All Posts By

charitableadvisors

Feb 20

Meeting a need no longer enough

By Sponsor Insight

By Jessica Love, associate executive director, Prosperity Indiana

Generally, nonprofits are established to make a difference for the people or places they serve. As a result, the impact and outcomes are inherent in the work.

But these days, meeting an individual or community need is generally not good enough for a nonprofit to thrive, or even survive, in a world “competing” for donations, sponsorships and grants. Nonprofits must prove they are doing the good they set out to accomplish – and that they’re about outcomes as much or more than they are about outputs.

The National Council of Nonprofits cites this same challenge in an article, titled Impact and Evaluation of Outcomes. The article highlights concepts from Leap of Reason (2011). Of note is that measuring outcomes is not just about attracting resources to your nonprofit, but about mission. A nonprofit will only know that it is indeed helping individuals, solving problems in communities, and protecting the environment, etc., if it is evaluating its performance and then communicating the impact. The article also provides helpful links to numerous resources to improve outcome measurement.

Unfortunately, tracking outcomes is often disjointed from one organization to another and from one funder to another. Additionally, outcomes are often just tracked to meet external requirements or cite specific accomplishments, and may not tell the larger story of the organization’s or program’s success.

According to Andrew Means, co-founder of the Impact Lab and founder of Data Analysts for Social Good, technology is one example. The nonprofit sector often doesn’t see technology as a set of tools created to make jobs better. Means suggested that nonprofits, acting as partners in creating a social sector powered by information, have a huge opportunity “to actually use data and data technology to inform the way that we program.”

He also suggested that nonprofits beginning to use data to measure impact should first start “where they are.” As their work advances, they should seek to invest wisely and align themselves with data experts so as to not waste time with bad data. It is critical, according to Means that nonprofits work together to take advantage of the data.

“No nonprofit has the market concentration of Amazon, or Netflix, or Google. We need to come together, and share our data, work more collaboratively with one another to really understand and identify ways of increasing our impact. If you want to do really great data work, you have to do it collaboratively with other organizations,” he said.

That’s where a new initiative of Prosperity Indiana – the Outcomes Platform – will support its members in a more meaningful way.

In a survey of the membership, 90 percent of respondents said they use data to support their programs and to document and demonstrate success. More than half of all respondents indicated Excel is the tracking tool of choice.

Prosperity Indiana values the importance of developing specific, measureable, aggressive yet achievable, realistic and time-bound goals, but realizes that without a dynamic system for collecting, measuring and tracking goals, strategies, actions and accomplishments, it’s difficult to determine whether those aspirations were achieved.

Because limitations are inherent across the field and clearly identified by Prosperity Indiana’s member survey, Prosperity Indiana wants to provide a way to overcome the challenges of time, staff and financial resources and training.

Providing/developing a cloud-based system for use across the membership to collectively measure impact by tracking of organizational outcomes and planning initiatives against community-level indicators, Prosperity Indiana’s new data collection system will give a clearer picture of impact through a tool that creates visual representations of the data with a web embed option.

Through an evolving relationship with an award-winning online database developer, Insightformation, Prosperity Indiana hopes to provide access to this cloud-based tool for at least 100 nonprofit members with the specific goal of meeting the community economic development sector’s diverse data needs.

 

[content_box box_type=”normal”]
The initiative

Goals of Prosperity Indiana’s initiative include providing the system at low- or no-cost, reducing the amount of staff time it takes to track outcomes while providing a better system for doing so, and developing in-house capacity to provide training and technical assistance to members on the data collection, measurement and reporting processes. Prosperity Indiana is also seeking collaboration with other associations and funders to develop a system that meets the needs of the field in such an all-encompassing way that reporting redundancies can be eliminated.

[/content_box]

 

And according to the authors of the Stanford Social Innovation Review article in July 2015, Architecting for Data, we are right on track.

Prosperity Indiana seeks to provide a system that meets four criteria: “organized (stored in a consistent structure), well described (documented formally or informally so folks know what it is and where it came from), accessible (easy available for folks to find and use), and usable (stored in a format people in your organization know how to wrangle).”

