PhilanTopic

Foundations and Social Media

(Guest contributor Alison Byrne Fields leads the Issues & Advocacy practice for DDB, working with nonprofit organizations, foundations, and corporations to create social and policy change by using a full range of communications solutions. This is her first post for PhilanTopic.)

Don't know whether you saw the recent article in The Chronicle of Philanthropy about the growing number of foundations that have begun to use online media, including social media, as part of their communications strategies. One of the key points raised by the article was whether foundations should be making further investments in communications, as opposed to making those dollars available to well-deserving nonprofits.

Do I think foundations should be spending wads of cash to send out self-congratulatory press releases? Nope. Do I think it matters all that much if the average American can distinguish between the “brand values” of this or that foundation? Not really. But I do think foundations could and should be using social media in the same way that corporations are beginning to: to build relationships.

Another recent article, this one in AdWeek, examines how a growing number of companies are "building brands by building relationships," forgoing large advertising budgets in favor of better customer service and a focus on developing great products. Their reasoning? As trust in institutions (of all kinds) and the efficacy of top-down messaging continue to decline, the best marketing tool is excellent word of mouth.

So, how, specifically, can foundations use social media to build relationships and engage others? Here are a couple of thoughts:

Facilitate learning and community among grantees: Many grantees look at a funder's other grantees as competition, not as allies. Through grantee social networks, foundations can help their grantees come together to share resources, war stories, and lessons learned. These networks can be closed to the public or made transparent to generate greater interest in the funded work and opportunities for the public to get involved.

Amplify the conversation: There's already a conversation going on somewhere in the social media universe about the issues in which your foundation is investing. Count on it. That conversation is happening both on Web sites created by your grantees and other nonprofit organizations, and also among individuals whose ability to reach and engage an audience is changing the face of advocacy. As a foundation, you probably already serve as a convener, so why not "convene" a conversation online? And I don't mean starting a new conversation; I'm talking about aggregating conversations already happening around your activities into a central location and investing resources in driving others to become engaged in those conversations as well. One of the best current examples of that is the relatively new (and still-growing) Digital Media and Learning site created by the MacArthur Foundation.

There are other things foundations can and should be doing in the social media universe, and I'll be writing about some of those ideas and activities in future posts. In the meantime, you might want to take a closer look at how your foundation is using social media to build relationships. Does it have a social media strategy and/or goals and objectives? If not, why not? And how might you, as a staff member, help convince your colleagues that it's time to explore the brave new world of social media? We'd love to hear from you.

-- Alison Byrne Fields

KnowHow2Go Launches New PSA Campaign

No sooner had I uploaded guest contributor Tricia McKenna's post about the growing use of Web-based video by nonprofits (see below) than I received an e-mail from the folks at the Lumina Foundation calling my attention to the rollout of the second year of the KnowHow2Go college access campaign.

An initiative of Lumina, the Advertising Council, and the American Council on Education, the KnowHow2Go campaign aims to encourage low-income and first-generation students in grades 8 through 10 to take the steps necessary to prepare for college and targets parents and adult influencers to encourage kids to start the college preparation process early.

The new campaign features television, radio, print, outdoor, and Web PSAs that stress taking on the "tough classes" as one of those important steps. Created pro bono by New York City-based ad agency Publicis, the ads use humor -- imagine a mashup of Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, The 300, and any Austin Powers flick -- to communicate the message that preparing for college means taking tough classes.

Curious? Here's the generic campaign spot (I love the somersaulting harlequins -- Vive la France!):

I think my two 15-year-olds would find that amusing...odd, but amusing. (Then again, that's how they see me.)

And here's the "Algebra II" spot:

According to research published in the June 2005 edition of Postsecondary Education Opportunity, 75 percent of students from high-income families but only 9 percent of student from low-income families complete college by age 24. And while high school sophomores report having college ambitions, only about half (51 percent) indicate they are enrolled in college preparatory programs (U.S. Department of Education).

"Research shows that in addition to their lack of awareness about how to prepare for college, students are often fearful of the challenging courses they need to take," said Peggy Conlon, president and CEO of the Ad Council. "This unique series of PSAs created by Publicis will entertain and empower young people to face their fears head-on, as they would any challenge. We are proud to continue our KnowHow2GO campaign with Lumina and ACE to help low-income students navigate their way to college."

Want to learn more? Click here to visit the KnowHow2Go site.

-- Mitch Nauffts

Telling Stories With Video: Are You Ready for Your Close-Up?

(Tricia McKenna is vice president of Louder Than Words, a Boston-based PR agency serving foundations, nonprofits, and related businesses. In December, she wrote about feel-good end-of-year media stories.)

At last week's Council on Foundations conference, the Annie E. Casey Foundation was one of the winners of a Wilmer Shields Rich Award for Excellence in Communications for its "Guide to Making and Using Videos." Created for the foundation's "Making Connections" program, the report is relevant to anyone thinking about using video to advance a community change initiative.

Most exciting, from my perspective? The guide, which covers everything from budget planning and messaging to equipment considerations, helps organizations doing good in the world tell their own stories. There are many benefits to producing your own video(s). Here are a few:

You own the message. As a PR practitioner, I'm a true believer in the value of third-party endorsements. But as video becomes a more ubiquitous medium, mission-focused organizations can reap tremendous benefit from supplementing third-party video coverage with their own work. "Oprah's Big Give" and "Extreme Home Makeover" have both been criticized by the philanthropic community as exploitative, and news programs tend to thrive on controversy. The beauty of producing one's own video is that it gives you the power to tell your story the way you want it told.

