Business Commons^™

Executive Summaries

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Grey Matter(S): Embracing The Publisher Within, Lisa Brooks, Gabriela Fitz

The Foundation Review

Most foundations don’t think of themselves as publishers, yet many of them act as such – making information available by funding research and publications, or by authoring their own. And failing to think of these activities as publishing efforts has serious consequences for shared learning in the social sector.

The shift toward knowledge-sharing strategies and approaches that embrace new search technologies, the logic of open access and open source, and the realities of the Internet as a largely decentralized and dynamic selfpublishing space offers the possibility of coordinating publishing efforts, and possibly agreeing to the use of shared practices that …

Editorial, Teri Behrens

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Network Evaluation In Practice: Approaches And Applications, Madeleine Taylor, Anne Whatley, Julia Coffman

The Foundation Review

As more funders support networks as a mechanism for social change, new and practical knowledge is emerging about how to build and support effective networks. Based on extensive review of different types of networks and their evaluations, and on interviews with funders, network practitioners, and evaluation experts, the authors have developed an accessible framework for evaluating networks.

This article describes the evaluation framework and its three pillars of network assessment: network connectivity, network health, and network results.

Also presented are case examples of foundationfunded network evaluations focused on each pillar, which include practical information on evaluation designs, methods, and results, …

Building An Organizational Culture That Supports Philanthropy In Indian Country: A Funder’S Story, Adam Kintopf, Nicole Toves Villaluz, Jaime Martínez, Barbara Schillo, Y. Elaine Rasmussen

The Foundation Review

This article examines one philanthropic organization’s project to overcome challenges around its work in Indian Country and to build support for that work among its leadership.

ClearWay Minnesota, an independent nonprofit working to reduce commercial tobacco’s harm, embarked on a project to educate its board and staff about American Indian history and culture. The project resulted in an increase in staff expertise, valuable context for the organization’s leadership, relationships built with Native individuals and organizations, and the integration of American Indian concepts into more aspects of ClearWay’s work. The organization’s board and staff report improved ability to achieve success in …

Catalytic Funding, Partnership, Evaluation, And Advocacy: Innovation Strategies For Community Impact, Lora Warner

The Foundation Review

With long-term commitments to concentrated geographic regions, community foundations are in a unique position to highlight problems and stimulate other nonprofit organizations and funders to develop local solutions. Seizing an opportunity to address a growing community concern over cutbacks in youth arts education, the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region undertook an initiative that utilized several innovation strategies in a way that would impact the community and its own work.

This article describes how the foundation combined catalytic funding, partnership with grantees, creative use of evaluation, and design of advocacy tools to promote and strengthen youth arts programming. The …

Strategy Design Amid Complexity: Tools For Designing And Implementing Adaptive Funding Strategies, Erica Snow, Jewlya Lynn, Tanya Beer

The Foundation Review

Increasingly, foundations recognize the importance of designing adaptive strategies that can respond to complex environments and problems. Recent articles have cautioned against practices common in strategic philanthropy that hinder the ability of foundations and grantees to account for changing contexts and adapt their strategies accordingly.

But understanding the importance of and barriers to adaptive strategy is not sufficient. Foundations now need processes and tools to create and implement adaptive strategies while also addressing the core dilemmas such strategies create: managing accountability in the context of adaptation, adapting at the right level, and responding to changes in context without creating too …

Back Matter

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

We're All In This Together: Mentoring In Academic Libraries (Poster), Matt Ruen, Cara Cadena, Betsy Williams

Presentations

Navigating a new job can be difficult for both new and experienced librarians. How will you learn “the way we do things here”? Mentoring can play a key role in helping librarians find their way to becoming effective professionals. Grand Valley State University currently has several formal mentoring programs for new librarians, in addition to informal mentoring. Our poster will discuss GVSU’s mentoring programs and the purposes they serve—acclimating to university culture, developing position-specific skills, and successfully participating in the scholarly process. We will include our experiences and perspectives as recent participants in these programs. This discussion will include insights …

The Family Foundation Life Cycle And The Role Of Consultants, Melissa L. Nemon, Claudia J. Jacobs, Mary Phillips, Judy Sneath

The Foundation Review

The dynamics unique to family foundations, including a dedication to preserving a legacy and to sharing decision-making among family members, are often a significant influence on a foundation’s governance and operations and may extend to how their experiences with consultants differ from those of other foundations or nonprofits.