Those interested in learning more about Prosperity Indiana’s Outcomes Platform may contact Jessica Love, Associate Executive Director, at jlove@prosperityindiana.org.

jessica-love Jessica Love is the associate executive director for Prosperity Indiana and works with the executive director to provide team leadership for staff. She is responsible for developing and managing organizational systems for Prosperity Indiana to ensure effective management and control. She also provides one-on-one technical assistance to Prosperity Indiana members, informed by her media and grants management background. With 15 years experience in the nonprofit sector, Love’s consulting work focuses primarily on resource development and creating processes and tools for effective management and program compliance.

Feb 13

Groundwork Indy’s roots

By Feature, Programming

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

In the 1980s, Liverpool, England started an experiment. The city worked with young people to improve areas that had been neglected. After seeing some success, Groundwork UK was established by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to promote local partnerships that could rebuild Britain’s bypassed urban communities through community-led strategies.

Its success led U.S. National Park Service staff to travel to the U.K. to learn more. Impressed, the Park Service launched Groundwork USA in 1996, recognizing its potential to build upon the human and environmental assets found in every community.

It was joined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Brownfields Program to establish pilot programs in three communities — Bridgeport, Conn., Lawrence, Mass., and Providence, RI. Based on success in those cities, additional programs were established in Concord, N.H., Somerville, Mass., and Yonkers, N.Y.

In 1999, the New York’s metropolitan Regional Plan Association joined the partnership to help establish the Groundwork USA national office to support the growing network. The organization has a home base in Yonkers and just had a recent deadline for potential site applications.

Today there are 23 chapters, which based on the U.K. program are called trusts, in the U.S., including one in Indianapolis. The U.S. program is designed to help local stakeholders in communities struggling with environmental, economic and social decline.

“The National Park Service was looking at it as a way to get some work done in the urban core, and at the same time engage urban youth, kids of color. They wanted these kids to become future advocates and future visitors of the parks. They realized that these young people are not visitors, don’t feel welcome and have barriers. So Groundwork was started as a means to build that urban constituency and also to get some work done,” said Phyllis Boyd, Groundwork Indy’s executive director.

Each trust, while independent, works with other trusts and shares resources. Each tailors their approach to the unique needs of small- to medium-sized cities, neighborhoods, and rural communities, working hand-in-hand with local residents, government officials and business owners.

The national office assists with everything from national grant access to the nuts and bolts of daily operations. Indianapolis received a three-year grant to get started.

Sample projects of Groundwork Indy

RECLAIM

In 2016, Groundwork Indy was awarded a National Creative Placemaking Grant for $200,000. The project, which started in January, will conclude in 2020. Called RECLAIM, it is directed by Groundwork Indy’s Executive Director Phyllis Boyd and Artist LaShawnda Crowe Storm. The project will use art to transform vacant spaces along an the unsafe, walking corridor into a safe pathway for elementary school children. The project will include a series of hands-on design, business and community development workshops.

Brownfields research

There is already a lot of mapping data collected by the city about where brownfields and potential brownfields are located in the Northwest Area.

“If a site has suspected contamination, it is considered a brownfield because it impacts development potential. People that think it might be contaminated are like, ‘I don’t want to touch that property,’” said Boyd.

“So when you are dealing with brownfields, the idea is to get a handle on what is really happening on the site, if there really is contamination, how best to deal with it when you have an end use in mind, so what are the things that you need to do to prepare for either residential or commercial or light industrial use again.”

Young people have been involved in Phase 1, by researching historical uses of the property, concurrent uses on the property and by looking at records and maps to see if there was any activity that could potentially have been a source of contaminants.

“If the Phase 1 comes back and says, ‘Yeah, there’s a likelihood that there could be contaminants, then we do the Phase 2 which is the actual testing, physical testing of the soils. When that comes back, you kind of know what you are dealing with.”

Even before that research is done, it’s important to know what the end use is.

“So do we want that corner lot to become a park? Do we want it to become a mixed- use neighborhood serving food? Because the requirements then for cleanup are different depending on that end use is,” said Boyd.

