Philanthropy Front and Center-Cleveland

July 4 -July 8 at the Foundation Center

Wednesday, July 6
Grantseeking Basics, 6:00 - 7:30pm
Take advantage of our extended evening hours and get a full overview of the grantseeking process and a thorough introduction to the resources and services available at the Foundation Center.

Hours:
Monday:  CLOSED
Tuesday:  CLOSED
Wednesday:  12:00 - 8:00pm Extended hours!
Thursday:  9:30am - 4:30pm
Friday:  12:00 - 4:30pm

June 27-July 1 at the Foundation Center

Monday, June 27
Proposal Writing & Proposal Budgeting Basics, 10:00am - 12:00pm
in Youngstown, OH
Come to our Youngstown Cooperating Collection and learn the key components of a proposal to a foundation, with a particular focus on creating a proposal budget.

Proposal Writing Basics,  3:00 - 4:30pm
in Franklin, PA
Get a thorough overview of the proposal development process at our Franklin, PA Cooperating Collection.

Tuesday, June 28
An Insider's Guide to Resume Dos and Don'ts: How A Hiring Manager Views Your Resume, 5:30 - 7:00pm
Join the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network (YNPN) Cleveland for this interactive learning session designed to help young professionals sharpen their resumes into the ultimate selling tool.

Thursday, June 30
Introduction to Fundraising Planning, 10:00 - 11:30am
Learn a basic planning process for diversifying your organization’s support.

Proposal Writing Basics, 1:00--2:30pm
Get a step-by-step introduction to writing a grant proposal, from planning and research to writing, editing, and keeping connected to the funder.


Hours:
Monday:  12:00 - 4:30pm
Tuesday:  9:30am - 4:30pm
Wednesday:  12:00 - 4:30pm
Thursday:  9:30am - 4:30pm
Friday:  12:00 - 4:30pm

Got Interns?

Send them to the Foundation Center!

It's the beginning of intern season here in Cleveland, and many nonprofits are seeing an influx of new temporary staff members. The Foundation Center is a great place for them to learn a lot quickly.

To get your interns started, you might have them take some of our free classes. Grantseeking Basics and Electronic Resources for Finding Funders provide a good overview of foundations and their grants, along with our library and its resources. Grantseeking Basics is being offered twice in July - on the 6th and the 26th. You can register for them, and see other upcoming programs, on our online calendar. Many of our free classes are also available as webinars, so your intern can even learn from your own office!

Before beginning their funding research, interns should receive a briefing on your organization and the program they will be working on. Specifically, they should know:

• The subject area, geographic focus, and/or population group the program will serve;
• The type of funding needed: program support, equipment, research, etc.;
• How much funding the project needs.

Make sure they know what kind of information you want them to bring back. It might be helpful for the intern to use a worksheet to track what he or she finds on funding prospects. You can download prospect worksheets on our web site. Interns will be able to e-mail research back to your office from our databases, or they can download information to a flash drive.

Remind them to ask Foundation Center staff for help -- that's what we're here for!

Send them to the Foundation Center!

It's the beginning of intern season here in Cleveland, and many nonprofits are seeing an influx of new temporary staff members. The Foundation Center is a great place for them to learn a lot quickly.

To get your interns started, you might have them take some of our free classes. Grantseeking Basics and Electronic Resources for Finding Funders provide a good overview of foundations and their grants, along with our library and its resources. Grantseeking Basics is being offered twice in July - on the 6th and the 26th. You can register for them, and see other upcoming programs, on our online calendar. Many of our free classes are also available as webinars, so your intern can even learn from your own office!

Before beginning their funding research, interns should receive a briefing on your organization and the program they will be working on. Specifically, they should know:

• The subject area, geographic focus, and/or population group the program will serve;
• The type of funding needed: program support, equipment, research, etc.;
• How much funding the project needs.

Make sure they know what kind of information you want them to bring back. It might be helpful for the intern to use a worksheet to track what he or she finds on funding prospects. You can download prospect worksheets on our web site. Interns will be able to e-mail research back to your office from our databases, or they can download information to a flash drive.

Remind them to ask Foundation Center staff for help -- that's what we're here for!

Is Talent the New Oil? Thoughts from the Civic Leadership Institute

What's your "read" on local news? Would you welcome a disruption to your understanding of the community in order to deepen your insight into how decisions have been and are being made in our region? The Civic Leadership Institute, a program of Cleveland Leadership Center, promises that after attending 6 sessions I'll "read the paper with a new perspective" and have a deeper understanding of the economic, social, business and political issues shaping our region. As a a key member of the team at the Foundation Center, I welcome the opportunity to increase my leadership skills and to contextualize the programmatic solutions we routinely create for the social sector. I attended the first Institute session on Tuesday, June 15, 2011 and plan to publish a post after each. I hope you enjoy this first post as much as I enjoyed the first session!

