Business Commons^™

Using Foundation Capital For Good: Opportunities In The Balance Sheet, John Sherman, Veronica Olazabal

The Foundation Review

Foundations increasingly use their full balance sheets to unlock more of their capital for good. They look beyond conventional grantmaking to pursue their charitable purposes in many ways that exemplify innovative, full-balance sheet approaches: investing in nonprofit and for-profit companies that offer clear social and financial returns; investing their corpus in companies whose products and services align with their missions; using social bonds to inject new resources into their programs; offering guarantees to help grantees manage risk; and avoiding companies whose practices run counter to their grantees’ efforts.

This article looks at the structures, pathways, and tools for foundations wanting …

The Yin And Yang Of Equity-Centered Philanthropy, Douglas Easterling, Laura Mcduffee, Sabina Gesell

The Foundation Review

Foundations face two competing imperatives when they commit to advancing equity. On the one hand, they are counseled to support and follow the lead of community-based groups that are on the front lines of social change. On the other hand, they are also being challenged to use their power and influence to act boldly to change inequitable structures, policies, and institutions. These two orientations, yin and yang, can take a foundation in different directions and thus cause confusion and internal conflict.

The challenge for a foundation is to balance and integrate the two orientations into a comprehensive and effective approach …

Investing In Mission-Driven Advocacy, Raymond Alqaisi, Carrie Warick

The Foundation Review

Philanthropy has a significant role to play in public policy advocacy, both in involving the individuals they support in advocacy and ensuring that advocates have the tools to be successful — not only in funding, but also in robust capacity-building assistance.

Looking at the work of the National College Attainment Network, this article explores how philanthropic investments can impact advocacy, in both financial and capacity-building support, through a recounting of a recent advocacy grantmaking initiative. It also details the key conditions conducive to policy change and the supports that were provided to grantees during the funding period.

As philanthropic leaders …

Fostering Change And Fresh Voices: Vancouver Foundation’S Youth Engagement Journey, Trilby Smith

The Foundation Review

Since 2011, Vancouver Foundation has invested significant time, energy, ideas, and money in bringing together immigrant and refugee youth and young people with lived experience of the foster care system in British Columbia.

Through its Fostering Change and Fresh Voices initiatives, the foundation has listened and worked in partnership with these young people to address the issues that affect their lives, and important progress has been made in the forms of meaningful policy changes and improved political engagement. The foundation is now in the process of returning these initiatives to the communities that inspired them.

This article describes the roles …

Enhancing Funders’ And Advocates’ Effectiveness: The Processes Shaping Collaborative Advocacy For Health System Accountability In South Africa, Barbara Klugman, Waasila Jassat

The Foundation Review

This article describes the roles of five advocacy groups that built collaborative initiatives to address the collapsing health system in South Africa.

The findings presented are based on retrospective reviews of annual reports, organizational evaluations, interviews, and focus group discussions with each of four participating organizations and existing literature on the fifth.

The key findings, for both advocacy groups shaping alliance strategies and for funders, are that flexible funding and a shared value system among groups with diverse capacities, constituencies, and reputational resources is a good approach for enabling adaptive and innovative strategies for holding the public sector accountable.

The Boys And Men Of Color Framework: A Model For Community And Systems Change, Marc Philpart, Judith Bell

The Foundation Review

For too long, many African American, Latino, Native, and Asian boys and young men have been shunted into failing schools and pushed out of them for minor infractions, incarcerated in massive numbers, suffered from unaddressed health needs, died young, or entered adulthood without prospects to earn a livelihood.

In response to this crisis, an evolving body of work rooted in place has emerged to reverse persistent patterns of racial discrimination, build strong communities, and create pathways to opportunity by catalyzing changes in local and state systems that have the greatest impact on young males of color.

The experiences of PolicyLink …

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, …

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 …

Climbing The Mountain: An Approach To Planning And Evaluating Public-Policy Advocacy, Sam Gill, Tom Freedman

The Foundation Review

· This article proposes a new methodology for planning and evaluating public-policy advocacy. The methodology is designed around a series of stages, each with a different set of strategic planning and assessment requirements.

· The article suggests that both planning and evaluative approaches that fail to take account of the necessary stages required to develop and then implement an advocacy strategy will likely assign the wrong indicators of success.

· This analysis is based on direct experience working with both policy processes and a wide range of foundations and nonprofits that have invested in public-policy advocacy, including the Rockefeller, Ford, …