In a Web 2.0 world, video speaks louder than text. Video can be a compelling way to energize online communities and extend the reach of cause-related messages. There needs to be a plan in place to distribute the video and incorporate it into the overall communications strategy and organizational goals, but with those pieces in place, video is a great way to stand out online. What's more, there are now several Web sites devoted to these types of videos. (See below for a few examples.)

It's an occasion to perfect that elevator pitch. Creating a video forces you to answer substantive questions about your cause/issue and how you position it. Depending on your audience, you will need to determine how your video can support your goals -- whether they relate to fundraising, advocacy, brand awareness, or building support for a cause -- and clearly communicate your value proposition in just a few minutes.

Here a few of my current favorites:

• Play Pumps International featured on virutalvolunteer.tv -- "More than one billion people worldwide do not have access to clean water. Water-related diseases are the leading cause of death in the world, taking the lives of 6,000 people a day, and are responsible for 80 percent of all sickness in the world. Forty billion hours are lost annually to hauling water, a chore primarily undertaken by women and girls. All this can change A life-changing and life-saving invention -- the PlayPump® water system -- can provide easy access to clean drinking water, bring joy to children, and lead to improvements...."
• Free Geek at do-gooder.tv -- "FREE GEEK is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit community organization that recycles used technology to provide computers, education, Internet access and job skills training to those in need in exchange for community service...."
• Women for Women International on YouTube -- "Women for Women provides women survivors of war, civil strife, and other conflicts with the tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty to stability and self-sufficiency, thereby promoting viable civil societies...."

If you'd like to learn more, the Casey Foundation has posted a terrific video toolkit on its Web site complete with clips and interactive features.

What about you? Have you come across any nonprofit videos on the Web that have inspired you? Has your organization used video in its outreach? If so, what has it learned? Feel free to use the comments section to share your experiences.

-- Tricia McKenna

China earthquake

The latest wire reports put the death toll from the massive earthquake that jolted the south-central province of Sichuan yesterday at more than 12,000, with at least 26,000 people injured and over 18,000 people still buried in debris in the city of Mianyang, near the epicenter of the 7.9-magnitude quake. (Image courtesy of TravelChinaGuide.com)

According to the Associated Press, the number of casualties "was expected to rise due to the remoteness of the areas affected and difficulty in finding buried victims." (Sichuan is one of the larger and more inaccessible provinces in the country.) Heavy rain is further complicating rescue efforts.

Unlike the cynical, disorganized response of the military junta in Myanmar to the worsening humanitarian crisis in that country (see below), or the U.S. government's response to Hurricane Katrina, Chinese government officials have committed the full resources of the state to the rescue effort. The AP reports that some 20,000 soldiers and police are already on the scene, with another 30,000 on the way by plane, train, truck, and on foot.

Over at the Getting Attention! blog, our friend Nancy Schwartz reminds us that, as tapped out as we may feel in these recessionary times, the good people of Sichuan (like the good people of Burma) need our help as they struggle to deal with the loss of loved ones and livelihoods and try to rebuild their shattered lives.

-- Mitch Nauffts

Myanmar Disaster (May 12 teleconference -- summary)

As noted earlier, Arabella Advisors, in partenership with the Council on Foundations, hosted a teleconference yesterday to discuss emergency relief needs needs and the longer-term philanthropic response to the unfolding humanitarian disaster in Myanmar. Moderated by Arabella principal and managing director Eric Kessler, the call featured a situation report by Rashid Khalikov, director of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), as well as remarks by Rein Paulson, senior director for humanitarian and emergency affairs for World Vision; Sam Worthington, president of Interaction; and Kurt MacLeod, Cambodia regional office director for PACT.

(Click for larger image; image courtesy of Arabella Advisors)

In reponse to donor questions about what kinds of supplies are needed at the moment, conference participants stressed that there's a shortage of temporary shelter supplies (e.g., plastic sheeting), and that cash is a good alternative to in-kind donations because it allows local communities to determine what they most need at any given juncture.

A summary (4 pages, PDF) of the call is available here.

At the urging of others, Arabella has established a Disaster Recovery Fund -- "a pooled fund for philanthropists who want their resources to be put toward the long-term recovery of the people, communities, and environment of Myanmar." Contributions can be made out to "Disaster Recovery Fund" and mailed to:

Arabella/Disaster Recovery Fund
1816 Jefferson Place, NW
Washington, D.C. 20036

Because the call was oversubscribed, Arabella plans to host a second teleconference on Friday, May 16, at 11:00 a.m. (ET). An RSVP to burmarecovery@arabellaadvisors.com is encouraged but not required. Details to follow.

-- Mitch Nauffts

The View from Maryland -- Philanthropy's Leadership Summit, Day Three

(Michael Seltzer is a regular contributor to PhilanTopic. He filed his first post from the Council on Foundation's 2008 annual conference last week.)

In the early days of the AIDS/HIV pandemic, Katherine Boo wrote an article for the Washington Monthly titled "What Mother Theresa Could Learn in a Leather Bar." At the time, the majority of people with AIDS/HIV in the United States were gay and bisexual men and intravenous drug users, and Missionaries of Charity, Mother Theresa's religious order, had begun to provide care to people with AIDS in high HIV-incidence cities like New York.

Ms. Boo deliberately chose a provocative title for her article to draw attention to a simple premise. Unless we walk in someone else's shoes, we cannot presume to understand the world in which he or she lives. Even Mother Theresa could better understand how to serve those most affected by AIDS by looking at the problem through the eyes of those living with the disease. In so doing, she and her fellow sisters would be more effective in their ministrations.