Attendees represent all sectors of business, nonprofit, and education, and speakers for the first session, entitled "The Evolution of Our Economy," delivered presentations with adroitness, wit, and that special brand of enthusiasm for Cleveland that only those who live or have lived here truly understand. First up was John Grabowski, professor at Case Western Reserve University and Director of Research at the Western Reserve Historical Society, who explained how migration patterns have shaped our city and created the urban villages and unique ethnic mix that we all recognize as Cleveland today. Migration patterns also speak to the current state of the economy and where it might be headed. An emerging pattern within the new economy is becoming apparent with healthcare, education, and technology demanding a highly-skilled workforce in our region, talent we may need to import, in part.

So, if talent is the new oil, as second presenter Richard Herman suggests, we need to understand in fine detail just how deep our talent pool is. Herman, co-author of Immigrant, Inc., spoke animatedly about Cleveland's need for immigrants, a group that traditionally fuels innovation and spurs economic development by starting up new enterprises. With the percentage of foreign-born citizens decreasing dramatically (the current figure is 5%, which is much, much lower than previous decades), Cleveland and the nation must recognize the risks of losing highly talented individuals to other regions and countries. For example, although thousands of international students enroll at our regional universities, we don't do enough to keep them here after graduation. As a result, Herman argued, our region runs the risk of hemorraging more jobs and people. One antidote to this is Global Cleveland, an initiative designed to remedy the low rate of migration by attracting 100,000 people to Cleveland by 2020.

I found the first session of the Civic Leadership Institute to be thought-provoking and enlightening. The presentations complemented one another nicely and the historical context will help me to understand the challenges facing my organization and the nonprofits we serve. So, will I read "the paper" a new way? I think so.

As a side note, it was with a degree of astonishment and glee that I learned that Cleveland once had a "Big Italy," located near where Progressive Field now stands. For a time, an enterprising Italian chef named Ettore Boiardi made his home there and, in the 1920s, opened up a restaurant on E. 9th and Woodland. Who knew? Beefaroni anyone?

--Katie Artzner, Online Librarian, The Foundation Center

June 20-24 at the Foundation Center

Monday, June 20
Nonprofit Sustainability:  Building Blocks to Organizational Success
in Vincennes, IN, 10:00 - 11:30am
in Anderson, IN, 3:00 - 4:30pm
Come to one of our Cooperating Collections in Indiana and take our new class on sustainability!  Learn how to enhance your organization's competitiveness and strengthen its financial health.

Wednesday, June 22
Electronic Resources for Finding Funders, 10:00am - 12:00pm
Learn to find funders for your nonprofit with the Foundation Center's premiere funding research tool, Foundation Directory Online Professional; navigate and use the wide range of resources available on the Foundation Center's newest web site, GrantSpace.org; and learn how to identify and research individual donors.

Nonprofit Sustainability:  Building Blocks to Organizational Success, 10:00 - 11:30am
in Columbus, IN
Come to our Columbus, IN Cooperating Collection and learn what you can do to increase your organization’s competitiveness and strengthen its financial health in the current economic climate.

Introduction to Fundraising Planning, 2:00 - 3:30pm
in Shelbyville, IN
Visit our Shelbyville, IN Cooperating Collection and find out how to diversify your organization’s base of support.

Friday, June 24
Nonprofit Sustainability:  Building Blocks to Organizational Success, 10:00 - 11:30am
Sustainability is a popular but often misunderstood buzzword in our sector. Nonprofit sustainability means more than just generating enough money to keep our organization afloat. In this class we will begin with the definition of nonprofit sustainability, and then we will cover each of the four key elements that contribute to long-term sustainability for an organization.

Hours:
Monday:  12:00 - 4:30pm
Tuesday:  9:30am - 4:30pm
Wednesday:  12:00 - 4:30pm
Thursday:  9:30am - 4:30pm
Friday:  12:00 - 4:30pm

Guerrilla Grantseeker

Welcome to our newest blogger, Susan L. Golden!

Who is she? Susan brings over 30 years of successful experience in fundraising to her irreverent chats about raising money.

She has worked with over 150 client organizations and companies, ranging from capital campaigns for churches to new approaches in cosmology. She has worked on advances in neurosurgery, improving gas mileage for trucks, helping victims of domestic violence, designing new optical polymers, and implementing dementia care mapping in U.S. nursing homes.