Feb 13

Groundwork Indy: Developing a neighborhood and youth

By Feature, Programming

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

Most teenagers don’t sit around talking about invasive plants and medicinal herbs or brownfields. But at least a half dozen area teenagers are the exception. Isaac, 15, Adarin, 16, Nashawn, 16, Randie, 16, Aliza, 15, and De’Shawn, 19, spend Saturday mornings researching and learning more about these topics, while also getting their hands dirty.

These six teens are members of Groundwork Indy’s Green Team, and spend not only their Saturdays during the school year, but summers too, learning how to best help the Northwest Area neighborhood. Not all live in the neighborhood now, but several were born there. The area is bounded roughly by 16th Street on the south, 38th Street on the north, Martin Luther King Street on the east and Kessler Boulevard North Drive on the west.

groundworks-indy-photos

Their work stems from an extensive community assessment. First, there was a feasibility study by a steering committee to determine if Indianapolis was a right place for a Groundwork program, and at the same time a Northwest Area Quality of Life plan was being developed. With 40 percent of the homes vacant, 584 of the 3,840 acres dedicated to green space lacking attention, and multiple identified brownfields, there is plenty of work to go around.

“The Quality of Life plan was underway in the area, and the city was working on funding for an areawide plan for brownfields and redevelopment, so these two things came together. It seemed like Groundwork was kind of the answer that could plug some holes that needed to be filled,” said Phyllis Boyd, executive director of Groundwork Indy. The original 2012 steering committee is still involved.

Why Indianapolis for this nonprofit youth program? Periodically, Groundwork USA solicits applications from around the country for potential branches. Late in 2012, the city of Indianapolis on behalf of a corridor steering committee submitted a letter of interest to Groundwork USA, and after site visits from the national organization that spring, the city received funding and technical assistance to conduct a feasibility study.

By early 2015, Groundwork USA’s committee, working in close collaboration with the Northwest Area neighborhood, voted unanimously to move forward with the creation of an Indianapolis branch.

Groundwork Indy has two youth development programs – the Green Team for high school students and GroundCorp for out-of-school youth up to age 24. Both programs work from a leased building on Burdsal Parkway near Flanner House and close to the south end of the corridor.

The Green Team meets Saturdays during the school year, and daily in the summer. The program’s goal is to help build environmental awareness and life skills for these teens. Students can stay during their high school years, and earn minimum wage.

“If it’s a good fit for us, and it continues to be, they’re welcome to stay and keep working, and eventually become like crew leaders. One of the things we teach them is the important of their contribution to the community. We’re here because the community has said: ‘This is what we would like to see, this is what we need,’” said Boyd, who moved from working in the for-profit sector as a landscape architect to this position in the summer of 2015.

These young people are helping to change the neighborhood. They’ve embarked on tasks like things removing the ground cover from sidewalks so kids at the two area elementary schools don’t have to walk in the streets. They removed brush from a railroad trestle, making way for the city’s urban pathway. They are researching medicinal herbs that can help improve the health of urban residents. So far they’ve focused on common aliments of African-Americans, and will include some in this summer’s garden.

For the most part, each project is part of the neighborhood’s plan for greenways and parks, brownfields, vacant properties and healthy communities and urban agriculture and community gardening. Right now, for example, the group is in talks with IU Health about a September safe-routes-to-school volunteer effort to do some intersection painting around the two neighborhood schools – Elder Diggs and Global Prep Academy at Riverside 44.

The group also is coordinating with the city’s Department of Public Works to get infrastructure improvements on DPW’s schedule and determine what additional funding is needed to complete improvements.

Adarin, 16, who was born in the neighborhood, notes that since Groundwork Indy got involved, the neighborhood’s not dirty. “We’re coming together to change this community. And some people are respecting it. I like that,” he said.

With Boyd’s background, the teens are learning about botany, too. They don’t just plant trees, they learn about the plants rooting systems and conserving water, and why native plants are important to the ecology.