I was reminded of Boo's article when the Council on Foundations, for the first time in its forty-plus-year history of annual conferences, put diversity and inclusiveness front and center in a full plenary session ("Diversity: Leadership or Legislation?").

In that session, the overarching argument voiced by the majority of the panelists was the same one Katherine Boo made in her article. As put most succinctly by Ann Wiener, a trustee of the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation, decisions made for people rather than with people are doomed to failure.

Wiener movingly recounted her board's site visit two years ago to Appalachia and how a local resident had guided them on a climb of one of the mountains. Her vivid retelling of that experience transported all of us to a section of our country few in the audience had ever visited. Another speaker, Dr I. King Jordan, Gallaudet University's first deaf president and a director of the Theodore R. & Vivian Johnson Scholarship Foundation, recounted his role as an advocate for inclusion of deaf people on the foundation board on which he sits.

What would have been the cost to these foundations -- in terms of impact and effectiveness -- if their board members had not endeavored to walk in the shoes of those different from themselves or were not representative of the communities the foundation sought to serve?

Session moderator Angela Glover Blackwell, founder and CEO of Policy Link, a national research institute that works to advance economic and social equity, noted that only when diverse staff and trustees bring their experience and insights to the table will foundations truly be able to award grants that have the desired impact.

I heartily concur. To be effective in their grantmaking, foundation officers are well advised to enlist both trustees and staff from the communities they seek to assist. Only with their insights, talents, and experiences can organized philanthropy effectively tackle the most pressing issues of our time.

For more information on current efforts to make the foundation field more diverse and inclusive, check out the following resource: Diversity in Philanthropy Project

-- Michael Seltzer

Quote of the Day (May 11, 2008)

"Americans...have not really understood the rise of the rest. This is one of the most thrilling stories in history. Billions of people are escaping from abject poverty. The world will be enriched and ennobled as they become consumers, producers, inventors, thinkers, dreamers, and doers. This is all happening because of American ideas and actions. For 60 years, the United States has pushed countries to open their markets, free up their politics, and embrace trade and technology. American diplomats, businessmen, and intellectuals have urged people in distant lands to be unafraid of change, to join the advanced world, to learn the secrets of our success. Yet just as they are beginning to do so, we are losing faith in such ideas. We have become suspicious of trade, openness, immigration, and investment because now it's not Americans going abroad but foreigners coming to America. Just as the world is opening up, we are closing down...."

-- Fareed Zakaria, The Post-American World

Give2Asia Disaster Recovery Fund for Cyclone Relief Efforts

This just in...

Give2Asia, a U.S. public charity with a local network across Asia, has launched a Disaster Recovery Fund for emergency relief following the devastation left by Cyclone Nargis that struck Burma in early May. The initial devastation is now compounded by an acute shortage of food and clean water.

Those interested in making a donation for recovery in Burma, can contribute online at: http://www.give2asia.org/burma-cyclone.

Funds raised for relief efforts will be granted to organizations on the ground in Burma working directly with affected communities. Give2Asia, which has not, and normally does not, grant funds for programs in Burma, will be supporting relief efforts following the U.S. government's temporary relaxation of funding restrictions in response to the aftermath of the cyclone.

"The international community is coming together in response to this devastating natural disaster that has resulted in great loss of life," said Ray Klinke, interim CEO of Give2Asia. "From reports on the ground, we know the situation is dire. We are now working with partners in the area to make whatever contributions we can in this tragic situation."

Myanmar Cyclone (update - Fri.)

Latest developments in fast-moving story:

UN to Resume Food Aid Flights to Myanmar
Associated Press -- May 9, 2008

Myanmar Still Will Not Accept US Aid Workers
Associated Press -- May 9, 2008

U.N. 'Furious' as Myanmar Aid 'Seized'
CNN -- May 9, 2008

Slideshow: Tens of Thousands Killed in Myanmar Cyclone
Reuters -- May 9, 2008

U.N. Envoy: Myanmar Deaths May Top 100,000
CNN -- May 8, 2008

Regardless of how the aid crisis is resolved, the people of Myanmar are likely to need relief and recovery assistance for months to come. Donors interested in learning more about relief and recovery needs and effective philanthropic strategies in response to the crisis are invited to sit in on an emergency teleconference hosted by Arabella Advisers this Monday, May 12, at 3:00 p.m., ET.

Click here for details.

-- Mitch Nauffts

Towards a Global Solution: The Role of Philanthropy in Addressing Climate Change

That was the title of a session I attended on Monday at the Council on Foundation's just concluded annual conference. Designed and moderated by the always impressive Stephen Heintz, president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the panel featured Betsy Taylor, founder and chair of 1Sky, a citizen-based movement dedicated to bringing about bold federal action by 2010 to reverse global warming; Ji-Qiang Zhang, vice president of programs at the Blue Moon Fund; and Jules Kortenhost, CEO, the European Climate Foundation.

The mood in the room, while somber -- "This is not a time for business as usual," said Heintz at one point, "it's a time for foundations to model their very best behavior" -- wasn't gloomy. Reversing climate change is the great challenge facing our generation, said Heintz, and it can be done. If and when we do it, our children and grandchildren will look back and thank us in the same way that we now thank the Greatest Generation for its sacrifices.