She loves working on projects which contribute to better health care or high technology. She has special affection for economic development which benefits her home town of Cleveland, Ohio.

Susan’s background includes a Ph.D. in English from Duke University, where she avoided working by reading lots of novels. Then she founded the Writing Lab at Cleveland State University and after that, the developmental Education Program at Dyke College.

By 1976, she realized that she had “Peter-Principal-ed” herself into college administration, and moved into fund development. For seven years, she earned her fundraising “chops” at the Cleveland Institute of Music. She often says it was heavenly to be able to hang out with musicians, but not have to practice!

Twenty years and hundreds of millions of dollars later, she wrote a best-selling book for Jossey-Bass Publishers, Secrets of Successful Grantsmanship: A Guerrilla Guide to Grantseeking. Once the book was published, she began writing a column for Contributions Magazine.

What will she talk about? Her column in this blog will address your questions on grantseeking. Please feel free to post your questions as comments. From time to time, she will invite a funder to participate in a dialogue and pose questions like, “How can you sleep nights knowing how you treat grantseekers?” to spark a lively discussion and debate about the practice of grantseeking. Through the blog, Susan will also introduce you to new networking and learning opportunities with the most savvy grantseeking professionals in national and international groups.

Why read Susan's column? It’s worth reading Susan’s opinions, based on the experience that earned her clients success in over 75 percent of their solicitations. Since 1986, she has been involved in raising over $790 million. More important, she’ll make you laugh. She never loses sight of the absurdity of how hard it is to get a grant.

Remember, as our fellow grantseekers at the Association of Proposal Management Professionals say, “Hope is not a strategy and luck is not a tactic.” We hope you enjoy Susan’s new Guerrilla Grantseeker column at our blog.

How to Contact Grantmakers & Get Results

Whenever possible, grantseekers are advised to contact a grantmaker before sending a proposal. Preparing for that initial contact and determining what to say is all part of building a relationship with a prospective funder. Poor preparation or lack of it can undermine your efforts and even your organization.

Learn what to do (and not to do) in order to make a memorable and positive first impression at our free live Q&A chat Monday, June 20, 1-2pm ET.

Marilyn Hoyt, nonprofit executive, consultant, and trainer, will answer questions about the right and wrong ways to approach grantmakers during all stages of the funding request process. UPDATE: Meghan Mucklow Petranotonio, Grants Manager for SunTrust Bank's Foundations & Endowments Specialty Practice, will be our second expert panelist and will provide a unique viewpoint from her role in representing several different foundations.

Tap their expertise and share your own experiences. We devote most of the hour to your questions and comments! Register now>>

 

IRS Revokes Exempt Status of More Than 10,000 Ohio Nonprofits

The IRS announced on June 9, 2011 that approximately 275,000 organizations under the law have automatically lost their tax-exempt status because they did not file legally required annual reports for three consecutive years. Lists of organizations are available at the IRS web site and are segmented by state. Here is the list for Ohio (XLS file).

By my count, more than 1,500 organizations listed as doing business in zip codes beginning with 441 (Cleveland metro area) have had their exempt status revoked along with more than 300 in zip codes beginning with 443 (Akron). In Columbus (zip codes starting with 432), there are more than 1,100 organizations on the list.

From the IRS news release:

Publication on the list of organizations whose tax-exempt status has been revoked serves as notice to donors and others that they may no longer rely on a prior listing in IRS Publication 78, Cumulative List of Organizations, as an indication of an organization’s tax-exempt status or its eligibility to receive tax-deductible contributions. An updated version of Publication 78 with current listings will be published on the IRS website later this week. Nor can donors rely on an IRS determination letter issued to the organization prior to the date of automatic revocation.

Existing organizations that seek to have their tax-exempt status reinstated must complete an application and pay a user fee regardless of whether they were originally required to file such an application. More information on the reinstatement process, including retroactive reinstatement, can be found on IRS.gov.

--Cindy Bailie, Director, Foundation Center-Cleveland

Getting To The Point: Pictures From Who Should I Know? How To Build a Grassroots Network

On Tuesday, June 8, 2011, more than 40 people attended the Foundation Center's evening networking program, Who Should I Know? How To Build a Grassroots Network. The format was a little bit of a departure from our normal programming and featured a "speed geeking" round where groups of 8-10 people rotated around the room to listen to 4 guest speakers talk for five minutes about what they do and how they can help.

After the speed rounds, a lively, organic discussion with the entire group focused on how to drum up support for community projects, how to identify the right people to move your ideas forward, and how to get on their radar.

