Strategic planning

Your Impact Strategy Doesn’t Stop at Your Grantmaking

Posted on December 15, 2022 by Dr. LaTonya Penny, Meg Baesmith, Tony Macklin

Your Impact Strategy Doesn’t Stop at Your Grantmaking
While grantmaking is often the main tool funders think about in terms of impact, there are many other innovative ways to use your time, relationships, and resources to support your nonprofit partners and the communities you serve. Funders can leverage their established platform to spread the word about needed support and convene important partners, or can provide additional capacity to… Read More

Scaling Your Philanthropy

Posted on January 31, 2022

Chalkboard with graph that is increasing
Operational and Strategic Approaches for Growing in Scale and Impact The process of scaling can be a pivotal moment—it offers an opportunity to revisit the past and reinvent what is possible for the future. What are the special challenges facing family philanthropies that are preparing for—or in the midst of—a significant scale up in philanthropic assets? As your philanthropy reaches… Read More

Community Foundation Spark Session: Strategy Conversations with Donors

Posted on January 10, 2022 by Kim Montez, Melinda Mosier, Tony Macklin

Across income brackets, most donors are satisfied with philanthropy as an expression of personal commitment, belonging, or faith. Some start asking questions about intentionality and impact, seeking advice from peers and experts. What tools and techniques do community foundations use to help these donors move from discovery to intent, intent to strategy, and strategy to action? How might those tools… Read More

Mapping Change: Using a Theory of Change to Guide Planning and Evaluation

Posted on October 26, 2021 by GrantCraft

This brief guide explains why grantmakers use theories of change to guide their questioning, unearth assumptions that underlie their work, establish common language, and develop strong action plans. Contributors to the guide also describe how a theory of change sets the stage for evaluation by clarifying goals, strategies, and milestones… Read More

Innovating Place-Based Grantmaking: An Evaluation of the Annie E. Casey Foundation “Strategic Co-Investor” Approach

Posted on August 25, 2021 by Annie E. Casey Foundation, TCC Group

When the Annie E. Casey Foundation launched Family-Centered Community Change™ (FCCC) in 2012, the Foundation set out to make improvements to their approach to place-based grantmaking. The programmatic aim was to support local partnerships to help parents and children succeed together in what is known as a “two-generation approach.” Rather than creating something new, Casey joined existing partnerships—located in Buffalo, New… Read More

Strategy and Evaluation: The Twin Engines of Effective Philanthropy

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

This essay provides a fast-paced tour of grantmaker approaches, launching with the advent of long-range planning in the 1980s and visiting scenario planning, social return on investment, human-centered design, big data, and other developments that have influenced practice. The author lands on strategy and evaluation as the anchor approaches that will fuel greater philanthropic impact in the new decade. This… Read More

Succession Planning and Family Transitions

Posted on December 8, 2020 by Peter Myers, Mary Sobecki, Mary Phillips

hand giving set of keys to another hand - succession, passing the baton, transition
Change is inevitable and can be especially complex in family philanthropy. There are a number of questions to explore to ensure the success of a collective giving effort. What are the anticipated moments of transition? What are the plans to navigate accordingly? Who is best suited—and prepared—to lead the family philanthropy effort moving forward? Is there a clear plan for… Read More

What If? The Art of Scenario Thinking

Posted on December 3, 2020

Scenario thinking is a powerful tool for organizations of any size and scope. It can be used to address the complex challenges of large global organizations, as well as those of smaller community-based groups. This guide by the Global Business Network is primarily for leaders of nonprofits and foundations. They are responsible for long-term strategy development; they are well positioned… Read More

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