Nonprofit Administration and Management Commons^™

2017 Fieldstone Leadership Network's Learning Group Effect: Leadership Development As Capacity Building, Michelle Ahearne, Tessa Tinkler, Mary Jo Schumann

Nonprofit Leadership and Capacity Building

This report, prepared by the Caster Center, is a 5-year examination of the Fieldstone Leadership Group Program, a six-month peer-based learning community model to support the leadership development of both executive directors and senior leaders of nonprofit organizations.

Who Benefits From Giving Circles In The U.S. And The U.K.?, Angela M. Eikenberry

The Foundation Review

Giving circles have emerged around the world as an alternative to mainstream, bureaucratic philanthropy. This article examines the types of organizations that benefit from giving circles in the U.S. and the U.K., drawing on data from interviews, surveys, observations, and documentation collected in both countries.

The findings show that giving circles tend to fund certain types of organizations — often those that are small and locally based, startups and newer organizations that are reorganizing or transitioning, those that have a business orientation, and those that can engage members or show significant impact in relation to their size.

While some populations, …

Community Philanthropy In Russian Remote Areas, Julia Khodorova, Larisa Avrorina

The Foundation Review

Russia’s “back country” — remote, nonindustrial areas that are home to almost 40 percent of the population — was largely excluded from the changes brought about by perestroika. People who live in these areas, where NGOs are almost never present, are often unaware of the resources available to address local issues. These regions require new development models that focus on fostering community engagement, and the community foundation model has proven to be the most useful and adaptable.

This article is based on the results of research conducted by CAF Russia in 2016 on the development of community foundations in remote, …

Building Vietnamese Community Philanthropy: Understanding The Experiences And Expectations Of Donors To The Lin Center For Community Development, Dana Doan

The Foundation Review

Vietnam’s steady economic growth over the past two decades interacted with existing patterns of inequity, social exclusion, and geographic disparities to widen the gap between those who can and cannot obtain quality education, a stable income, and access to quality basic services. Meanwhile, after the World Bank classified Vietnam as a lower middle-income country in 2010, several international and bilateral donors announced plans to gradually decrease their development assistance.

It was under these circumstances that Vietnam’s first community foundation, the LIN Center for Community Development, was established in Ho Chi Minh City in 2009. Its mission is to build a …

Marguerite Casey Foundation: Reflecting On 15 Years Of Philanthropic Leadership Through A Summative Evaluation, Mavis Sanders, Claudia Galindo, Luz Vega-Marquis, Cheryl Milloy

The Foundation Review

This article presents the findings of a summative evaluation of the Marguerite Casey Foundation that was conducted on the occasion of its 15th anniversary. The evaluation was designed to gauge stakeholders’ perceptions of the foundation’s operations to facilitate organizational learning. In sharing these results, the authors seek to elucidate the role of evaluation as a learning practice within the field of philanthropy.

The article describes the foundation’s organizational elements and evolution and discusses key themes that emerged from qualitative data collected from foundation leaders and staff, as well as findings from a survey of current grantees.

The article presents a …

The Philanthropy As One Big Impact Investment: A Framework For Evaluating A Foundation’S Blended Performance, Rohit T. Aggarwala, Claudine A. Frasch

The Foundation Review

While some foundations have put their entire focus on impact investing, philanthropy still lacks the tools that enable such investments to be made with the same rigor as the best financial investments and philanthropic grants. This reveals a more fundamental problem: We do not currently manage foundations as the integrated portfolios that they are.

This article proposes a framework for evaluating a foundation’s blended performance that enables both grantmaking and endowment investing to be evaluated jointly, and thus also allows a complete evaluation of how impact investments could improve — or fail to improve — overall performance.

The article demonstrates …

Foundations Don’T Know What They’Re Risking, Maya Winkelstein, Shelley Whelpton

The Foundation Review

Critical gaps exist in philanthropy’s definitions of and approach to risk management. This article describes the scope of the problem and a framework for philanthropists to adopt risk-management practices that better equip the sector to address the challenges of our time.

