Resources

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!

Good morning! I’m reaching out to see if there are any community foundations working with their local governments to re-grant ARPA funds to nonprofit organizations in their service area? We have been approached by a county government in our region to manage the distribution of the ARP (American Rescue Plan) funding they have allocated to nonprofit organizations. We could see how this would fit within our purview as the region’s community foundation but have some questions about the financial and legal implications of receiving federal à county funding. Are there any community foundations in this network that have worked with their local governments in general, or more specifically, around ARP funding that could share their experience related to these questions? Thank you!

Hello Everyone, We would love to gain deeper insight from this community about grantmaking committees. Here are our questions: • What is the structure of your evaluating body – do you have one core committee or multiple committees (fund, sector, or program dependent, for example)? • What steps has your organization taken to diversify committees and to incorporate participatory grantmaking? How are community members considered for your committee (application process, word-of-mouth, staff-driven, etc)? • Is your organization utilizing content experts for proposal evaluations? If so, are they part of your core decision making body or used as advisors? • Would anyone be willing to share sample committee materials, such as training documents? • Finally, how do you show appreciation to your committee in cases where they are participating on a volunteer basis?

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!

Hello – we are wondering if any of you know of states and/or funders that have already developed funding priorities using a racial equity lens and/or prioritized communities hardest hit by the pandemic? Thanks! Best Ken