The Mind Trust’s Post

Delighted to share the promising results from this year's Grantee Perception Report, thanks to Center for Effective Philanthropy, which highlights some impressive strides we've made in offering strong capacity-building support to our grantees, to grow their organizations and deepen their impact. The Backstory: Based on our 2019 Grantee Perception Report, we listened to our grantees' requests and added more formalized capacity-building supports to our foundation strategy. We made some improvements in meeting our grantees needs with these initial investments but there were still ways to enhance our support. So in 2021, we committed to increasing our impact on grantees by providing more robust capacity-building supports to our grantees, including creating the Portfolio Success team to dedicate staff to supporting the needs of our grantee partners through capacity building. The Headline: In 2023, the number of grantees reporting that they received at least one form of non-monetary assistance substantially increased to 80 percent—far beyond what the average funder provides and a big jump from 2021. This has translated toward the high ratings we received from our Direct Impact grantees, who rated us in the 89th percentile for the impact we have on their organizations. The Future: In 2024, we're committed to continuing to deepen impact on grantee organizations through strategic capacity building, facilitating convenings across portfolios to dive into relevant topics and issues, and providing the opportunity for new connections and learnings between grantees and our staff and amongst grantees themselves. Thank you to our grantees for their candid feedback - we hope you see your input reflected here! #philanthropy #capacitybuilding #feedbackmatters #continuousimprovement

This has the possibility to disrupt the programs and initiatives relying on philanthropic investment. This portion of the article stood out to me. “A foundation colleague once jokingly described foundations as investment companies who do a little grantmaking on the side. He asked, “If your foundation is using five percent of its $3 billion under management to make grants, what is the other 95% doing?” The remark was an eye-opening moment, a potential game changer for the field and the work.” However, the power and decision makers in control of that 95% will also need more inclusive and community based perspective to really solve the problems in this country. Otherwise, it will continue to be organizations designing programs and initiatives that don’t always align with what the people in community want or need and misrepresentation of trauma and historic oppression as choice. I look forward to see what the future of this change holds.

Transparency is crucial for accelerating collective impact. By openly sharing knowledge and practices when it comes to portfolio investing, foundations working toward mission-aligned endowments can achieve better and more meaningful results. In a new blog, Stephen Heintz, President and CEO of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and Rey Ramsey, President and CEO of the Nathan Cummings Foundation, make the case for making transparency and mutual accountability a core aspect of philanthropic practice. Read it here: https://lnkd.in/gfAHtRB6.

At Blue Meridian, we pool philanthropic resources to invest in the most promising strategies that boost economic and social mobility in the US. In other words, we meet scale with scale.  Cecilia Conrad of Lever for Change explains how large-scale philanthropy is becoming the favored approach to address society's greatest challenges:  https://lnkd.in/ejM64DnP  Candid

This post and my colleague Thenera Bailey's commentary on it both have a lot to offer those of us who intersect with philanthropy -- as donors or grantees. The critique of the very small amount of foundations' wealth that goes into grantmaking each year also highlights one of the ways that women's collective giving is a very different kind of philanthropy. ninety-nine girlfriends, and other Philanos members like us, bundle individual donations and regrant money that goes right back into communities close to home. More than 90% of member contributions become grants, with a small amount dedicated to member education and administrative expenses. Just as Trust Based Philanthropy is changing how many of us look at the grantor-grantee relationship -- maybe this move by the CA Endowment will encourage changes in how we handle our wealth. And, Thenera rightly points out that without greater inclusion in design and decisionmaking, we will not make progress towards a more just society.

This is a really great short summary of how listening to BIPOC frontline leaders informed a power shift within a grant making institution. I've witnessed how listening to communities and those most impacted by inequity can really open up incredible new possibilities within organizations including funders. In my work with organizations, I look for ways that listening can catalyze power shifts and breakthrough strategy. This is a great example!