“I think it’s important that they hear all this stuff, and at the time that they’re hearing it, they’re actually working and got their hands in the soil, hands on the trees, doing something where they can really absorb the information, and they get like, ‘Oh, this is why this information is important.’ So it’s not taught classroom style where it’s a lecture, it’s very much like in the moment, where we’re doing what we’re doing. And they seem to really like learning that way,” she said.

For Aliza, 15, who attends Northwest High School, planting a garden last summer infused pride.

“We worked on planting a garden out back, and it actually turned out good. We had fresh tomatoes, peppers and basil. We brought some home, and we ate some here. We made chili, and all types of stuff, like guacamole, salsa and pickles.

That is just what Boyd hopes will happen.

“They’re really thinking about their work in this larger context of their community and their city. We try also to help them understand, not just the historical context of why neighborhoods are like they are right now. They can grow up in a place like this and think like, ‘It must be like this because we deserve for it to be like this.’

“There are historical, structural reasons why there’s been disinvestment, why the sidewalks aren’t taken care of, why you see all these vacant lots, why the highway went through where it went through. But if you only live in Indy, if you only travel in a very small circuit of Indy, you don’t necessarily get the information that it is systemic. It’s not just by chance, it’s not their parents’ fault, it’s not their grandparents’ fault that this is the way it is. There are systemic things at work that made it so,” she said.

GroundCorp employs out-of-school youth in Marion County, ages 16 to 24, and focuses on job training and job preparedness. The six-to-nine-month program provides part-time employment Monday through Friday, but improving the quality of life in the neighborhood is only part of it.

If these young people don’t have high school diplomas, they must be engage in an adult education program working toward a high school equivalency, an alternative to a diploma.

“We also get them assistance with other partners to get their educational levels up. There are some certifications that require an individual to test at a ninth grade level, before you can qualify to do them,” said Boyd.

“We see the GroundCorp program as a stabilization pad, and a jumping-off point to do other things, like YouthBuild, the Culinary Institute at Edna Martin or something else. It only pays $10 an hour, which is not what anybody can live on, so we need to actually get them in and moving on to something that’s better,” said Boyd.

Currently the nonprofit doesn’t offer the educational component onsite, but it may change to make it easier for team members to complete their education.

“Transportation is one of the hugest hurdles that we have,” said Boyd, who will write bus passes into future grant applications. “Some of our 16 to 24 that are in the GroundCorp program have more barriers, and just need a lot more support from others.”

For every 8-to-10-member GroundCorp crew, Boyd needs a staff person to manage them out on the sites. The crews with participants over 18 can use power tools.

In the summer, the two groups have been able to mix, even taking field trips together.

“It is actually quite easy to mix the groups and work on projects together. Because of the age group of the GroundCorp crew, over 18, there are things that they can do that the younger, employed youth cannot do, like power tools and things like that. So there are certain jobs that they do.”

Boyd is encouraged that EmployIndy is convening a community of practice by coordinating the efforts of grantees that have federal workforce dollars. Seeing that the population of grantees has the same barriers, talking to each other is making programs more effective.

“We’re really good at finding community projects, putting people to work, integrating STEM knowledge into that, teaching skills that are very work-related, teaching about getting to work on time, doing your timesheet, some basics. But then we need to have partners that help with the other wraparound services,” said Boyd. “Then I don’t have to run around and figure out social services when it’s already someone’s job to do that.”

There have been many surprises in the year and a half for Boyd, not the least of which was how easy it was to underestimate kids and what they can accomplish.

“They’re teenagers and we’re just like, ‘Oh, they’re just thinking about things that aren’t that important or just very self-centered. They care about their environment. I thought it would be harder to elicit talking about their values. But if I’m really clear about my values, and I’m expressing my values, it gives them space to be very open about their values.”

“Before we started working, if you looked around this neighborhood, it wasn’t as nice and as clean as it is,” said Aliza. “I see more people cleaning up and gardening, and it makes me feel like I’m inspiring people to do better. I see Groundwork as a role model,” said the 15-year-old Northwest High School student.

Nashawn, 16, Northwest High School said, “I learned that I really care when people are throwing down trash and stuff. We’re just trying to bring life back to the neighborhood.”