One of the interesting things about the session was the way Heintz chose to start it: by asking the fifty or so people in the room questions about climate change they had for the panelists specifically and foundations in general. This is what we came up with:

1. What role do foundations have in connecting the dots with respect to disparate concerns (indigenous rights groups, anti-poverty groups, pro- and anti-nuclear groups, smart cities coalitions, etc.)?
2. What should the program of the new U.S. president with respect to climate change be on day one of his/her administration, and how can foundations support it?
3. How have climate change strategies changed over the last twenty years? What approaches should we leave behind and which new approaches should foundations support?
4. How should foundations deal with the hypocrisy of their own endowments supporting industries that contribute to climate change?
5. How certain are we that we have 10-15 years to move the needle on the climate change issue?
6. What are the most important and/or promising funding strategies related to helping developing countries adapt to climate change?
7. What is the relative importance of land-use strategies compared to other strategies?
8. What is philanthropy's strategy to harmonize international efforts to combat climate change?
9. What is philanthropy's responsibility to address the likely significant impact of climate change on the most marginalized communities?
10. What role, if any, can foundations play in getting institutions of higher education to address climate change?

We all thought it was a pretty good list. Your thoughts?

-- Mitch Nauffts

Myanmar Cyclone (update)

"The Myanmar government put its tally of deaths since Cyclone Nargis struck early Saturday at 22,500 and said 41,000 people were missing. Such early estimates often prove inaccurate, and the wide path of this cyclone, which destroyed homes across the fertile Irrawaddy Delta and into Yangon, the nation’s main city, left a large area of destruction, complicating rescue efforts and damage assessments for days or weeks to come." (New York Times, May 7, 2008)

(Map by Laris Karklis, Washington Post -- May 6, 2008)

Doing what it does best, the New York Times has assembled an excellent package of reports and resources related to the unfolding humanitarian disaster in Myanmar/Burma, including this before-and-after satellite view of the flooding.

The Washington Post also is following the story closely and has a good piece on how you can help.

-- Mitch Nauffts

Myanmar Cyclone

Over at Getting Attention!, Nancy Schwartz has posted information about helping survivors of the cyclone that devastated parts of Myanmar over the weekend. (Video courtesy of Al Jazeera English.)

The View from Maryland -- Philanthropy's Leadership Summit, Day One

(Michael Seltzer, a regular contributor to PhilanTopic, checks in from the Council on Philanthropy's annual conference.)

Philanthropy's rapid growth in the United States and around the globe is quite apparent this week in Maryland, where more than 3,500 grantmakers and nonprofit leaders from 40 countries have gathered for the largest convocation of philanthropists in history. The "Summit" is a call to action to the world's philanthropic community to share "best practices in leadership, partnership and impact that enable [it] to most effectively serve the common good."

Even for a veteran CoF conference-goer like myself -- I've been attending these gatherings since 1975 -- the experience is both heady and a little unreal.

Wherever I turn, I seem to bump into a smiling representative of a well-known or -respected foundation. The program is similarly impressive (and intimidating). The challenges and opportunities discussed at plenaries, concurrent sessions, site visits, and "advanced practice institutes" run the gamut from economic inequality and human rights, to climate change and women’s empowerment. Session topics appearing for the first time this year include faith and feminism, sports philanthropy, and green and civic foundation spaces, which I had in hand in designing.

The MO of those in attendance is not to rehash problems. Rather, the focus is on strategies and practices that can leverage "impact." Discussions of theories of change, either implicit or explicit, abound. What is most evident is the palpable sense that the people here are passionate about creating a better world.

Detecting subtler patterns among the scores of sessions and hundreds of speakers is far from simple. But a few emerge: collaboration as a way to leverage resources and enhance impact; the role of diversity in philanthropic effectiveness and how to achieve it; and a much-needed reassertion of philanthropy’s historic role as an advocate in the public policy arena.

Also in the spotlight are new tools from organizations like Grantcraft and the Center for Effective Philanthropy designed to help level the uneven playing field between funders and recipients. CEP, which was established in 2001, has completed "grantee perception reports" for more than seventy-five foundations, while many of Grantcraft's growing collection of publications illustrate how grantees and funders increasingly are hamstrung by their traditional roles and what they can do to work smarter and recapture the spirit of partnership in the work they do together.

The challenge for attendees after the last session ends Wednesday afternoon will be to figure out how to translate all the formal and informal conversations they will have had into action that earns philanthropy the moniker the late Paul Ylvisacker, one of philanthropy's most distinguished practitioners, bestowed on the field decades ago -- "society’s passing lane." I'll be rooting for them.

-- Michael Seltzer

Philanthropy's Vision: A Leadership Summit

So here I am at the Council on Foundations' 2008 annual conference. I've been a regular attendee at this event for a decade now, and, mirroring the growth of philanthropy in the U.S. and around the world, it seems to get bigger from one year to the next.

This year's event is going to be tough to surpass, though. The council, at the behest of its relatively new president Steve Gunderson, decided to combine a year's worth of annual convenings (for family foundations, community foundations, etc.) into one ginormous confab. (Click here to read an interview I did with Steve in October 2006 in which he discusses many of the themes of this year's conference.) Everything about the event, from the number of attendees (3,000+) to the sprawling facility in which it is being held (the Gaylord National Resort & Conference Center, in Maryland, across the Potomac from Alexandria), is...outsized. It's like a conference on steroids -- without the harmful side effects.

I arrived yesterday afternoon and have already connected with a number of old friends as well as some brand-new ones. In the latter category I count Phil Buchanan, president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, and Sean Stannard-Stockton, the wunderkind responsible for the Tactical Philanthropy blog. I'll be speaking with both of them for PhilanTopic over the next day or two, and in between sessions I hope to corral one or two other people with interesting perspectives to share on the changing landscape of philanthropy.

Ah,yes, sessions. They come fast and furious at an event like this, and this year (more than ever, it seems) they address an eye-opening range of topics, from faith and feminism, to climate change, to the genocide in Darfur, to the droput crisis in our public high schools, to leadership and operational challenges, and on and on. It's enough to bring a blogger to his knees.