With global news and people constantly traveling, it can be easy to think that the world has shrunk and homogenized. But the reality is that the place someone lives (and especially where they are raised, which is often outside their control) has a huge impact on their access to opportunity, health, and the chance to follow their dreams. This is why #PlaceBasedImpact — strategies and funding that endeavor to understand the specific issues and history affecting a specific place, and let that local community lead solutions to problems they have defined — is so vital to help people thrive and build generational stability and wealth. At NationSwell, we have been inspired to work with a wide number of partners over the last year or so as part of the Place-Based Impact in Practice Collaborative — funders and solution builders who are putting the theory of place-based work into action in communities across America; including George Kaiser Family Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Nike, KPMG Foundation, Tony Pipa and End Poverty in California (EPIC). And today, we are so proud to launch the Place-Based Impact In Practice microsite — a one of a kind resource for funders and change-makers wanting to bridge the gap between theory and action, and put place-based impact into practice effectively in service of their communities. The site offers practical steps, peer guidance, inspirational case studies and interactive assessment to understand your next steps. Dive in and explore the site here: https://lnkd.in/g6nsYUgp This work would not be possible without the pioneering of work by leaders in this field and the collaboration of so many people. Shout out to everyone who contributed in ways big or small, and shared their wisdom and expertise to bring this resource to life — including Thomasina (Tomi) Hiers, Matt Geschke, Devon Gray, Jasmine Dellafosse, Jennifer Flynn Dear, Anita Whitehead, Ben Stewart, Aaron Miller, Cynthia Jasso, Marisa Ruiz Asari, Taylor Onderko, Minna Son, Joy Gregory, Greg Behrman, Emily Abrams, Kylie Madden, Brooke Josebachvili, Play Equity Fund, LA84 Foundation, Coalfield Development Corporation, Marilyn Wrenn, Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, Maryland Philanthropy Network, Tulsa Community Foundation, Lift Orlando, Eddy Moratin, Bridget Jancarz, Quardean Lewis-Allen, Danista Hunte, Salah Goss, Jennifer Giovannitti, Mark Loranger and many more. This work is a huge team effort, just like every place-based endeavor. It's an honor to bring these insights and stories to you all and I hope you will get a lot of value from the experience and share with others who are passionate about making a difference for the communities they serve. #PlaceBasedInvesting #NSCollabs #SocialImpact #Philanthropy

Strategic Planning for Nonprofits: Crafting Visions That Drive Impact In the dynamic world of nonprofit management, strategic planning is indispensable. It not only aligns your organization’s efforts with its mission but also equips you to navigate the inevitable changes in the nonprofit landscape. This process starts with a thorough environmental scan, identifying internal and external factors that could impact your goals. It’s about recognizing opportunities and readying for potential challenges. The next steps are setting clear, achievable goals and creating detailed action plans. This methodical approach transforms visions into actionable roadmaps, ensuring that every initiative and resource is strategically aligned towards larger objectives. At The Ziebarth Center for Innovation, we understand that developing a strategic plan that truly impacts requires a blend of deep sector knowledge and strategic acumen. Our consulting services are designed to guide nonprofits through each phase of this critical process, enhancing their capacity for sustained impact and growth. Ready to elevate your strategy? Visit us at the Ziebarth Center for Innovation, where we help nonprofits turn their visions into realities that drive meaningful change. https://lnkd.in/e3t7HhHK #NewJerseyNonprofits #NonprofitConsulting #Nonprofits #StrategicPlanning #NonprofitLeadership

Shout out to Melinda Tuan for offering a profound insight into the dynamics of power and listening within philanthropy: "The choices we made about how to shift and share power, and how to use our own power, are not so different from the choices all funders make as they consider how to incorporate listening into their work, how to respond to what they hear, and how to shift power to community. Funders have time constraints, whether actual or self-imposed, and finite resources. We work in organizations with goals and competing priorities that are not always ours to control. We began the initiative believing that we were ceding most of the power, and we learned that participants did not necessarily share our conception of power or feel that power had been shifted, and we were asked to use our power in ways we hadn’t contemplated. This was an important lesson we will apply to the rest of our work, and an insight that philanthropy needs to spend more time wrestling with." https://lnkd.in/guszW7hE