Feb 06

Planning your next capital campaign: 9 steps to success

By Sponsor Insight

By Jen Pendleton, vice president Indiana, Aly Sterling

Launching a capital campaign is like moving into a new home. If you want the transition to your new home to run smoothly, you’ll need to plan ahead.

The same can be said of capital campaigns; a lot of preparation goes into a capital campaign so that your nonprofit can reach or even exceed its goals.

In case you’re not familiar with the term, a capital campaign is an intense effort undertaken by a nonprofit organization to raise a specific dollar amount within a defined period of time. The purpose of a capital campaign is to fund a specific project, usually something significant and concrete such as a new facility or equipment.

If you want to plan a capital campaign for your nonprofit, we’ve come up with a step-by-step guide to help you along the way. Here are the nine steps we’ll cover:

Button Text
Feb 06

Why major philanthropists are giving more money to just one cause

By Feature, Fundraising

By William Foster and Alison Powell for Harvard Business Review

In his recent Harvard Law Review opus, President Barack Obama highlighted the yawning opportunity for leaders on both sides of the political aisle to repair the criminal justice system, in part by changing sentencing laws and ending the “school-to-prison pipeline.”

Despite the economic and social benefits, there are fears that reform will not be a priority for the new administration or congressional leaders. Fortunately, private funders are ramping up their efforts to help tackle not only criminal justice reform but also several other social and environmental challenges facing the U.S., including conservation, immigration, and education reform.

Foundations and wealthy individuals are making big philanthropic bets on driving social change solutions at scale. Our research on social change philanthropic investments of $25 million and up found that in 2015 there were 58 such bets; 17 years ago there were just 19. In partnering with many donors and nonprofit leaders over the years, we understand their rationale: It takes a bold commitment to confront some of the world’s most intractable social problems. And while big bets, small bets rarely do.

Button Text
Feb 06

Colleges discover the rural student

By Education, Feature

By Laura Pappano, author for The New York Times

On a late-autumn Sunday, a bus pulled out of El Paso at 3 a.m. carrying 52 sleepy students and parents from western Texas and New Mexico. A few had already driven several hours to get to El Paso. The bus arrived at Texas A&M 12 hours later, in time for a walking tour and dinner. After “Aggieland” information sessions, including a student panel and classroom visits, a stop at the Bonfire Memorial and an all-night drive, they arrived back in El Paso at 8 a.m. Tuesday.

“People don’t realize that Texas is a huge state,” said Scott McDonald, director of admissions at Texas A&M who came up with the idea of bus trips upon realizing that students from remote areas would not visit on their own. “Sometimes colleges say, ‘We don’t get many of those students; it’s not worth our time.’ ” He disagrees. Rural students bring “a unique perspective” to campus, he said. “In terms of diversity, geography is just as important as racial and ethnic.”

Mr. McDonald proved prescient. Given election results that turned up the volume on the concerns of rural Americans, who voted their discontent over lost jobs and economic disparities, higher education leaders are now talking about how to reach the hard-to-get-to.

Button Text
Feb 06

Wanted: factory workers, degree required

By Feature

By Jeffrey J. Selingo, author, for The New York Times

When the German engineering company Siemens Energy opened a gas turbine production plant in Charlotte, N.C., some 10,000 people showed up at a job fair for 800 positions. But fewer than 15 percent of the applicants were able to pass a reading, writing and math-screening test geared toward a ninth-grade education.

“In our factories, there’s a computer about every 20 or 30 feet,” said Eric Spiegel, who recently retired as president and chief executive of Siemens U.S.A. “People on the plant floor need to be much more skilled than they were in the past. There are no jobs for high school graduates at Siemens today.”

Ditto at John Deere dealerships, which repair million-dollar farming machinery filled with several dozen computers. Fixing tractors and grain harvesters now requires advanced math and comprehension skills and the ability to solve problems on the fly. “The toolbox is now a computer,” said Andy Winnett, who directs the company’s agricultural program at Walla Walla Community College in Washington.

