Resources

Our company has had a volunteer time off policy for many years, whereby we allow employees to volunteer on work time. Additionally, we have a program where employees can apply for a grant to a nonprofit where they volunteer on their personal time. Volunteer time off – up to one day of paid time off (with leader approval, honor system) Volunteer grant program – minimum 25 hours; $10 per hour up to $500 We are curious about current trends and best practices. If you work for a company that offers either of these programs, please reply to let me know how this program compares to yours. Additionally, if you know of a company that offers either, please let me know the name of the company.

Hello GEO Community, We continue to see an ongoing need for transition support for our grantees at both the staff and board levels. So far, we have been handling as one-off requests but it’s been constant. What are you doing to respond in a fair and equitable manner that meets organizations and boards/staff where they are in the process? How much funding support are you offering and what types of resources or access to coaching have you provided that has worked? We’re looking to create a better process than the one we have now – and want to have some comparison data that allows us to make the case for this type of support as essential for minimizing the disruption that these transitions create for an organization. I appreciate any and all guidance this community can give. With gratitude,

Hello GEO Community, We are seeking some sense for how common it is for executive directors to also be board members – in particular at Family Foundations? If anyone would be up for sharing their experience with this and any feedback, that would be super. Thank you!

Hello, I’m looking to learn from funders that have set up advisory committees composed of external stakeholders – particularly from marginalized communities that the funder seeks to serve – to welcome input on strategy development and/or grant decision making. I’m aware of many of the community-led grantmaking models (see the list below for example, which was sent following a webinar NCRP did in 2017). I’m looking to expand my understanding of the landscape and add examples to a living document that I’m happy to share out. Thank you,

Hello Everyone, We're heading in to a new phase with our board and are looking for a coach. We'd like the coach to help them figure out what kind of board they want to be and how they will structure the division of labor and decision making. Have you worked with anyone you would recommend that has experience with family foundations or an expertise in board governance? Thank you!

The Scranton Area Community Foundation will be hosting a Learning Conference in the Fall, and we are looking for a keynote speaker. In particular, we are looking for someone to speak on "Becoming a Learning Organization" or similarly related topic.

The Vaccine Delivery team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is exploring what it means to shift to an agile strategy and operating model. We are interested in learning what it means to transform to a team that operates on rapid learning and decision cycles and has the ability to quickly and efficiently revise strategy, structure, processes, and people towards achieving impact while ensuring we remain strong, reliable partners to our grantees and the people around the world to whom we ultimately are in service. Do you know of agile resources, experts, practitioners, or organizations that can help us to be better informed about what agile is (and is not) and help us to understand what is needed to design and implement an agile operating model for our team?

We are venturing into a strategic planning process for a 2 and 5 year internal strategic plan, and we have engaged a consultant to support us in this process. I am curious to hear/read any key lessons learned in the process of strategic planning (we should have done that, wish we didn’t do that, oh my I never thought of that – these kinds of things).

This publication seeks to offer some helpful approaches for jump-starting a change initiative, drawn from the reflections of GEO members who have been tasked with assessing challenges and cultivating the conditions for a productive change process.

For those of you who have been through foundation strategy shifts, I am wondering what you have learned about communicating with grantees and non-grantees throughout the process? What worked well, and what did not seem to go so well?