Philanthropy Front and Center-Cleveland

How to Get Grants for Your International Work - Feb. 26 Live Chat

Foundations that give grants to non-U.S. based charities must do additional reporting to IRS to prove that the funds were used appropriately, either in the form of equivalency determination (ED) or expenditure responsibility (ER).

As a result, compared to domestic nonprofits, foreign NGOs must go through many more, often time-consuming, steps before and/or after the grant is made to verify their charitable status and to help the funders comply with their extra reporting requirements.

If your organization wants to get U.S. foundation grants for your international work, join our Feb. 26, 12-1pm ET, live chat to learn about:

• What processes, procedures, and documents you'll need to meet ED or ER requirements
• Types of projects that are better suited for ED or ER
• NGOsource, a new service that will help to speed up the equivalency determination process for grantees and grantmakers

Want to make sure your question gets asked? Send it to us in advance! Answering your questions will be our experts:

• Kelly Shipp Simone, Deputy General Counsel, Council on Foundations
• Sheila Warren, Director, NGOsource

Meanwhile, bone up on international grantmaking with these related resources:

• International Grantmaking Update: A Snapshot of U.S. Foundation Trends (Dec. 2012 report)
• How International Charities Can Raise Funds in the U.S. (live chat transcript)
• Legal Structures for Raising Funds in the U.S. to Support Foreign Charities (podcast)
• Resources for Non-U.S. Grantseekers (knowledge base articles)

Are You an Artist Looking for Fiscal Sponsorship?

Juliana Steele, program specialist for fiscal sponsorship with Fractured Atlas, was interviewed recently in advance of her upcoming October 18th program on the topic at the Foundation Center-Atlanta.

In this 4-minute podcast, Juliana explains how artists can determine whether their project would be a good candidate to be fiscally sponsored, and how artists can seek out sponsors. Listen now!

Want to learn more about fiscal sponsorship, including resources like agreements, sample proposals and ways to find a sponsor? Check GrantSpace's Fiscal Sponsorship page. Also check out our Arts & Culture page for more great content.

Why Boot Camp? A Proposal Writer's 3-Day Immersion Course

Foundation Center instructor and nonprofit consultant, Marilyn Hoyt, shares helpful grantwriting tips and discusses the benefits of the Boot Camp. Check out her conversation with Foundation Center staffer Natasha >>

Proposal Writers Bootcamp - and Marilyn - are coming to Cleveland October 16th! Sign up today to gain valuable insights and hands-on know-how in the area of proposal development.

Learn more about the 3-day program offered in regions across the U.S.

Watch This! Navigating the Grantmaking Landscape

What influences change in the world of institutional philanthropy? Representatives from the Dean Witter Foundation, the Lisa and Douglas Goldman Fund, and May & Stanley Charitable Trust met in San Francisco to discuss various shifts that can serve to drive change within foundations.

Head over the GrantSpace to watch the full video now >>

Panelists include:

• Ken Blum, Consultant, Dean Witter Foundation
• Nancy Kami, Executive Director, Lisa and Douglas Goldman Fund
• Peta Penson, Program officer, May & Stanley Smith Charitable Trust

Find other videos with grantmakers at the GrantSpace multimedia archive.

Watch This! Outcome Measurement - What Do Fundraisers Need to Know?

Over the last few years, terms like "impact", "evaluation", and "outcomes" have become standard components of most foundation grants, and more and more foundations now require grantseekers to quantify the expected reach of their services and programs. But what do these terms mean and how do fundraisers fit into the equation?

Head over to GrantSpace to watch the full video >>

Julia Bator, the Chief Executive Officer at Fund for Public Schools, moderates the discussion at this Foundation Center special event, which focuses on how to measure and evaluate your organization's impact and outcomes. 

She is joined by: Laurie Dien, the Senior Program Officer at the Pinkerton Foundation; Traci Lester, the Executive Director of Reach Out and Read of Greater New York; and Sylvia Rowlands, the Assistant Executive Director of Evidence-Based Programs for New York Foundling.

