GEOList Summary: Exit Strategies for Long-Term Operating Grants

A grantee partner has asked our advice about exit strategies for long-time recipients of operating support grants. Rather than give them one foundation’s experience, I thought I’d pose the question to the GEO community to take advantage of everyone’s experience. I’ve seen a lot on the GEO listserv about operating support, but not necessary focused on effective exit strategies. Our partner is a community development intermediary that recently opened their operating grants programs to the broader field of community development organizations in the state. They will be making 3 year commitments to a new cohort of grantees -- some are long-time grantees and some are new. After the initial 3 years, they may commit to an exit strategy for those grantees, or let them be competitive for a new round, or a combination of both. Funded proposals will need strong business plans for moving forward, and the intermediary is working to refine how to ask grantees to report on their work, moving beyond typical measures of housing units, jobs, square feet of commercial space. The goals are to keep the field competitive, encourage new talent, reward good work and produce results for investors. So any lessons and thoughts on exit strategies for operating support would be helpful.