Resources

Hello Everyone, We are looking at our Vacation/Sick Leave policies and considering transitioning to a PTO bank for leave. Is anyone willing to share their PTO policies, including any carryover or payout upon termination with us? Thank you, ___

Hello everyone, We are seeking examples of conflict of interest policies that covers the board for their review of grants, including recusals. Thank you! Georganna ___

Hello GEO community, I am hoping you can help. As part of our racial equity learning journey, we’re looking to survey our staff to get an understanding of their awareness & perceptions of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion and ideas for where we should go next in terms of centering racial equity in how we operate as an organization and in how we do grantmaking (strategies, policies and practices). We’ve got lots of good guides and resources, like the one put out by GEO. Right now, what would be most helpful is actual survey instruments (e.g., survey questions, survey framing, etc) that you’ve used at your philanthropic organization? Thanks in advance for considering and for sharing,

Hi all, We’d like to extend the term of a loan to a nonprofit to allow 12 additional months before the outstanding balance is due to the Foundation. Does anyone have a loan extension template we could take a look at? Thanks, Gina ___

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

Hi all, We are trying to balance a streamlined workflow and moving toward more trust-based philanthropy with our due diligence processes. To that end, two questions (if you have a chance to reply, please include reasoning behind your responses): 1. How many of you require the submission of a final report for a previous grant before releasing a new award? For instance, if a grantee applies around the same time annually, do you require a final report submission first even if that means there is lag time between the grant approval and the funding release? 2. What financial documents do you require with a proposal submission? A Form 990? Audit or financial review? The aforementioned plus current financial statements? Anything else? Any feedback from the GEO community on your processes is appreciated! Thanks so much, Stephanie

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,

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,