Topics covered include:

• Understanding foundations' expectations prior to the application
• Ensuring that your organization has the capacity to track and produce the required data
• Involving program staff prior to, during, and after the grant

Watch now >>

This program is presented in collaboration with AFP New York City Chapter.

Learn more about evaluation with our GrantSpace Knowledge Base Article, Where can I learn about nonprofit program evaluation? View other videos, podcasts and multimedia content at the GrantSpace multimedia archive.

Watch This! Picking Up Steam with STEM

In an effort to prepare the workforce for the next generation for a creative economy and jobs that will require talent adept at designing the technological innovations of tomorrow, corporate and foundation grantmakers are increasingly focusing their educational funding on STEM: science, technology, engineering, and math.

Watch the full program now >>

And today there is a growing movement to expand the definition to also include arts within these portfolios since there is a growing recognition that creativity and innovation are also important to nurture—hence STEAM. Come to this session to learn more about guidelines, trends, and new potential directions for STEM funding in our region.

Panelists include:

• Teri Douglas, Account Executive, Radio Disney
• Susan Harvey, Program Director, S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation | Stephen Bechtel Fund
• Wendy Fukamaki, Community Relations Manager, Signature Programs, Pacific, Gas & Electric Company
• Anne Wintroub, Director of Citizenship and Sustainability, AT&T

Head over the GrantSpace to watch the full program. View other great videos, podcasts and online events at the GrantSpace multimedia archive.

 

Watch This! What's Trending in the World of Foundations?

The Council on Foundations (COF), the largest national professional association of grantmakers, recently held its annual conference in Los Angeles, California. More than 1,100 grantmaking institutions representing all types of grantmakers convened for the conference. At the Foundation Center's San Francisco office this past May, a panel of local grantmakers that attended the conference spoke on timely topics in philanthropy. The panel included:

• Bess Bendet, Director, Blue Shield Against Violence, Blue Shield of California Foundation
• Wendy Ramage Hawkins, Executive Director, Intel Foundation
• Manuel Santamaria, Grantmaking Director, Silicon Valley Community Foundation
• Daniel Olias Silverman, Director of Communications and Corporate Secretary, The James Irvine Foundation

Head over the GrantSpace to watch the full program >>

Get more information about trending grantmaker topics in our podcasts, videos, webinars and live chats, posted to the GrantSpace multimedia archive.

What do you do When Your Fundraising is Flatlining?

We recently wrote about a new report released by the Nonprofit Research Collaborative (NRC) showing that fundraising levels of more than half of reporting nonprofits have flatlined or decreased compared to 2010. What's a nonprofit to do? 

Some of the strategies being employed by the nonprofits in the NRC survey are fairly standard: direct mail, special events, online campaigns, and major gifts.  Almost half are currently involved in or are planning a capital or fundraising campaign. We absolutely recommend these tried-and-true fundraising strategies.

However, one of the statistics in the NRC report makes me a little nervous: 28 percent of the nonprofits surveyed said foundation and corporate support is the potentially biggest growth area. Before you put all of your organizations' proverbial eggs in this basket, consider this. Year after year, the total of charitable giving in the US that comes from foundations and corporations hovers around 20 percent. And, even though we are expecting foundation giving to grow modestly in 2011 and 2012, the ongoing economic crisis has increased the funding needs of nonprofits and created an extremely competitive grantseeking environment.

Are we saying nonprofits should forget about grant funding?  Not at all. We are saying that it's important for nonprofits to know that grant funding should be just one part of an overall fundraising strategy and you need to have a balanced fund development plan that includes diverse sources of revenue and support. If you need to get a fundraising plan in place but don't know where to begin, our class and seminar can help.

