Resources

Hello all, I’m reaching out to ask for your insights around two questions we have. First, as we consider funding new organizations in areas where we are not yet active, we are currently updating our grantee cohort criteria. Does your foundation fund in cohorts? If so, would you be willing to share the criteria you all are using? Any learnings shared will be greatly appreciated. Also, on an unrelated note, one of our community organizing grantee partners in New York has an executive director who will soon leave her position and is looking for funding to support a 2-3 month learning sabbatical. Do you know of any funders that currently have sabbatical programs for something like this? So appreciative of any insights shared. Many thanks,

Hello everyone, We're reaching out to see if anyone has any resources about the difference between a CEO, Executive Director and a President of a Community Foundation? Info related to any foundation type would also be helpful. If there are differences in the job descriptions for those titles or if it is simply a choice of term for the title, we'd be thankful for any info you can share. Many thanks! Georganna

Good afternoon – I would like to ask my grantmaking peers willing to share – what did your path to building in equity framework or processes look like as a Grantmaker? We are working alongside an area partner funder to identify our strategies and goals for this work and I was curious if anyone else was willing to share their experiences. We have recently started diving into the Equitable Evaluation Framework (EEF) provided by GEO and their partners. Over the past few years, our organization has increased focus on diversity internally but as we prepare to implement new frameworks or philosophies in our programs, we have a lot of questions. We do not want to set up a process that does not sustain or embed equity across our work. We don’t want to check boxes, so to speak. Have you successfully implemented the EEF or are you working towards it? I’d love to chat with you! Heather

Dear GEO Community, Our foundation works closely with nonprofits that serve families and children in the region. We have focused on organizational resiliency and capacity building, and over the last several years, we noticed a critical need for executive leadership wellness and self-care. The foundation plans to offer new wellness grants to executives at our partner nonprofits, but this is a new funding area for us! What is your experience with wellness grants, leadership burnout support, and nonprofit leadership self-care? I would love to know more about your grant guidelines, how funds were used, and overall feedback from your grantees. Thank you very much! Laura

Dear GEO Community, Siebert Lutheran Foundation (SLF), an independent, private foundation that advances the Lutheran church and its ministries, recently created a new initiative we call Siebert Serves to increase resources and grants for our grantees. This is the first time in our history we are accepting gifts from donors and foundations, which will be used to support our grantees. Some of the ways donors give: 1. Make a "pass-through" gift (money designated for a grantee which is dispersed by SLF directly to the grantee) 2. Create a named Endowment Fund 3. Direct their DAF gift to a grantee 4. Make an unrestricted gift for endowment, bequests, or estate gifts. We are considering implementing a "fee for service" agreement where a percentage (1-3%) of funds from the types of gifts named above will be retained by Siebert to support the fundraising cost associated with securing gifts. We are interested in knowing if your foundation has/has not implemented a “fee for service” agreement, the rationale behind the decision, and the result. Thank you for sharing your thoughts here or if you are willing to take a 2-minute survey to provide your information, please click here: Siebert Lutheran Foundation - charging administrative fees Survey (surveymonkey.com). Thank you! Your input and experience will help us make an informed decision regarding this process.

This publication from Movement Tapestries offers insights and guidance for organizations navigating equity-embedded transformations, and the challenges that can come with embarking on such journeys.

Hi everyone, We're wondering if anyone knows if there is an "industry" average for the decline rate of proposals? If you do not know of an average, would you be willing to share your decline rate so we can create an average of these responses? Also, if there are funders who have reduced the number of rejected proposals, we'd be appreciative of any tips or methods that helped. Many thanks,

In this report, we are excited to share examples that illustrate some of the ways GEO has continued to be a supportive, resource-rich space for grantmakers to advance social progress through transforming philanthropic culture and practice.

With this guide, GEO seeks to reassert the value of flexible, reliable funding with an updated analysis and set of examples to illustrate how a commitment to flexible, reliable funding can support the sector to be more equitable and community driven in its practice.

Good morning, CFU has undertaken a process to develop a community impact strategy for our endowment, issue-based funds, and initiatives. We'd appreciate recommendations for any monitoring and evaluation consultants that this group has been especially impressed with. It would be a bonus if there were any experiences with ESG metrics. Many thanks in advance!