These are the types of good-paying jobs that President Trump, blaming trade deals for the decline in manufacturing, has promised to bring back to working-class communities. But according to a study by Ball State University, nearly nine in 10 jobs that disappeared since 2000 were lost to automation in the decades-long march to an information-driven economy, not to workers in other countries.

Button Text
Jan 23

Nurturing nonprofit leadership

By Feature, Leadership

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

Leadership can be nurtured and cultivated. And in the past year, the Fort Wayne-based Foellinger Foundation has taken on that job.

Since 2008, the foundation has worked to strengthen nonprofits in the Fort Wayne area, but it hasn’t stopped with its Invited-Initiative.

Last year, it launched the Foellinger Center for Nonprofit Adaptive Leadership, a program focused on developing leadership that is needed for today’s nonprofits, leadership that can adapt to the changing economy and needs.

“It will help prepare leaders to address both the complex challenges and the incredible opportunities facing the nonprofit sector,” said Cheryl K. Taylor, foundation president.

The impetus for the center came in 2015, and was based on careful listening. In grantee discussions, several organizations talked about succession planning, but were also concerned that there weren’t steps taken to groom potential leaders.

The foundation staff’s response was to surprise these community-serving nonprofits with a grant to pilot this effort. A multiyear grant launched the center, and it began offering experience-based education for local nonprofit leaders.

Last March, four Invited-Initiative grantees — Brightpoint, Early Childhood Alliance, Lutheran Social Services and YWCA — began training employees with demonstrated leadership ability for potential future leadership roles. The participants’ organizations in the Emerging Leaders pilot program had earlier received an INSPIRE grant from the foundation to think about the best ways to train their next levels of leaders. Their organization’s executive directors selected participants.

According to Taylor supporting leadership is part of the foundation’s strategic intention. Taylor credits Harvard’s Ronald Heifetz with spelling out the differences between technical knowledge and adaptability in his book, “Leadership Without Easy Answers.”

This recent effort is seen as complementary to the Invited-Initiative and can have wide-reaching effect.

“You know you can find all sorts of people who understand how to read a finance statement and know that they should have a board orientation and probably staff development, which is important. But what’s the other side of that? What do you do in a crisis? How do you have imagination? Where is the vision?” Taylor said.

Foellinger is trying to help organizations have leadership with both adaptive and technical abilities.

Karin Tice, president of Formative Evaluation Research Associates (FERA) based in Ann Arbor, Mich., has done formative evaluations of aspects of the Invited-Initiative program and is currently studying the leadership emerging leaders.

In Michigan, she has seen first hand what happened to some nonprofits with the 2008 downturn and the results of not having adaptive leadership.

“Nonprofits had people who were their donors and who were sustaining and supporting the organization in all sorts of ways now coming in their door for services. That is a huge shift,” said Tice. It meant that organizations had to think of creative and adaptive ways to meet those needs.

Under the Center’s umbrella are three programs — Emerging Leaders, Executive Leaders and the Barbara Burt Leadership Develop Fund.

The fund is named for Barbara Burt, a longtime member board of the Foellinger board and community leader. The fund is designed to encourage exceptional board governance, support adaptive thinking and to promote exchanges about best leadership styles and practices within the nonprofit sector. It extends past the Invited-Initiative work and more community wide.

The Executive Leaders group started in June. According to Tice, there are only a handful of Invited-Initiative organizations in it, so it’s reaching a much broader group of in the community and organizations that haven’t been involved in the initiative. The 18-month program is for key staff leaders to develop or sustain them as adaptive leaders.

“We’re learning a lot about the structure of that and also the value of executive leadership,” said Tice. “There is rich learning here for foundations. For Foellinger’s size, it is amazing what they’re able to do,” said Tice.

 

Jan 23

Foellinger Invited-Initiative: partnering with nonprofits

By Feature, Fundraising

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

[content_box box_type=”normal”]

As foundations have tailored their giving, honed their criteria and determined focus areas, oftentimes their former giving habits are what the general public is not aware.

This is a first of a series of features on Indiana-based foundations and changes in their nonprofit giving.

