How To Guide: Uncovering Unconscious Bias in Philanthropy

Posted on April 16, 2021 by PEAK Grantmaking

This guide is designed to help you, the grants management professional, understand bias, how it shows up in philanthropy, why it matters, and how you can improve impact and outcomes for communities historically disenfranchised from philanthropic benefit. This guide will cover some basic concepts and definitions around unconscious bias and some proven ways to reduce bias that can be applied… Read More

Rehearsing the Future: An Introduction to Developing and Using Scenarios

Posted on January 8, 2021 by S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation

Scenarios are stories about different future environments in which today’s decisions might play out. We cannot predict the future. However, by thinking creatively and rigorously about a range of scenarios, we can rehearse future possibilities and prepare for what might be next. In the summer of 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic raged, job losses mounted, and the movement for racial… Read More

Racial Justice Framework

Posted on November 30, 2020 by CapShift

Capshift and TheCaseMade have built a framework to assess investment opportunities across all asset classes and to understand how they help Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities thrive and bring about structural change to advance racial justice. We present three categories of investments that support BIPOC communities; those promoting: 1) Diversity and Inclusion 2) Racial Equity 3) Racial… Read More

Making the Case: Foundation Leaders on the Importance of Multiyear General Operating Support

Posted on October 21, 2020 by Center for Effective Philanthropy

This companion piece to New Attitudes, Old Practices: The Provision of Multiyear General Operating Support features profiles of five of the 43 foundations that participated in interviews with CEP for that research: the California Wellness Foundation, the Claneil Foundation, Foundation for a Just Society, the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation. These five foundations — which represent a range of geographies, size, and foundation… Read More

Making it Happen: A Conversation Guide

Posted on October 21, 2020 by Center for Effective Philanthropy

This companion piece to New Attitudes, Old Practices: The Provision of Multiyear General Operating Support  provides resources for foundation leaders and boards seeking to start providing, or provide more, multiyear general operating support (GOS) grants. It shares insights and suggestions from leaders whose foundations provide more multiyear GOS than typical, as well as questions to guide foundation discussions… Read More

Conclusion

Posted on October 20, 2020 by Stanford PACS

In the introduction, we referred to philanthropy as a journey—a journey with both anticipated and unexpected experiences and great opportunities for learning. You will almost surely explore new focus areas and find new opportunities within existing ones. More fundamentally, you will develop new skills, more confidence, and greater courage as a philanthropic traveler. Expeditions that once were unthinkably remote and… Read More

Socially Motivated Investing

Posted on October 20, 2020 by Stanford PACS

Understand the difference between value-aligned investing and investing for impact. This chapter considers two related but nonetheless different purposes that socially motivated investments may serve. The first is to align your investments with your social and environmental values regardless of whether your investment decisions affect the investee companies’ behaviors. The second, which builds on value alignment but goes much further,… Read More

Funding with Others: Collaboration and Pooled Funding

Posted on October 20, 2020 by Stanford PACS

Learn about the many ways to fund with others: learning with others, funding a trusted staffed foundation, coordinating funding with other donors, pooling funds with other donors, and participatory grantmaking. The growing practices of collaborative and pooled funding allow you to increase the impact and scale of your giving. This chapter pro-vides answers to the following questions: How can I… Read More

Making Gifts

Posted on October 20, 2020 by Stanford PACS

Think through the types of funding you might offer, gift size, duration, and exiting a relationship. Once you have developed confidence in an organization in your focus area, you will want to consider how best to support it. This chapter gives an overview of the basics of making gifts and answers these common questions: What are the different types of… Read More

Engaging Organizations and Developing Relationships With Their Leadership

Posted on October 20, 2020 by Stanford PACS

Best practices when it comes to interacting with potential and actual grantees including volunteering and board service. In many instances, you can conduct adequate due diligence on a nonprofit without ever communicating with the organization’s staff—using information from its website and from third parties. Also, in many cases—especially but not only with large national or international groups—you will feel satisfied… Read More