Resources

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!

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!

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?

Hello Everyone! Does anyone have recommendations for a third-party provider to benchmark compensation at a nonprofit? Thank you!

Hello Everyone! We're trying to understand how funders view fiscally sponsored projects. In particular: Do grantmakers avoid fiscally sponsored projects? If the sponsor of the project doesn't have a really snappy Guidestar listing and/or website, does this impact the grantmaker's perception of the sponsored project? If a sponsored project has been successful and is looking to grow, is it preferrable for them (in the eyes of a funder) to become a separate nonprofit? Any general recommendations for a fiscally sponsored project? Thanks so much for any shared insights!

I am interested in more information about the use of guided conversations to augment if not replace select reporting requirements. If you are using site visits or other informal communications to gather application or reporting information - I would greatly appreciate you sharing any specific tools you use or insights you have gained through the process

I’m doing some research into creating a (likely 2-year) post-college fellowship program and was hoping to get some insight from other foundations who manage this type of fellowship. In particular- • How do you manage recruitment? • What do the Fellow’s job description and assignments look like? • What are the ultimate goals of the Fellowship and how do you ensure they’re achieved?

Does anyone have any recommended resources for evaluating an Executive Director of a small foundation?

This publication provides an overview of the impetus for the Equitable Evaluation Framework™ (EEF) and attempts to document early moments and first steps of engagement with U.S. philanthropic institutions — most often their research, evaluation and learning staff — whom we refer to as foundation partners throughout this publication. The themes shared in this publication surfaced through conversations with a group of foundation staff who have been part of the Equitable Evaluation Project, now referred to as the Equitable Evaluation Initiative (EEI), since 2017 as advisors, investment partners and/or practice partners.

Hello, Everyone! I am in search of Impact Report Samples. Please share a quick reference or link to anything you’ve found particularly inspiring and helpful ~ including samples that capture major, multi-year investments. The Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation (nonprofit arm of Sprouts Farmers Market) operates a high-impact, multi-year grant program and will be producing a report (for board members and community at large) and we’d like to knock it out of the park! With advance gratitude for your generosity of time and insight,