[/content_box]

Cheryl Taylor knows the effects of thoughtful, reflective grant giving. Since 2001, she’s been president of the Fort Wayne-based Foellinger Foundation, whose mission since its founding in 1958 has been to strengthen organizations in Allen County that serve children and families, particularly those with the “greatest economic need and the least opportunity.”

But, in 2007, the foundation wondered if it could do more than simply write checks to deserving organizations. What if it got really involved and partnered with these organizations to help them succeed?

The Foellinger board decided it was “interested in funding the most adaptive organizations, most effective organizations, the ones that focus on good governance, the ones that focus on good management, the ones that focus on results.”

Thus was born the Foellinger Invited-Initiative, which the foundation believes is creating and nurturing these high-achieving organizations.

“That’s what we think is our niche and where we believe we are meeting donor intent,” said Taylor.

Under the plan, Foellinger takes the lead and invites area nonprofits to learn about its initiative. Extending an invitation doesn’t necessarily mean a nonprofit will be approved for funding, but if it is, a grant portfolio includes multiyear operating dollars, a capacity-building grant and limited capital improvement grants, initially capped at $50,000.

The capacity-building component requires each nonprofit to take a hard look in the mirror. Board members and executive leaders have to complete a detailed self-assessment to identify governing procedures, leadership roles, financial strategies and core missions so that the capacity money can be used most efficiently.

The Foellinger Foundation board approved the 2007 plan, but after the foundation staff spent nearly a year mired in crafting the details, the recession hit. With a dip in revenues experienced by most foundations, Taylor candidly asked her board if it still wanted to move forward.

“And in what was less than a 10-minute conversation, the summary was, ‘If this was the right thing for us to do in July of 2007 when our portfolio was high, it is still the right thing for us to do in November of 2008. It’s either the right thing for us to do or it’s not.’ I was very proud of them at that moment,” said Taylor.

To date the foundation has invested nearly $28.8 million in 23 nonprofits, with no end in sight. With a small foundation staff, and other grant-making responsibilities, not all nonprofits were invited in the initial year.

In the first years, a nonprofit’s size wasn’t a consideration, but Taylor said they learned that it takes a certain number of staff members to complete all that is required by Foellinger. There are mandatory quarterly learning circle sessions, an involved board assessment to determine what to tackle to strengthen an organization and thoughtful reports reflecting on what’s been accomplished using the foundation’s dollars. And there are lots of ongoing conversations.

Taylor and her staff also believed it was important to require Foellinger Foundation board members to annually make two site visits. Typically, Taylor and no more than three foundation board members meet with grantees and the grantees’ board members. Foellinger has a simple, but direct charge to its board: Get to know what the nonprofits have done to strengthen their organizations.

For each site visit, the board is paired differently. “I want different combinations of them because they ask different questions, focus on different things and they hear one another differently,” said Taylor.

“These conversations have been just amazing. I think they give the organization a very transparent insight into the Foellinger Foundation and attaches faces to our board, and in turn the foundation board puts faces to the organization. That’s a culture change,” she said.

The visiting board members must present a report to the rest of the foundation board at quarterly meetings. One of the goals is to help the foundation’s board better understand that the work to strengthen a nonprofit is not the same from organization to organization. Some work on succession plans, others craft strategic plans and still others scrutinize their revenue and how they raise funds, but all have the goal to make their organizations better.

“We are hoping that these organizations achieve financial sustainability and mission impact. That’s what we’re after for now. We’ve provided them all kinds of other assistance through this initiative that isn’t in those grants in order to help them do that,” said Taylor.

Frank Zirille, the executive director of Wellspring, has headed the nonprofit since 2005. The invitation to join the initiative was first extended in 2011, and the social services agency secured a three-year grant the next year. In 2014, Wellspring was reassessed and received another four-year grant, which provides about 25 percent of its general operating until 2018.

Zirille said that the relationship with Foellinger has stoked the organization’s fire to be better. Through this work, he now has an active, informed board that is overall more confident to tackle challenges. And there is a practical application, too. After one of Foellinger’s education sessions, Zirille and his board understood the need to restrict some dollars that could be used to respond to an emergency, and set aside $30,000 for it.