Guest speakers were: Tom O’Brien, Program Director of Neighborhood Connections, Steve Wertheim, Director of 211 Cleveland, a program of United Way of Greater Cleveland, Jesse M. Gannon, Economic Recovery Coordinator, Office of U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown and our own David Holmes, Regional Training Coordinator at the Foundation Center-Cleveland.

 
 

If you missed it, stay tuned. We're planning more grassroots-oriented networking events designed to bring people together!  See our other post containing tips for networking and building a network to make community change.

Listen! Taking Your Scrappy Nonprofit to the Next Level

Recently, the director of the Foundation Center's Atlanta office, Val Porter, was interviewed on the Michael Chatman Giving Show, a weekly radio program that broadcasts each Thursday at 11:30am on 880 AM The Biz out of Miami, FL and online at 880TheBiz.com. Each week, Michael Chatman interviews leaders in the business, nonprofit, and philanthropic sectors, discussing topics like community investment, cause marketing & individual giving. It's a great show with a lot of great personalities and a ton of useful information, and we were really excited to get invited for an interview! Val spoke at length about scrappy startup nonprofits and the potential for great partnerships with small businesses. Listen to the recording below for the whole show, or read on for key points and listen later!

Michael Chatman Giving Show, May 19, 2011

What Should New Nonprofits Know?

There are 1.56 million nonprofit organizations in the United States. The first question to ask yourself is: do I really want to do this? It's important to consider whether or not you want to be a nonprofit administrator because it's a lot of work, and if you're interested in hands-on work at the front line, running a nonprofit may not scratch your itch to serve the community.

As a new nonprofit, there are a few things that need to be done right from the start:

• Be strategic about what you're doing: have a strategic plan and know how you fit into the overall landscape.
• Have a marketing plan: though marketing is something a lot of nonprofits initially recoil from, it's an important part of success. Marketing isn't just about sending out flyers and securing PSAs. You need to know your strengths and weaknesses, the opportunities in your area, and the threats to your existence. Don't have a plan? One of Atlanta's Experts in Residence, Susan Burnash, wrote a 12-step series to help you do it yourself.
• Know who your competitors are and how they can become your collaborators: funders are investing in a variety of different sectors, and don't want to duplicate their investment by funding two organizations that are doing essentially the same thing. Part of being a good steward is helping funders best leverage their dollars. 

Another important part of growing your new organization is to differentiate yourself by being strong: have a good case for support and be investment-worthy. In addition to your strategic and marketing plans, take a look at your business plan--is there some aspect of your services or intellectual property that can be packaged and used as a revenue stream? For the first 3-5 years, most organizations are not eligible for foundation or government funding, but earned revenue is always and option, and makes a great case for support to funders later: your organization is financially strong.

Creating revenue streams outside of donor revenue requires a different skill set, and that's where your board development plays an important role: nonprofits want business executives and foundation leaders on their boards but often leave out another important group of people, small business owners. Don't forget about small business owners! Like your organization, small business owners are scrappy: they are trying to make a small business work in the same way that you are trying to make a small enterprise work. This takes creativity, innovation, and good understanding of entrepreneurialism, and having that kindred spirit on your board can help you figure out where your organization needs to go. It's not always about getting a check; it's about investment.

Another source of revenue can be found in small business partnerships. There are many ways that organizations and small businesses can form mutually beneficial partnerships, and in the interview, Val discusses local, scrappy nonprofits who pulled in young entrepreneurs over 20 years ago and have both risen in the community as a result.  She also empasized the gift of branding opportunity that nonprofits can provide, citing the branding lift that Avon got from the Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk over 10 years ago when it first started. Nonprofits can also provide businesses with exposure to potential clients or customers in the demographic and psychographic groups that the businesses want to reach.

Small nonprofits can be especially good investments for small business because while a $5,000-$10,000 sponsorship might buy a table at a larger nonprofit's event, that same gift is much more significant to a smaller nonprofit and will therefore get more exposure for the investment and a better change to build relationships with future clients. These benefits are great for small businesses to know in deciding what to do with their philanthropic money, but they are also important for nonprofits to know when approaching potential small business partners.

All of this great information (with more elaboration) can be found in the first half of the interview, so be sure to listen on for more about the following:

• Starting a foundation vs. a donor advised fund, with suggested resources: the Foundation Center, local community foundations, and the Southeastern Council on Foundations
• Whether it is still possible to find seed money in the current economic climate.
• Other suggestions for working with small businesses
• Examples of earned revenue: it's not necessarily about manufacturing a physical thing, but usually more about information and intellectual property.

Enjoy the show, and thanks again to Michael Chatman for the opportunity!

--Elyse Klova, Program Associate, Foundation Center-Atlanta

via atlantablog.foundationcenter.org