Resources

Dear grantmaking colleagues, Our team is in the search of a grants management system that will help automate our current manual grantmaking process. We’ve narrowed down our top 2 choices - SmartSimple and Salesforce – and want to ask if folks here have any thoughts, opinions, and / or red flags on these systems. Or – please let us know if you know of any exceptional GMS product that has served well for your organization. We are looking for a GMS that is easy to use, highly secure, functional, and continuing to grow in capabilities with our growing organizational needs. Thank you!

In 2021 we piloted the collection of applicant staff and board demographic data (race/ethnicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation) in partnership with our evaluation partner, as one step to understand who our grants were going to and how applicant organizations were representative of the communities they and we want to be serving. It was not mandatory and doesn’t look it will be next year either. But, we are taking feedback and trying to understand how we can be more supportive of our grantees in 1) collecting this information in a safe and appropriate way and 2) using this information appropriately to reflect and strategize on what potential gaps there may be in representation within their own organizations. We haven’t done a ton in that second space, but wanted to reach out more about the mechanics of the data collection process to understand if and what others are doing. Some questions: Are you collecting demographic data from staff and/or boards of applicant organizations? If so, what is the method or conduit for which you do this? Is the applicant responsible for getting all of their data and putting it into the application/portal or a spreadsheet of sorts? Are there any third party programs or software that allow for collecting and aggregating data this data? We also heard that organizations, and particularly the people responsible for submitting application information, would appreciate an opportunity for anonymity for themselves and their coworkers within the data collection process. Has anyone seen any tools, or know of any strategies that allow for the organization to anonymously collect this data from their own orgs?

Good Morning, Our Community Foundation has gotten more involved in advocacy over the past few years. As part of that, we are hoping to develop specific policies/procedures related to advocacy to help guide our work. Do any GEO members have example policies, procedures, etc. related to advocacy that we could see and/or does anyone know of other foundations that have these and would be willing to share their work?

Hi everyone,   We are doing a little research to see if other foundations reimburse board directors for mileage to attend board meetings and other site visits, in addition to regular board compensation.

Oak is in the process of several grant-making improvement projects including developing a new grants management system, streamlining the grant-making process, and clarifying due diligence. As these projects are being developed, we would like to bring on a consultant who will help us envision and develop a harmonised and centralised resource that provides comprehensive instructions on how to make a grant. This resource should be simple, organised, easy to find information, and make good use of visuals to aid in understanding the process. Ideally, the consultant would also serve as a thought partner in developing the training of staff to launch the new resource.

Employee Benefits question For those who cover a percentage of the premium for employees who participate in your foundation’s group medical health insurance plan, do you continue to pay any portion of the monthly costs when the employee goes on Medicare?    Further, for employee spouses who participated in the group medical health insurance plan, do you pay any portion of the monthly cost for spouses when they go on Medicare? 

We are looking to create a tuition reimbursement policy and developing a practice for employees who want to pursue degrees or certificate during their employment. If you have a policy and/or a practice in this space, I would most appreciate anything you might share here about it.

Hello – we’re conducting some research on grants management systems (GMS) and wanted to hear from others if they have a GMS that they might recommend? The system needs to be robust with both internal management and external application infrastructure. System needs to support at minimum: multiple grants rounds within a year with no less than 15 unique applications; deployment of multi-year grants; processing of more than 2500 grant awards within a year; integration with a financial management system and process no less than 3000 payments within a year; management of over 100 internal users and over 900 external users; processing of at least $150mm in a single, year-long grant cycle; and robust reporting functionality. Thank you!

Hi All, Would anyone be willing to share examples of grantmaking policies prohibiting grants to hate groups, organizations under active investigation and/or organizations unreflective of the foundation's values? If the policy was written for a community foundation that would be especially helpful. Thank you,

Hello!  I work with the Stryker Johnston Foundation in Kalamazoo, MI. We are currently in the process of seeking a branding/communications consultant to assist us in our brand development efforts. We want them to have experience working with nonprofits, align with our anti-racist platform, and have expertise in developing visual brand identities. We will be intentional about working with folks that are representative of our grant partners. If you all have recommendations, could you please send them my way? Appreciatively,