Need more advice? Be sure to check out some of these resources:

• Where can I find advice and information about fundraising in times of economic downturn?
• Fieldstone Alliance “20 Emergency Funding Sources for Nonprofits”
• Grassroots Fundraising Journal “How to Prepare Your Nonprofit for an Economic Recession” 

Also, don’t miss Lauren Steiner’s year-end fundraising tips in a previous post .

Do you have advice? Please leave a comment.

Is Your Fundraising at a Stand Still (or Worse)?

You're not alone.  According to a new report recently released (September 2011) by the Nonprofit Research Collaborative* (NRC) fewer than half of surveyed nonprofits reported fundraising increases during the first half of 2011 compared with the same period in 2010. Overall:

• 44% reported increases in charitable contributions received through June
• 25% said giving was the same as in the same period in 2010
• 30% reported a decline in charitable contributions during the first half of 2011

These numbers are barely changed from the NRC 2010 year-end survey, when 43 percent of respondents indicated they raised more money in 2010 than they did in 2009. At that time, almost a quarter (24 percent) saw giving remaining level, and 33 percent raised less.

The news is not all bad—some organizations are reporting fundraising increases.  Most notably, 50 percent of human services organizations and 57 percent of larger organization with budgets of $3 million or greater are doing better than last year.  However, international charities and small charities (budgets of less than $250,000) are faring the worst, with only 20 percent and 34 percent respectively reporting increases over 2010.

So, what fundraising strategies are organizations banking on for the remainder of 2011? Of those in the NRC study:

• 67% reported efforts said some method that reaches a large number of donors, often with relatively small gifts like direct mail, special events, and online campaigns
• 45% said they would focus on larger gifts
• 28% pointed to work with institutional donors like foundations and corporations
• 12% are currently involved in a capital or other fundraising campaign, while 34% are in the planning stages

What strategies is your organization trying? What's working? What's not? Talk to us. 

*The NRC is composed of seven organizations: Association of Fundraising Professionals, Blackbaud, Inc., the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, the Foundation Center, Giving USA Foundation, GuideStar USA, Inc., and the National Center for Charitable Statistics at the Urban Institute.

Online Events for Artists in October! #FCArts

October is Funding for Arts Month and the Foundation Center has organized many stellar events, including these webinars and live chat discussions! Click on an event title below to get more details and to register. All times are in Eastern Time (ET) zone. Hope to see you on the interwebs!

Shaking the Money Tree for Film and Video Fundraising. Live Chat: Thursday, October 6, 2011 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Ask questions about how to prepare yourself for fundraising, developing fundraising trailers for your film, the ins and outs of crowdfunding with sites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo, fundraising house parties, and more, with veteran consultant, facilitator and writer Morrie Warshawski, and his daughter, Leah Warshawski, a filmmaker.

Fiscal Sponsorship for Artists and Arts Organizations: Everything You Need to Know. Webinar: Monday, October 17, 2011, 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Dianne Debicella, program director for fiscal sponsorship at Fractured Atlas, will discuss the fiscal sponsorship arrangement under which a charitable project without 501(c)(3) status might benefit from the tax-exempt status and administrative support of a sponsoring organization.

Grantseeking Basics for Individuals in the Arts. Webinar: Tuesday, October 25, 2011 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Learn to create a step-by-step plan to find funding for your needs as an individual grantseeker

Arts Funding in Uncertain Times. Webinar: Wednesday, October 26, 2011, 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Steven Lawrence, the Foundation Center's director of research, will discuss how foundation arts funding fared during the recent economic downturn, current trends in arts grantmaking, and the outlook for arts giving going forward.

The Artist as Entrepreneur. Live Chat: Monday, October 31, 2011 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Get answers to your most pressing questions about the knowledge and skills you need to market, price, and sell your work, so you can build a successful artistic enterprise, with Rebecca Posey, co-founder of Addo Games in Atlanta, GA, and Matthew Charboneau, Arts Network Leader for the Council of Smaller Enterprises (COSE) in Cleveland, OH. 

(Looking for a calendar of our in-person programs? Click here.)