At another learning circle, the group discussed the importance of understanding an organization’s culture. For Wellspring, it led to a document outlining an official “cultural creed.” Zirille, who is retiring in June, said part of the thinking was to prevent future staff or boards from taking the organization in a different direction. They have incorporated it into staff evaluations.

Both Zirille and Andrea Kendall, board chair of Martin Luther King Montessori School, cited Foellinger’s high standards and reporting expectations. Both said in return, they are met with a high level of support.

“It really has involved all of us more deeply and intimately in a dialogue that’s driving us all in the same direction in a way that really wasn’t there before. It’s really forcing us to do the work that sometimes is easily put to the wayside. Along the way there are all these resources and constant check-ins. The consistency of support, and the consistency of accountability to Foellinger has really driven our organization toward success,” said Kendall.

Kendall says the initiative has had a wider effect in the community. Foellinger has brought in high-quality national leaders, giving the sector fresh perspectives.

“It’s created a greater sense of legitimacy for the work that we do as nonprofits and provided us the opportunity to really be more creative, to be more reflective and to create better outputs within our community. That’s definitely something that has changed in our organization and other nonprofits in the area,” said Kendall.

In 2012, Karin Tice, president of Formative Evaluation Research Associates (FERA) based in Ann Arbor, Mich., completed a preliminary evaluation of the Foellinger Invited-Initiative. During her 25 years in the field, Tice has conducted many evaluations, but several things surprised her.

“I think one of the things was the extent of the shift in relationships between funder and grantee. It had been a pretty typical funder relationship: ‘Submit your proposal, then you get your grant, then you start the report, questions, etc.’

“People now feel like it’s a partnership with the Foellinger Foundation and part of the value is that as a true partner, the foundation asked strategic questions. Organizations are able to go back to them and say, ‘We’re really not sure what we’re doing.’ You don’t say that to just any funder,” said Tice.

What also surprised Tice was the level of organizational sharing. Nonprofits have shared succession planning tools, templates for finances and metric tools. The effect has been greater than just for the grantee.

Zirille suggests that the Invited-Initiative organizations need to take responsibility and share these ideas and materials with the broader nonprofit community.

“I think that’s not necessarily Foellinger’s responsibility. The agencies themselves need to figure out ways that we might pass on in a more formal way the things we’re learning and the things we have access to,” he said.

As part a second evaluation, Foellinger funded Tice’s organization to produce a case study for each organization. These were shared with the individual nonprofits and the Foellinger board. Nonprofits can share them more broadly.

“There are really exciting stories. They’re trying new things,” Tice said.

Many of these nonprofits have also changed the way they select board members and acclimate them to the organization. They are looking for more adaptive thinkers and have developed board orientations.

“Part of the value of what has happened is people are asking different questions. And we’re never going to have all the answers, but to ask the questions is so important,” said Tice.

Jan 22

An overview of the Foellinger Foundation

By Feature, Fundraising

Organization: Private charitable foundation created in 1958.

Assets: Estimated $185.1 million market value (as of 8/31/2016 fiscal year-   end).

Annual grants: Approximately $8 million grant payments (fiscal year 2016).

Source of funds:

  • Lifetime gifts from the late Helene R. Foellinger (1910-1987), owner and publisher of The News-Sentinel in Fort Wayne.
  • Proceeds from the estates of Esther and Helene Foellinger.
  • Contributions from the News Publishing Company until The News-Sentinel            was sold in 1980.

Grant focus: The Foellinger Foundation provides grants and technical assistance to strengthen organizations that serve Allen County children and their families, particularly those children and families with the greatest economic need and the least opportunity.

The foundation primarily is interested in:

  • Early childhood development: Young children in Allen County will have  high-quality early childhood education experiences.
  • Youth development: Youth in Allen County will have high-quality opportunities to develop healthy social, academic and emotional attributes.
  • Family development: Families in Allen County will have high-quality   opportunities that foster healthy intra-family relationships.