This article, which draws on a survey and interviews with family foundations asking why, when, and how they hire consultants, looks at common experiences that lead family foundations to seek external help and how these foundations can learn from the experiences of their peers.

This article introduces the Family Foundation Life Cycle …

Both Sides Of The Equation, Barbara D. Kibbe

The Foundation Review

Client and consultant can have fundamentally different perspectives on the progress and success of a consulting engagement. This article explores the insights and lessons learned by a dozen professionals who have been on both sides of the equation in consulting to philanthropy.

There are occasions when client and consultant are well matched and value is created. But there are also cases where consultants are delivering a formulaic or hyperrational response into a very human system, or where the idiosyncrasies of foundation work prove barriers to positive results. Consultants have a critical role to play, and clients have a right to …

Balancing Content And Process Expertise In The Practice Of Foundation Consulting, Chris Cardona

The Foundation Review

Despite foundations’ frequent recourse to consultants, little, if anything, has been written on the expertise required of foundation consultants and how they cultivate it. This article looks at the types of expertise that these consultants bring to their work and for which their clients hire them.

This expertise falls into three categories: process expertise, or what the consultant does with the client; content expertise, or what the grantmaker does; and hybrid expertise, consultant processes that are their own subject areas.

This article also offers examples of how content, process, and/or hybrid expertise might combine to address particular foundation needs, and …

Back Matter

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Editorial, Kris Putnam-Walkerly

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Going Beyond Grantmaking: Using External Help To Extend A Foundation’S Core Competencies And Increase Its Impact, Gwen Walden,, Lauren Marra, Katrina Briddell

The Foundation Review

The drive to achieve impact beyond grantmaking represents a paradigm shift in the way foundations seek to make social change. By bringing to bear new resources and thinking, this shift has the potential to amplify the impact of the philanthropic sector. Consultants and other intermediaries have critical roles to play in extending and enhancing this impact.

This article explores the opportunities and challenges inherent in foundations’ efforts to go beyond grantmaking and examines how they can – and cannot – effectively use consultants and other intermediaries to enhance such efforts. It presents three cases: incubating and launching a new organization, …

Understanding Philanthropy Consulting: A Tool To Identify The Roles And Capabilities Needed From External Support, Brian Leslie, Kelsey Noonan, Clint Nohavec

The Foundation Review

This article categorizes the distinct roles played by philanthropy consultants and presents a tool and framework for charitable foundations to identify and evaluate the roles and capabilities they need from those consultants.

The article categorizes seven capability areas, from strategy setting to talent development, that are core to all foundations. Then, it identifies trigger points within these capability areas that lead foundations to undertake projects that may require outside support. Third, the article maps the capabilities that foundations consider in determining whether and how to engage philanthropy consultants.

The resulting tool is scalable and broadly applicable, providing foundation staff and …

Effective Consulting Partnerships To Philanthropy, Ellen Irie, Kim Ammann Howard, Ria Sengupta Bhatt, Naomi Orensten

The Foundation Review

This article explores the realm of partnerships among consultants who are supporting philanthropy, surfaces the forms those philanthropy-consulting partnerships take, and describes their benefits and inherent challenges. It also describes what foundations most need to know about initiating and supporting philanthropy-consulting partnerships.

