Resources

Good morning GEOList: We are a grantmaking and an operating foundation, and we collect a lot of data on connections between program cohort participants, and between participants and organizations in our grantmaking network. We are interested in hiring a consultant to help us clean and standardize the data, and answer questions like:  What does the network look like, within and between cohorts and organizations?  Have new connections developed over time?  Have existing connections been maintained and/or strengthened?  Are there more higher level interactions over time (e.g. professional rather than social)?  Where are the hubs/animators within the network? Where are the outliers? If you have worked with a firm that can provide social network analysis consulting, I am interested in hearing about your experience (good and bad) and to see any deliverables you are able to share.

Michael Reese Health Trust is looking to better articulate our foundation’s impact. As part of our revised grantmaking program, we are looking for a high-level dashboard (mixed quantitative and qualitative data) to report on progress by strategic program area that we will share with our Board. We noted a previous discussion on Dashboards in the GEO community in 2012, though some of the contacts and links are outdated. Would you be willing to share resources or templates that have been helpful for your foundation? Thanks for your consideration,

Hi folks, My work is going to start using live captioning to make our Zoom meetings and webinars more accessible. I wanted to ask whether anyone had any recommendations for affordable third-party live captioning companies? We have a simple 60-minute Zoom webinar with less than 30 participants happening early next week, so hoping to set this up ASAP. Thanks!

Do any of your foundations buy carbon offsets when your staff travels by plane? Thanks,

Hello! I am seeking info on practices around retirement contributions at family foundations in the $50M to $250M asset range. The specific questions are: 1. What is the total number of staff of the organization? 2. What, if any, contribution is made by the foundation towards the 401k/403b retirement benefits for staff? Thanks for any info!

Dear Colleagues, We are working with a group of foundations in Brazil to find best-in-class examples of what many call venture philanthropy, and we want to use as comparators initiatives that include most or all of the following characteristics: 1) tailored financing which includes BOTH grants AND impact investing through debt, equity, or other forms; and hybrid financial instruments; 2) high engagement of funders; 3) long term approach and stable investment over time of AT LEAST 3-4 years; 4) emphasis on strengthening capacity and partnerships to build self-reliance and resilience; 5) organizational support to develop skills, improve structures and processes, etc.; 6) intention and action on measuring and managing outcomes and impact; reflection and adjustment by funders and recipients together; and ideally 7) sharing learnings with the broader community. If you have good examples to share, whether they succeeded or failed in their aims, we would like to include them as cases. Thank you.

Hello, I’m looking to learn from funders that have set up advisory committees composed of external stakeholders – particularly from marginalized communities that the funder seeks to serve – to welcome input on strategy development and/or grant decision making. I’m aware of many of the community-led grantmaking models (see the list below for example, which was sent following a webinar NCRP did in 2017). I’m looking to expand my understanding of the landscape and add examples to a living document that I’m happy to share out. Thank you,

Hi GEO community-- The Sobrato Family Foundation team is interested in learning about how foundations have structured their capacity-building grantmaking. Do you have a separate team (which partners with program teams) to manage grants to improve grantee capacity? Or does the program team manage the grants themselves, with a capacity-building team as a resource to support and advise these decisions? We’re interested in learning about the range of ways this support is structured within foundations, so would love to hear your thoughts and experiences. Thanks in advance,

Hello Everyone, We're heading in to a new phase with our board and are looking for a coach. We'd like the coach to help them figure out what kind of board they want to be and how they will structure the division of labor and decision making. Have you worked with anyone you would recommend that has experience with family foundations or an expertise in board governance? Thank you!

Hi all, Our agency is working to update our document retention policies, and I was wondering if anyone could share your document retention schedule—and any policies your agency has regarding inactive applicants? (e.g. if someone dies or stops applying, when—or do—you purge those files?) For us, this question is most pertinent for electronic records in our grant portal, because the hard copies pretty much sort themselves out in three or six years. Thanks so much,