Smart young guy that he is, Sean Stannard-Stockton has enlisted a diverse group of philanthropoids to help him live blog the conference. You can follow their coverage here. While you're at it, be sure to check out this post by Peter Manzo, director of strategic initiatives at the Advancement Project in Los Angeles and senior research fellow at the UCLA Center for Civil Society, criticizing the video essay by NewsHour contributor Roger Rosenblatt presented at last night's opening plenary. Writes Manzo:

The video presented a paternalistic image of philanthropy as the heroic savior of the wretched, and made outlandish claims that philanthropy, as the "Fifth Estate," accomplishes more than the combination of the other four (originally, religion, government (nobles), the common citizenry and the media). At one point the video claims that philanthropy has accomplished more good than any government ever has, and at another, fantasizes about a world without governments, just institutions that see the world as problems to be solved, with "no one to tell them what they can and cannot do." (I guess we won’t need voting or collective political expression then; states will have "withered away," ironically from a different direction, and the wise institution leaders will figure out the best intersection between what we think we want and what we really need.) Really, if you weren’t there to see it, imagine a lampoon of philanthropy done by The Onion, only this was dead serious.

The shame of it is that philanthropy's true role and impact, unvarnished, are critical and impressive in their own right, and many of the Council's members do achieve huge, vital, even heroic goals, and help us all set our sights on even more. They deserved a much more faithful, balanced presentation. Moreover, the depiction of heroic philanthropy, acting alone, undercut the theme of partnership and collaboration emphasized by the Council and Gunderson in his speech....

Good stuff. Stay tuned -- more to come...

-- Mitch Nauffts

Changing the Face of Philanthropy

(Christine Gumm is president and CEO of the Women's Funding Network, an international organization committed to improving the status of women and girls locally, nationally, and globally. This is her first post for PhilanTopic.)

Every year around this time, the organization I lead, the Women’s Funding Network, salutes individuals and organizations who have advanced philanthropy for and through women and girls around the world.  We call these awards Changing the Face of Philanthropy. Fern Portnoy recently wrote on this blog about how women’s giving has shaped a different philanthropic model, one "more democratic than aristocratic," to use her words.

Women's funding embraces a new way of giving back -- a way of giving that transforms the donor as well as the community. It also focuses on lasting social change as opposed to quick fixes.

Those of us in the women's funding movement take very seriously the call to change the face of philanthropy -- with the obvious play on words -- so that philanthropy looks more and more like the world it serves. But who does this, how does it happen, and what does that "changed face" look like? This year's honorees offer some answers in the examples they and their work provide:

Abigail Disney. A longtime leader in women's funds, including the New York Women's Foundation, the Global Fund for Women, and much more, Abby is one of those transformed donors. She has described herself as a "human checkbook" before discovering women's funds. Last year Abby made a challenge grant that has become the stuff of lore. She stood before the annual breakfast of the New York Women's Foundation with an audacious offer: for the next three months, she would match contributions to the foundation up to a million dollars. The result: $2.62 million for the foundation, including Disney's $1 million. Abby is changing the face of philanthropy by playing a leading role in encouraging women as donors to think big. 

Ford Foundation. One of the giants in its field, Ford knew decades ago what is only now becoming widely realized. When you empower a woman, you empower her family and, by extension, her community. Last year alone, the Ford Foundation funded programs for women and girls to the tune of $85 million. It is one of the world's most prominent institutional forces in women's philanthropy, having granted more than $85 million in 2007 specifically to advance social economic justice for and through women and girls. For years Ford has been a major supporter of women and girls both domestically and abroad. It has specifically led the way in grantmaking in the areas of anti-discrimination efforts, reproductive rights, efforts to halt sex trafficking, prevention of violence against women, and efforts to reduce poverty and injustice for women and girls.

Stacey Stewart, Senior Vice President, Office of Community and Charitable Giving, Fannie Mae, and the Washington Area Women's Foundation. The daughter of civil rights activists, Stacey has brought that spirit of activism to her work in philanthropy. This means that, under her leadership, the Fannie Mae Foundation was more than simply a passive source of funding -- it was an active partner with the organizations it supports. Fannie Mae’s $1 million gift to the Washington Area Women's Foundation for its Stepping Stones initiative is a perfect example. Stacey rolled up her sleeves and joined others in leading this multi-year project, which already, early in its life, has helped clear a path to economic security for low-income, female-headed households in and around Washington. Stacey's personal involvement helped the Women's Foundation leverage Fannie Mae's $1 million gift into $5 million from a broad array of new funding sources.

The Stepping Stones program is the "jewel in the crown" of the Washington Area Women's Foundation, which we are honoring as a shining example of the vitality of women's funds. In less than ten years the foundation has become one of the most dynamic of the 128 women's foundations around the world. Its strategic focus, its emphasis on impact, its brilliance in communications, and its ability to forge community among women of all classes, races and ethnicities -- these qualities represent how women's funding is changing the face of philanthropy. In less than a decade, the foundation's grantmaking has jumped from $30,000 to $1 million a year. And in just two and a half years, its Stepping Stones initiative has helped nearly 4,000 women in the Washington metropolitan area collectively increase their assets by $17 million by shedding debt, getting better jobs, and building assets.

What do these individuals and organizations have in common? They know -- and they are acting innovatively according to this wisdom -- that when you empower a woman, you empower her family and, by extension her community. They know what social investors and, more recently, the private sector, have come to realize: Investing in women and girls isn’t just good for half the world -- it’s good for us all.

