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Nonprofit Finance Fund's Annual Survey chronicles the challenges facing the nonprofit sector and calls out some of the targeted investments we can start to agree on as a society to salvage the investment we have collectively made in our social infrastructure. We believe that a coordinated intervention now will not only better prepare us for inevitable future economic crises; it can lead to a happier, healthier community for us all.

Despite a field replete with research, analysis, recommended policies and practices — not to mention an abundance of educational programs and frameworks for grantmaking to diverse communities — philanthropic leaders have been slow to advance these values in their foundations. Philanthropy Northwest (PNW) wondered: what is getting in the way? Why are good intentions, buttressed with theory and practical advice, not achieving better results on measures of diversity, equity and inclusion?

With the support of the D5 Coalition, PNW began a year-long study to explore these questions. The study was divided into two parts. They began with personal interviews of 23 philanthropic leaders in the Pacific Northwest. In order to better understand how these organizations incorporated diversity, equity, and inclusion into their work and workplaces, they collected baseline information about their staff composition, leadership styles, and organizational practices/policies.

This report details their findings. It includes an in-depth look at the peer cohort model, in which ten foundation leaders met regularly to discuss these issues and support each other in advancing their own leadership. It also includes practical lessons about shifting organizational cultures towards greater diversity, equity and inclusion — lessons drawn directly from the experiences of peer cohort leaders.

PNW presented this work in a webinar hosted by the D5 Coalition. The webinar recording and slides are below.

Sample bylaws for Community Foundations.

Food is essential. But how often do you consider where your food comes from?This issue of What Funders Need to Know from the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers explores the stages of the food system, from production all the way to disposal. Why is this important to philanthropy?

Because hunger, food insecurity, nutrition-related chronic disease, the health of resource lands and waterways, wages, and equal opportunity in the food economy all converge in our regional food system.

This piece captures five key insights to guide organizations as they develop ongoing Measurement, Learning, and Evaluation plans to achieve greater social impact:

1. Theory of Change amplifies your impact—helping you focus on the linkages between, and assumptions underlying, your strategies and outcomes.
2. Progress toward long-term goals is observable in interim measures.
3. Setting targets along the way forecasts your trajectory and provides feedback that tells you if you’re moving in the right direction.
4. Impactful measurement needs to align with the rhythm of your work and provide the right data at the right times.
5. The payoff of measurement is in the practice, and putting that practice to use greatly increases your odds of success.

When confronted with measurement and evaluation, some turn first to the expensive and time-consuming practice of “gold standard” experimental designs requiring comparison groups to definitively prove whether an intervention delivers the expected results. While measurements of this type are reasonable in certain situations, they are often a stretch for the real world of social innovation and are limited in their timeliness, strategic value, cultural applicability, and validity for measuring the changes sought. 

You can get more for less—by deploying measurement based on social science rigor and valuing adaptability and learning. In other words, social innovation is best measured in real time and in ways that can be seamlessly woven into the rhythm of the business cycle and the daily practices of those responsible for funding, managing, and implementing social change.

In 2012-2013, CFLeads convened the Cultivating Community Engagement (CCE) Panel, made up of 34 philanthropic leaders, researchers, government officials and people from neighborhood and community groups who have worked closely with residents.  After deliberating over the course of nearly a year, the Panel issued a Call to Action for more resident engagement by community foundations and made recommendations for important changes in community foundation practice. This call for more resident engagement resulted in the Panel’s updating of the Framework for Community Leadership by a Community Foundation.

• Frequent moves are the most significant barrier to academic success, as they disrupt both students and teachers. Students on the move need extra time and attention to get caught up, requiring teachers to spend more time with those students.
• Students who are unable to find stable shelter have difficulty meeting state or district mandates regarding the number of days they must attend school to stay enrolled.
• Often, the slow transfer of student records, along with differing course requirements from school to school, complicates the accrual of sufficient credits for homeless students to be promoted and receive a high school diploma.

A key objective of the Scaling What Works initiative has been to translate insight and learning from grantmaker intermediaries involved with the Social Innovation Fund and share them with the broader philanthropic community. The fifth guide in the Lessons Learned series presents the benefits and challenges of partnerships between local and national funders, and highlights key considerations for both kinds of funders to foster success in their collaboration.

• The American Express Foundation diversified strategies to build non-profit management skills in its effort to develop diverse talents in the non-profit sector. Some of these efforts include a leadership development program that supports emerging talents from various ethnicities, generations and genders.
• The Baltimore Community Foundation took the first step to educate and inform the foundation internally before sharing  its DEI efforts with the community. A shared understanding among internal stakeholders helped align their goals around DEI which made integrating DEI work in the foundation and the community much more effective.
• Access Strategies Fund increased civic participation of diverse communities through equitable grantmaking driven by diverse decision makers and saw dramatic increases in political representation among communities of color.
• The Silicon Valley Community Foundation believes that data can drive equity and publishes data on its website regarding the gender and racial / ethnic di­versity of its staff and leadership, and lists the grants it provides to organizations or programs serving ethnically diverse popula­tions.