In 2015, the Open Road Alliance surveyed hundreds of funders and grantees to explore questions about risk and contingency funding. The next year, Open Road partnered with Arabella Advisors for a qualitative analysis of existing foundation policies and procedures related to risk. The combined results suggest a need for contingency funding – and a lack among most funders and …

2017 Zero8hundred's Continuing The Promise Of A New Day: Support For Service Members Transitioning To Civilian Life In San Diego, Kim D. Hunt, Mary Jo Schumann

Military

This report, prepared by the Caster Center, is a 2-year evaluation report about zero8hundred. Zero8hundred is a cross-sector community initiative whose mission is to proactively link transitioning service members and their families to resources and opportunities in the community, helping them successfully transition to civilian life.

2017 Two-Legged Stool: New Findings From California On Nonprofits And Overhead, Nancy Berlin, Jan Masaoka, Mary Jo Schumann

Nonprofit Sector Issues and Trends

Nonprofit overhead is a prevalent and controversial topic in the non- profit and philanthropic sector. Online raters (such as Charity Navigator) point to the overhead rate as a key indicator of nonprofit worthiness. Different govern- ment entities use wildly different indirect cost rates when contracting with nonprofits, which translate into billions of dollars of funding being gained or lost. Foundations rarely have explicit guidelines, but most have informal rules of thumb that affect how a nonprofit can use grant funds. Meanwhile, nonprofit executives struggle to make sense of it all as they manage their operations amidst the conflicting requirements of …

2017 Corporate Playbook For Supporting Military Families, Caster Family Center For Nonprofit And Philanthropic Research, University Of San Diego

Military

This report, by Blue Star Families and the Caster Center and sponsored by USAA, examines the unique strengths and challenges of military families, best practices for supporting military families, why your company should support these families, and the steps to begin or strengthen your company's plan to support military families.

2017 Executive Summary- The Nonprofit Sabbatical As A Catalyst For Capacity Building: An Evaluation Of The Fieldstone Leadership Network’S Clare Rose Sabbatical Program, Ahearne Michelle, Tessa Tinkler, Mary Jo Schumann

Nonprofit Leadership and Capacity Building

Year 2 Executive Summary 2017

This report, prepared by the Caster Center and funded by the Clare Rose Foundation, is a year two executive summary report on the Clare Rose Sabbatical Program. The program is intended to support the well-being of nonprofit leaders, build organizational capacity, and elevate leadership within organizations.

How Do You Measure Up? Finding Fit Between Foundations And Their Evaluation Functions, Julia Coffman, Tanya Beer

The Foundation Review

As the number of foundations has grown, the philosophies and ways of working across the sector have diversified. This variance means that there is no one right model for how a foundation’s evaluation function should be designed. It is imperative for a foundation to think carefully about how the structure, position, focus, resources, and practices of its evaluation function can best fit its own needs and aspirations.

This article focuses on questions foundations can ask to assess that fit, and the specific considerations that can inform these decisions. It draws on 2015 benchmarking research conducted by the Center for Evaluation …

The Nonprofit Nerd (September 2016), The Nonprofit Institute At Portland State University

The Nonprofit Institute Newsletter

This month’s theme is Networked Philanthropy.

Let the resources and insights we share in The Nonprofit Nerd inspire you to get your nerd on and find innovative ways to make research and data work for you and your nonprofit!

Building A Field: Blue Shield Of California Foundation's Strong Field Project Leaves A Legacy And Valuable Lessons, Hanh Cao Yu, Jennifer Henderson-Frakes, Lucia Corral Peña

The Foundation Review

Relatively few comprehensive evaluations have assessed the principles, elements, and impacts of philanthropic organizations’ field-building endeavors. To help fill this gap, this article shares the results of a five-year evaluation of a large-scale field-building initiative: Blue Shield of California Foundation’s Strong Field Project.