-- Christine Gumm

Snapshot: Key Facts on Corporate Foundations

More findings from the Foundation Center's Research Dept.:

"Giving by the nation's nearly 2,600 grantmaking corporate foundations grew to an estimated $4.4 billion in 2007, up about 7 percent from 2006. [Ed note: Figures exclude giving by operating foundations.] Adjusted for inflation, corporate foundation giving increased 3.7 percent in the latest year. An important factor contributing to the growth in 2007 giving has been new gifts coming from corporations into their foundations. In 2006, gifts into corporate foundations rose over 9 percent, to $4.4 billion.

"Looking ahead, over half (54 percent) of corporate foundations responding to the Foundation Center's annual forecasting survey expected to increase their giving in 2008. About 44 percent of these funders anticipated giving increases above 10 percent. However, 29 percent of respondents expected to reduce their giving in 2008, up from the 26 percent of corporate foundation respondents that expected to reduce giving in 2007."

Key Facts

• $4.4 billion -- Est. giving by corporate foundations in 2007
• 7 percent -- Est. increase in corporate foundation giving between 2006 and 2007
• 2,548 -- Number of grantmaking corporate foundations in 2006
• 20 percent -- Share of corporate foundations reporting more than $1 million in giving in 2006
• 11 percent -- Corporate foundation giving as a share of all foundation giving in 2006

(Click for larger image)

To download "Key Facts on Corporate Foundations," click here. For more information, contact Reina Mukai.

Snapshot: Key Facts on Family Foundations

New findings from the Foundation Center's Research Dept.:

"The Foundation has identified 37,800 independent foundations with measurable donor or donor-family involvement. These 'family foundations' represent more than half of all family foundations and account for similar shares of idependent foundations' giving, assets, and new gifts and bequests from donors. If all of the nation's family foundations could be identified [ed note: family foundations are not legally distinct from other idependent foundations, requiring the Foundation Center to identifiy them using several objective and subjective criteria], these shares would undoubtedly rise."

Key Facts (based on 2006 grantmaker data):

• $16 Billion -- Giving by family foundations
• 13 percent -- Increase in family foundation giving between 2005 and 2006
• 35,693 -- Number of grantmaking family foundations
• 48 percent -- Share of family foundations reporting less than $50,000 in giving
• 59 percent -- Est. family foundation giving as share of independent foundation giving

(Click for larger image)

To download a copy of "Key Facts on Family Foundations," click here. For more information, contact Reina Mukai.

New Bank of America Web Site for NPOs Seeking Grants

This just in...

Bank of America has announced a new Web site through which nonprofit organizations can research and apply for grants from nearly seventy foundations managed by BoA's philanthropic management division. In its role as trustee and/or grantmaking agent for those foundations, the bank distributes more than $350 million annually to nonprofits and charities nationwide.

Enhancements to the site include:

• Find a Foundation -– Search for a foundation by individual criteria, such as name, geographic coverage area, and focus area, including arts and culture, education, health and human services, among others. Advanced search capabilities allow nonprofits to further narrow their search by combining criteria such as region and focus area (i.e., Connecticut and Education).
• Single point of access -– Gather information about each foundation through a consolidated portal that allows nonprofits to quickly determine a foundation's mission, regional application procedures, proposal deadlines, contact information, and whether or not their organization may qualify for a grant based on the foundation’s application criteria.
• Grantmaking History -– To help nonprofits gain a better understanding of foundations' grantmaking history, Bank of America has posted recent grants awarded by each foundation that can be searched by geographic area.
• Standard Application Format -– An "Applications & Procedures" section of each foundation's portal site offers instructions, requirements, and links to grant application forms. Most foundations allow for Bank of America to present these forms in a Standard Grant Application format, helping to further simplify and streamline the process. Application documents required by each foundation must then be submitted by mail or email to the respective contact name and by the appropriate deadline. Applicants must be classified by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) public charity.
• Increased Transparency -– Bank of America has designed this portal in part to provide greater visibility into and awareness of the foundations it manages, including how they give, what they give, and to whom.

Good stuff. Chalk one up for greater transparency...

-- Mitch Nauffts

Quote of the Day (May 1, 2008)

"We  have no energy policy, and none on the horizon. Candidates serious about the issue of high energy prices should be discussing increased CAFE standards, capital gains tax waivers for alternative energy investments, greater offshore drilling, Pigou taxes, rapid nuclear plant approvals, a huge increase in the basic R&D the government does on energy -- a Manhattan project for energy and transportation science. Instead, we hear proposals about waiving an 18-cent tax."

-- Barry Ritholtz, The Big Picture

What Price Failure?

"Fear of failure is rampant in our lives. I see this fear rear its ugly head in so many communities, where it can have a crippling effect on people’s work and psyche. Sometimes we don’t even realize the fear is within us, only to find ourselves stymied or stuck. The upshot is that we hide from taking risk, and the status quo wins out...."

So writes Rich Harwood in a new post on his Redeeming Hope blog. Rich's experience as an activist in a community where "jobs were scarce, trust was fleeting, and there was lots of finger-pointing and placing of blame" was the catalyst for a dream he had once, a dream he recently had occasion to recall. He calls it the "$100,000 Flop," and it was centered around getting a foundation to pay him to fail. As Rich describes it:

At the time a major foundation was funding various change efforts in the community....But progress was slow. No matter how much the foundation funded, fear persisted. People didn’t want to come out from their homes and leaders wouldn’t work with one another. Simply giving out grants didn’t seem to be the answer; money cannot easily erase something as insidious as fear. So I went to the foundation and asked for funding for an initiative that would intentionally fail in full public view. That’s right, I wanted to fail.

