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This weekly conference call series welcomed New Jersey-based grantmakers along with national funders and provided an opportunity for grantmakers to hear from a wide range of experts in the field of disaster philanthropy. This series started on September 9, 2013 and concluded on November 4, 2013. The written summaries of each recording are listed below.
This weekly funder briefing webinar series welcomed New Jersey-based grantmakers along with national funders and provided an opportunity for grantmakers to hear from a wide range of nonprofit experts. This series started on March 13, 2025, less than a month after the first executive order was issued and continued through April 24, 2025. The written summaries of each recording are listed below.
Strategic asset allocation is arguably one of the most important, yet least advanced, aspects of investing. The Investment Strategy Group (ISG) in the Goldman Sachs Investment Management Division has developed a new approach to strategic asset allocation, which leverages the idea that long-term investment returns derive from multiple distinct sources called “return-generating factors.” This multi-factor approach is designed to help investors better understand the key sources of long-term return across asset classes and to increase the precision of long-term risk and return estimates. It also provides investors with a new way to think about portfolio diversification, allowing them to focus not only on diversification across asset classes but also
on diversification across the underlying sources of return.
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.
"Co-Creation" is a case study about the Connecticut Early Childhood Funder Collaborative, a project of the Connecticut Council for Philanthropy. The case study, written by Patricia Bowie, examines co-creation, an emerging systems change collaboration model which grew out of a funder-and-state partnership. This unique partnership led to the creation by executive order of a new and independent Office of Early Childhood, which was formally approved by the Connecticut State Legislature in 2013. The companion piece, "Taking on New Roles to Address 21st Century Problems," looks at co-creation from the perspective of a regional association of grantmakers.
The Connecticut Early Childhood Funder Collaborative comprises 14 funders from around the state who bring many years of experience in supporting and operating programs that serve the needs of children and families.
Grantmaking at the Crossroads is a workbook designed to provide foundations with a new grantmaking methodology that works at the intersection of place, population, and issue. It offers a pathway to greater inclusion of communities that are often excluded or marginalized by foundation funding and enables foundations to maintain their focus and priorities while expanding their reach and effectiveness.
The Grand Rapids Community Foundation and the Kalamazoo Community Foundation volunteered to be laboratories for Grantmaking at the Crossroads and have been critical informants for this workbook. Each of these foundations holds an unwavering commitment to ongoing learning; this publication would not have happened without their support and engagement and the financial support of the Arcus Foundation.
Foundations Facilitate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Partnering with Community and Nonprofits, a new report by the OMG Center for Collaborative Learning, confirms that foundations can, in fact, facilitate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) through their grantmaking processes and their partnerships with nonprofits—and identifies eight specific practices for foundations to emulate.
The report takes a deep dive into the work of nine foundations that represent a diverse cross-section of types and sizes, and offers useful lessons about how foundations can better partner with nonprofits to be more effective in their work.
This guide was designed to help the state’s philanthropic community understand their ethical, legal, and fiduciary requirements and obligations.
What comes after “strategic...?” If you said, “planning,” you’re not alone. And for many leaders of community foundations, especially small ones who don’t have the time or money for a big process, anxiety is the feeling that follows. If that’s the case, this guide is for you.
It invites you to test-drive some activities to bring your current program, operations and community leadership strategies into focus before you decide whether to create a plan or not. It helps you discover ongoing strategic practices and decide whether to keep them or not. If you already have done a strategic plan, and it is languishing on a shelf, this guide will help you refresh it.
PART A: Good Strategy Takes Practice (Not Just Planning)
PART B: Do Your Discovery
PART C: Jumpstart Your Strategy Narrative
PART D: Bring It Together
Looking To What’s Next
This weekly conference call series welcomed New Jersey-based grantmakers along with national funders and provided an opportunity for grantmakers to hear from a wide range of experts in the field of disaster philanthropy. Series 1 started on November 5, 2012, one week after Sandy struck New Jersey, and continued through March 25, 2013. Series 2 started on September 9, 2013 and concluded on November 4, 2013. The written compendium of the recordings is listed below.
To answer the basic question of how many active family foundations are planning to spend down or exist in perpetuity (or have not yet made a decision), and to examine foundations’ motivations and decision-making, the Foundation Center, in collaboration with the Council on Foundations and with additional assistance from the Association of Small Foundations, launched a study of family foundations in 2008. This report presents the full range of study findings, which are based on survey responses from 1,074 family foundations.