The project’s goal was to strengthen the domestic violence field by equipping it with a critical mass of diverse individuals and organizations to lead a stronger movement to end domestic violence in California. Its approach aimed to strengthen field leadership and organizations, and to create vibrant collaborative networks.

Evaluation data show that the project achieved much of …

2016 The Promise Of A New Day: Support For Service Members Transitioning To Civilian Life In San Diego, Kim D. Hunt, Mary Jo Schumann

Military

This report highlights the first year program evaluation of zero8hundred, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to proactively link transitioning military families to a broad range of resources, helping them successfully transition to civilian life in San Diego County.

Cadenas De Auyuda Volunteer Toolbox & Resource Guide, Krista Fiser, Rebecca Nussbaum

Human Resource and Volunteer Management

This resource guide has been created specifically for Cadenas de Ayuda and includes an overview as well as information regarding best practices related to developing and maintaining an effective volunteer program.

2016 Food, Friends, And Health: An Evaluation Of North County Senior Connections Thyme Together Food Truck Lunch Program, Michelle Ahearne, Azadeh Davari, Tessa Tinkler, Mary Jo Schumann

Seniors

The North County Senior Connections Thyme Together Food Truck Lunch Program (subsequently referred to as NCSC) is a collaborative project initiated in November 2014 that provides affordable, nutritious lunches, recreational programming, and community information to seniors in the northern region of San Diego County (North County).

In May 2015, six months after NCSC launched, the Rancho Santa Fe Foundation commissioned the University of San Diego’s Caster Family Center for Nonprofit and Philanthropic Research (Caster Center) to: 1) evaluate NCSC’s progress towards meeting its objectives, and 2) provide feedback and recommendations for programmatic changes as necessary. This report presents the findings …

Foundations Supporting Research And Innovation In Europe: Results And Lessons From The Eufori Study, Barbara Gouwenberg, Danique Ali, Barry Hoolwerf, Rene Bekkers, Theo Schuyt, Jan Smit

The Foundation Review

This article presents the most important results of the European Foundation for Research and Innovation Study, the first study to map the roles and collective contributions of Europe’s large, heterogeneous, and fragmented sector of research and innovation foundations.

The study, based on a review of about 1,000 foundations, estimates that they contribute at least $6.4 billion a year to research and innovation in Europe. While this estimate shows that the contribution is quite substantial, its economic weight is modest compared to that of government, the business sector, and other actors in the domain of research and innovation.

European foundations prefer …

Internal Culture, External Impact: How A Change-Making Culture Positions Foundations To Achieve Transformational Change, Amy Celep, Sara Brenner, Rachel Mosher-Williams

The Foundation Review

This article argues that a foundation’s internal culture is critical to achieving large-scale social change, but that efforts to build a change-making culture too often are left out of strategy conversations.

While there is no one culture that suits every foundation, a particular set of characteristics must be present in those that seek large-scale social change: a focus on outcomes, transparency, authenticity, collaboration, racial equity and inclusion, continuous learning, and openness to risk.

This article offers insights into why culture can be challenging for foundations to address and maintain, examines cases of successful culture change at foundations, and offers advice …

State Of Nonprofits Annual Report: 2016, Laura Deitrick, Mary Jo Schumann, Marcus Lam, Hans Peter Schmitz, Tessa Tinkler, Crystal Trull

State of Nonprofits and Philanthropy in San Diego

The 2016 State of Nonprofits and Philanthropy report analyzes the health of San Diego’s nonprofit sector, identifies important trends, and reports on leadership perspectives.