After failing, my plan was to call a meeting in the center of town for people to talk about what had happened, and why the initiative had failed. I simply wanted people to see that we could talk openly, in public, about our failures, and that nothing would happen to us. We’d all come through the experience intact, no matter how hard or excruciating the conversation was. I wanted people to see that we could dissect the initiative and together could produce insights that would help all of us; that the conversation need not end in more finger-pointing and acrimony. I wanted to create an opportunity for people to see themselves in my failure; and really believe they would be okay....

Crazy, right?

Maybe not. Silicon Valley, the most successful wealth-creation engine in the world, has thrived in part by ignoring the stigma that usually attaches to failure. Sure, Rich's dream is about intentional failure. But it's failure with a purpose. And his larger point is an important one: In social change work, as in our personal lives, the fear of failure can stop us before we even get started.

You can read the rest of Rich's post here. And if you have a story about a foundation funding failure, or being willing to fund it, we'd love to hear it.

-- Mitch Nauffts

Project Streamline '08

Like many significant developments, philanthropy's current obsession with metrics (to borrow Gara LaMarche's phrase) has had its share of unintended consequences.

One of the least commented on has been a marked increase in grant application and reporting requirements that has "grantseekers and grantmakers alike drowning in paperwork and distracted from purpose."

That's the conclusion of a new report commissioned by Project Streamline, an initiative of the Grants Managers Network, in partnership with seven other organizations representing both grantmakers and grantseekers. (Full disclosure: The Foundation Center, the parent of Philanthropy News Digest and PhilanTopic, is one of those organizations.)

The report, Drowning in Paperwork, Distracted From Purpose (44 pages, PDF), identifies ten ways that the current system of grant application and reporting creates "significant burdens on the time, energy, and ultimate effectiveness of nonprofit practitioners":

1. Enormous Variability -- "Nonprofits encounter a dizzying range of practice -- both within and among funders -- when it comes to the types of information they are required to provide."

2. Requirements Aren't "Right-Sized" -- According to the report, the majority (66 percent) of foundation respondents don't vary their requirements depending on the size of the grant given, while 59 percent don't vary requirements depending on the type of grant given.

3. Insufficient "Net" Grants -- Nonprofits don't really receive grants, the report concludes. They receive "net grants" -- "the total amount of funding minus the true cost of getting and managing the grant" -- leading most nonprofits to weigh the possibility of funding against the cost of seeking it.

4. Outsourced Burdens -- The report notes that although "many grantmakers do not want their grant money used for administrative and fundraising purposes, application and reporting often require labor- and time-intensive activities of the grantseeker, activities that frequently can and arguably should be done by grantmakers."

5. Trust Undermined -- "Simply put," says the report, "many nonprofits believe that foundations do not trust them, and they interpret the burdens of application and reporting as evidence of that distrust."

6. Reports on a Shelf -- Grantees believe their reports are used by grantmakers primarily as a way of checking compliance and "wonder why they are required to provide detailed and lengthy reports just to prove that they complied with the grant terms."

7. Fundraising Gymnastics -- According to the report, the most commonly cited effect of the current funding system "is that nonprofits continually reinvent their programs...in response to foundations' preference for the 'new and different' and reluctance to pay core operating support."

8. Due-Diligence Redundancy -- In a nervous post-9/11 world, the report found that grantmakers tend to play it safe when it comes to due diligence, requiring "redundant and often unnecessary documentation from grantseekers."

9. Double-Edged Swords -- In theory, online grantmaking should save everyone time and money; in practice, it has flaws and poses problems. These include balky online application systems, incompatible formats, and the difficulty, for grantseekers, of gaining access to real, live people at foundations.

10. Time Drain for Grantmakers -- The report suggests "that grantmakers, like grantseekers, are poorly served by the current [system]. Even though individual dealings between foundations and nonprofits may be harmonious and supportive, the overall tenor of the relationship seems to be one of distrust and irritation on both sides."

Not a pretty picture...

The report identifies five factors that have shaped current grantmaking practice (tradition, insufficient investment in staff time and capacity, difficulty getting the right information from grantees, the desire to be strategic and measure impact, a lack of good feedback) and then recommends four principles that grantmakers can/should adopt to relieve the burden on nonprofits:

1. Begin from zero. "In a zero-based approach to information gathering, grantmakers begin with a rigorous assessment of what kind of information they really need to make decisions."

2. Right-size grant expectations. "Grantmakers should consider whether the effort that grantseekers expend to get the grant is proportionate to the size of the grant, the type of the grant, and the existing relationship with the grantee."

3. Relieve the grantee burden. "By minimizing the amount of time, effort, and money that nonprofits spend getting and administering grants, funders increase the amount of time, effort, and money devoted to mission-based activities."

4. Ensure that communications and your grantmaking process are clear and straightforward.

"Almost every funder has a unique application and reporting process," notes Richard Toth, Project Streamline chair and director of the Office of Proposal Management at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, "and they're adopted for sensible and responsible reasons. But the problem our research underscores is the cumulative effect of these measures. Imagine each set of requirements multiplied by thousands of grantmakers and you get a sense of the gauntlet nonprofits face. We've created Project Streamline to do something about it."

Anyone who used to think (as I did) that the Digital Revolution would deliver super-efficient workbots and the paperless office is excused if they're feeling a bit skeptical. But this is an idea whose time has come, and my hat is off to the Grant Managers Network and its partners for taking it on.

-- Mitch Nauffts

The Earth Sector: A Call To Action

(Michael Seltzer, a noted authority on philanthropy and the nonprofit sector, is a regular contributor to PhilanTopic. As president of the New York Regional Association of Grantmakers, Seltzer was responsible for the buildout of the organization's new "green" headquarters in Manhattan.)

