Essentials of Impact Investing: a Guide for Small-Staffed Foundations

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Arabella Advisors

Impact investing has the potential to enable every foundation, regardless of size, to pursue its philanthropic mission more effectively. It can help individual donors, families, foundations with few or no staff, and all sorts of giving entities put more and different types of capital to work for social good. Even better, it can deliver philanthropic impact alongside financial returns—which can enable reinvestment of those funds in… Read More

Global Giving: Making a World of Difference

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Paula Johnson

This monograph describes through donors' stories the possibilities of global giving. For anyone who is interested in addressing issues beyond our borders, it offers a look at the new infrastructure that has emerged to promote and respond to donors' global interests and provides comprehensive information on the institutions that can help them get involved… Read More

Crafting Your Charitable Mission Statement: A Guide for Donors

Posted on May 15, 2014 by Melinda Tuan

When donors start along their philanthropic journeys, one question that often arises is whether it is important to craft a mission statement; and if so, how best to do so. As with any journey, knowing your destination – or in this case, articulating your goals for your philanthropy by crafting a mission statement – can be an invaluable first step… Read More

Raising Children with Philanthropic Values

Posted on April 4, 2014 by Ellen Remmer

Develop an understanding of your own values, starting with your “money values.” We all have beliefs about money. Affluent parents may have more difficulty clarifying these values since there are so many choices they can make available to their children. Wealth counselors offer a variety of tools to help people articulate their money values and assess whether their behavior is consistent with these values. Keeping a money diary, identifying “money heroes,” or creating a priority ranking of “belief statements” about money can provide valuable insights. Your understanding of how philanthropy fits into your money values will determine the way you shape your children’s philanthropic values… Read More

Storytelling and Social Change: A Strategy Guide for Grantmakers

Posted on November 15, 2013 by Paul VanDeCarr

This guide is not so much about how to tell a good story, but about how to use “narrative strategies”— strategies that use storytelling to advance social change. Inthese pages, grantmakers will find guidance and considerations regarding how and why to: make story grants to advance their own program goals in any issue area, and evaluate the impact of funded… Read More

Foundations Moving On: Ending Programmes and Funding Relationships

Posted on November 8, 2013 by GrantCraft

Whether you are part of a family foundation that runs its own programmes, a big corporate grantmaker, a small venture philanthropist, an NGO that re-grants resources from a back-donor, or a mix of any of the above, exits are inevitable. Funders move on, and relationships with grantees, partners, or investees change along the way. Exit decisions and strategies are complicated;… Read More