Types of consulting partnerships are a function of the needs they address and the contexts in which they were initiated. A useful way of looking at consulting partnerships is according to their structure – whether the relationship with the client is primarily horizontal or vertical in nature. In a vertical structure, a client hires a consultant, who in …

Review Of The Social Profit Handbook: The Essential Guide To Setting Goals, Assessing Outcomes, And Achieving Success For Mission-Driven Organizations, Paul G. Putman

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Executive Summaries

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Use Of Consultants By U.S. Foundations: Results Of A Foundation Center Survey, Lawrence T. Mcgill, Brenda L. Henry-Sanchez, David Wolcheck, Sarah Reibstein

The Foundation Review

This article presents the results of a survey launched in January 2014 by Foundation Center, in collaboration with the National Network of Consultants to Grantmakers, examining use of consultants by community, corporate, and independent foundations whose annual giving totals at least $100,000.

The survey asked funders to report whether they used consultants in the past two years and, if so, how frequently and for what purposes; they were also asked to report their level of satisfaction with consultants’ work. Funders that did not engage consultants in the last two years were asked why not. The survey also sought open-ended responses …

How To Implement A Funder-Supported Advocacy Effort And The Integral Role Of Policy Consultants, Deena Margolis, Leah Ersoylu

The Foundation Review

There has been growing recognition in the philanthropic field that public-policy engagement and advocacy are critical strategic investments to support social change. For those foundations that are new to advocacy or are contemplating adding this type of work to their portfolio, however, this can be a significant shift in how they do business.

Before a foundation engages in this type of work, it is critical that leadership and staff understand the role and potential impact of foundations in the advocacy and policy arenas, the practical considerations of how best to engage in advocacy and policy work, and the role of …

Shine A Light: The Role Of Consultants In Fostering A Learning Culture At Foundations, Jared Raynor, Ashley Blanchard, Marieke Spence

The Foundation Review

Noticeably absent on the list of reasons foundations cite for engaging consultants is learning – a particularly important attribute for foundations that grapple with complex issues in dynamic environments.

Consultants are particularly well positioned to help foundations in the learning process. They help organizations understand and create models and frameworks, implement strategies and mechanisms within them, overcome roadblocks to learning, and put them on a path toward a dynamic and sustainable learning culture.

This article proposes that being explicit about the value of fostering a learning culture in a foundation within the context of any consulting engagement will enable both …

Assessing Predictors Of Work Engagement In Full-Time Undergraduate Students With Part-Time Jobs, Megan Wertheimer

Honors Projects

Past research has shown that work engagement is beneficial for employees and employers. It is linked with performance, job satisfaction, motivation, employee health, and well-being. We tested whether social-support, conscientiousness, generalized self-efficacy, and work/school congruency would be predictive of work engagement of full-time undergraduate students at Grand Valley State University. Findings showed that work/school congruency and perceived organizational support significantly predict work engagement. These results have implications for how student workers and their employers should seek to increase engagement.

Analyzing The Financial Future Of The Millennial Generation, Matt Smartt

Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

Factors Influencing The Unethical Behavior Of Business People, Adam Boes

Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

Allendale Movie Theater, Michael Marciniak

Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

How Technology Is Killing Privacy, John Alexander

Honors Projects

Privacy concerns seem to come up daily in the news these days, whether it be government spying through the NSA or people willingly giving information about themselves away on social media. It seems as if no one has any privacy anymore. As actor Will Smith said in a recent interview on the show ‘Vecherniy Urgant’, “I was very dumb when I was 14. See, no Twitter, no Facebook when I was 14. So I was dumb, but I was dumb in private.” His view is a common one – that people, especially young people, are being exposed to privacy risks …

Applications Of The Multi-Channel Network Model To New Media Formats, Jacob Gardner

Honors Projects

Much has been said about the rise and rapid proliferation of digital and online marketing since the mid 1990’s. Internet based advertising is the single fastest growing ad expenditure category, outstripping TV, radio, and other more traditional media formats. With the rise of “Web 2.0” and the concept of New Media, the internet has entered a period of what has been referred to as “a participatory culture.” Many diverse creators of content and the consumers of that content have come together to form a new system of media consumption. New business models and methods of monetizing content on the internet …