconomic factors that affect

grantee work

Beneficiaries’ needs and funding priorities that

reflect those needs

BUILDING UNDERSTANDING

• Survey responses from 145 foundation CEOs and more than 15,000 grantees

• Coding of 73 foundation websites

• Profiles of three foundations

27

TRANSPARENCY RESEARCH

• Funders are most transparent about their grantmaking processes and goals and strategies

• Funders are less transparent about sharing how they assess their performance or their lessons learned

28

TRANSPARENCY FINDINGS

29

30

GRANTEE PERCEPTION REPORT

7

(Significant

positive impact)

31

“Overall, how would you rate the Foundation’s impact on

your organization?”

432 65

6.0

1

(No

impact)

COMPARATIVE DATA

Relationships matter

Strong relationships are driven by understanding

and transparency

Funders are less transparent about sharing how

they assess performance or their lessons learned

Comparative data helps mitigate the power dynamic

in seeking feedback

Takeaways

33

34

▪ Make it about others

▪ Get out of the office

▪ Bring the outside in

▪ Invest the time and money

▪ Lead from where you sit

36

Strengthening relationships leads to…

▪ Providing multi-year support

▪ Providing capacity building support

▪ Conducting evaluation and learning activities

37

2011

(n=522)

2014

(n=461)

2017

(n=490)

Planned/revised programs 54% 51% 50%

Planned/revised strategies 66% 66% 61%

Reported to your board on grants 88% 87% 90%

Attempted to influence public policy or

government funding choices20% 20% 22%

Reported to grantees/ stakeholders 37% 45% 44%

Shared findings with other grantmakers 47% 49% 45%

We have not used evaluation findings 2% 2% 2%

“The ultimate focus of learning is not ‘What should the foundation be doing about this problem?’ Rather, the

question should be, ‘What knowledge and expertise can we draw on to solve this problem, and how can we bring people

together to make sure we are all working from a unified understanding of the problem and its solutions?’”

– Joe Dickman, deputy director for research, evaluation and learning, The MasterCard Foundation

40

▪ Added confidence

▪ Greater alignment

▪ More transparency

▪ Better relationships with grantees

▪ Better insights into the issues facing nonprofits and the communities they serve

▪ Communicate at every turn

▪ Due diligence is the first step in a long-term relationship

▪ Imagine each step through the grantseeker’s eyes

Questions?

Jacob Harold, President and CEO, GuideStarwww.guidestar.org

jacob.harold@guidestar.org

Austin Long, Director of Assessment and Advisory Services, CEPwww.cep.org

austinl@cep.org

Emily Wexler, Senior Program Manager, GEO www.geofunders.org

wexler@geofunders.org

T H A N K Y O U F O R J O I N I N G

Orgs are most inclined to share gender identity information followed by race and ethnicity

Opportunities for supporting GuideStar’s DEI efforts

• Encourage your grantees to add their demographic information to their GuideStar Nonprofit Profile

• Lead by example and adding demographic information for your foundation to your GuideStar Profile

• Participate in a Human Centered Design session to share your insights as we develop the next generation of the data collection and reporting tools

• Invest in this work with a grant to help fund GuideStar’s DEI efforts or an unrestricted gift to support GuideStar’s work more broadly

• Provide a letter of support to acknowledge the importance of demographic data and intelligence

Poll question

Tell us:

Do your prospective grantees have to submit DEI data as part of

the grantmaking process ?

And If so, do what types of demographic data do you look for?

Community Foundations are Leaders in Effectiveness

750 community foundations in US managing $48b + in assets and disburse$4.3b to their communities annually

Common goal: Harness philanthropy to improve the quality of life in their respective locations

Understanding funding outcomes-how you serve constituents goes beyond the dollar value of the grants

Establish feedback loops using Listen for Good, an initiative of the Fund for Shared Insight.

Interested in learning more about technology solutions for community foundations download 21st-Century Tools for 21st-Century Community Foundations

4. Be Proactive about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

• Cultivate a deep understanding of the local contexts in which you invest

• Ensure that your mission reflects the value of DEI, and that your leaders are driven by the mission

• Target the structural issues that limit opportunities for people in underserved communities, and bolster the capacity of grassroots organizations that serve those communities

• Select nonprofit partners whose missions align with your values

• Engage nonprofits as partners and forge long-term relationships

• Build partners’ capacity to engage their communities

• Convene your partners to discuss diversity and encourage authentic collaboration to tackle the issues that affect communities

• Use evaluation as a learning tool to improve your own practices