We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost's familiar poem, they are not equally "fair." The road we have long been traveling as a nation is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed to near-certain disaster. The other road -— "the one less traveled by" -— offers our last, best hope to reach a destination that, in the words of pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson, assures the preservation of the earth.

When practically every new skyscraper that emerges on the Manhattan skyline is LEED-certified, it is easy for some to forget that the nonprofit sector and the environmental movement in particular originally birthed today’s interest in matters green.

Carson published her game-changing book, Silent Spring, in 1962 -- and, for perhaps the first time, human responsibility for the destruction of the natural environment was communicated to a vast audience. Through her work with the Audubon Society, the Nature Conservancy, the Environmental Defense Fund, and others, a grassroots movement was launched that resulted, among other things, in an eventual ban on DDT and other pesticides, as well as the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.

A few years later, on the other coast, Stewart Brand, whose nonprofit organization published the first Whole Earth Catalog, gathered the tools, resources, and information that readers of Silent Spring could use to take individual action.

The work of Carson, Brand, and countless others led to the debut, in the spring of 1970, of the first Earth Day. Almost forty years later, Earth Day is a global phenomenon, with rallies and events taking place in thousands of communities and more than 140 countries across the planet.

In the 1960s, our environmental colleagues fought the good fight. Today, it's our turn. Nonprofit organizations of every stripe and in every field of endeavor can and must play a direct role in combating global warming and in educating the public about the steps individuals and organizations alike can take.

Indeed, "sustainability," today’s buzz word, does not simply refer to recycling or green design -— it encompasses all the factors upon which human life depends, from providing economic opportunity and a quality education to all citizens, regardless of race or socioeconomic status, to nourishing and preserving the unique cultural and historic legacies of our neighborhoods and communities, to protecting the environment for future generations.

On the work front, there are any number of things you can do to "green" your nonprofit. They include:

• Purchasing office materials through Green Depot
• Putting up signage explaining your choices in materials and why they matter
• Communicating to supporters and constituents what you are doing and why it makes both dollar and mission sense
• Exchanging "green" experiences/lessons with other nonprofits
• Integrating sustainability into your organization’s programmatic work
• Minimizing your employees' travel footprint
• Recycling computers and other electronic equipment
• Patronizing "green" vendors
• Telling your "green" story on your Web site

(Source: True Green @Work: 100 Ways You Can Make the Environment Your Business, National Geographic Society, 2008)

It's up to each and every one of us to examine our values and our vision for a better world and to take the steps that ensure it comes to pass. Here's how Robert Frost might have put it were he alive today:

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

-- Michael Seltzer

We're Back...

It's true what they say about all good things, including spring break in Florida. The weather was marvelous, my in-laws were hospitable (as always), and I didn't look at a Web site or blog or touch a keyboard for a week. That's what an old dead-tree guy like me calls a vacation!

I'll be back to posting about all your favorite topics tomorrow. In the meantime, I hope you'll read the post directly above by regular contributor Michael Seltzer. Although Earth Day was April 22, Michael's message is one we should keep in mind 365 days a year.

-- Mitch Nauffts

Best Practices in Disaster Grantmaking: Lessons From the Gulf Coast

Hurricane Katrina killed more than 1,300 people, caused $150 billion in property damage across 90,000 square miles of the Gulf Coast region, and put 80 percent of the city of New Orleans under water.

As destructive as the storm was to life and property, however, it may end up being remembered more for what it revealed -- about the shocking inequality and inequities in the region, about the lack of public sector accountability at the city, state, and federal levels, and about the wellspring of generosity that continually reinvigorates American society -- than for the damage it did.

Two and half years have passed since the storm made landfall, and the region's recovery advances by fits and starts. The public sector response has been halting and hampered by bureaucratic red tape, leaving much of the dirty, nuts-and-bolts work to underresourced nonprofits, community-based groups, and volunteers.

One of the bright spots in this often lackluster picture has been the response of the New York-area philanthropic community. According to data compiled by the New York Regional Association of Grantmakers (NYRAG), 145 New York-area philanthropic organizations have contributed over $325 million to 950 nonprofit organizations in 196 communities for rescue, recovery, and rebuilding efforts in the Gulf Coast region. Under the aegis of the NYRAG Gulf Coast Recovery Task Force, detailed information about that giving was provided in the NYRAG publication Donors' Guide to Gulf Coast Relief & Recovery, 2nd Edition (144 pages, 1.74mb, PDF).

In order to share the experiences of the foundations, corporations, and individual donors that made grants or gifts to address the needs of those affected by Katrina and its aftermath, as well as "to provide a blueprint for future philanthropic intervention following such disasters," NYRAG has just published a new report, Best Lessons in Disaster Grantmaking: Lessons From the Gulf Coast, that, in addition to a list of best practices, includes practices to avoid, brief case studies of innovative grantmaking in the region, and opportunities for future philanthropic investment.

You can download a copy of the report (44 pages, 1.45mb, PDF) here, but I thought it might be nice to give you a preview. As NYRAG president Ronna Brown has said before, "The ongoing efforts to rebuild and transform the Gulf Coast for all of its citizens and communities require focused, collaborative, and inclusive strategies." Best Lessons in Disaster Grantmaking: Lessons From the Gulf Coast is a valuable contribution to that effort.

Best Practices: Strategies Identified by Nonprofits, Community Foundations, and Governmental Agencies

Utilize key people in the affected communities. Recognize, respect, and utilize the skills and kno