In addition to an annual summary of the Caster Center’s State of Nonprofits Quarterly Index (SONP Index) this report draws on the most recently available data about nonprofits from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the California Employment Development Department (EDD). These data are synthesized with feedback from Trend Reporters1 along with the 2016 Nonprofit Leader Survey sent to executive level management in San Diego County to provide the most comprehensive picture of San Diego’s nonprofit …

State Of Nonprofits Annual Report: 2016 Infographic, Laura Deitrick

State of Nonprofits and Philanthropy in San Diego

The 2016 State of Nonprofits and Philanthropy annual report analyzes the health of San Diego’s nonprofit sector, identifies important trends, and reports on leadership perspectives.

The number of nonprofit organizations is rebounding to pre-recession levels, while revenues and nonprofit employment continue on an upward trend. Nonprofits remain an important contributor to the local economy. Accounting for nine percent of County employment, San Diego’s 10,196 nonprofits generated $14.9B in revenue and hold $23.8B in assets. Financial indicators as well as patterns of household giving and volunteering point to a more stable nonprofit sector in San Diego compared to the previous year. …

The Hugo Sanchez Soccerland Foundation Board Manual, The Hugo Sanchez Soccerland Foundation

Governance

2016 Board Manual for the Hugo Sanchez Soccerland Foundation.

Spinning Straw Into Gold: A Study Of Resource Creation, Flow, And Conversion In A Nonprofit Collaboration, Elizabeth A. Castillo

Dissertations

Throughout history people have joined together to improve their individual lives. In the modern era, organizations often work cooperatively to enhance their efficiency and effectiveness. Collaborating organizations in the nonprofit sector are increasingly expected to produce system-level change as well. This collective impact approach is under-theorized and therefore not consistently actionable. A central puzzle is how formal nonprofit collaborations acquire resource inputs and transform them into outputs, outcomes, and impact while producing financial returns to sustain the backbone organization. Resource dependence theory is sometimes proposed as an explanatory framework, yet it does not explain the generation of a double bottom …

Adding Up The Arts: The Great Recession And The Public-Private Debate In The Funding Of America's Art And Art Museums, Jasmine Kusumowidagdo

Scripps Senior Theses

The Great Recession dramatically reframed the debate on funding for the arts from a social one to a fiscal one. Instead of social ideology, economics came to the forefront; and fiscal conservatives replaced social conservatives as the loudest voice criticizing government funding for the arts. Under the shadow of an expanding government and staggering national debt, both supporters and critics argue in terms of the economic costs and benefits that the arts impose. These arguments against public funding for the arts are multi-tiered. Critics contend that the government arts agencies are ineffective, that federal arts funding is inefficient, and that …

2015 State Of Nonprofits In Riverside County, Laura Deitrick, Fred Galloway, Dominika Bukalova

State of Nonprofits in California

Within the last year or so, two influential reports produced by the Caster Family Center for Nonprofit and Philanthropic Research at the University of San Diego – 2015 State of Nonprofits in San Diego and Causes Count: The Economic Power of California’s Nonprofit Sector – have helped practitioners, researchers, and government officials better understand both the trends and nuances of this rapidly expanding sector. Continuing that tradition, this report, 2015 State of Nonprofits in Riverside County, provides a much needed and long overdue look at the financial health and demographic profile of nonprofits in Riverside County.

Participatory Decision-Making In Contested Societies: Examples From The Field Of Community Philanthropy, Avila Kilmurray

The Foundation Review

This article examines participatory, placebased philanthropy in two locations, Northern Ireland and Palestine, drawing on the work of the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland’s Fair Share Programme and the Dalia Association’s Village Decides initiative.

The article considers the rationale for a participatory grantmaking approach as well as the manner in which local communities and residents experienced the methodology, and describes and evaluates the role com-munity philanthropy org-anizations played in providing an important added-value dimension to traditional grantmaking.

The fact that both Northern Ireland and Palestine are politically contested societies is factored into the analysis presented by the author, who conducted …

A Primer On Grant Writing For Foundation Support For First-Time Grant Writers In Academic Libraries: Challenges And Opportunities, Peter L. Kraus

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

In a majority of academic disciplines, grant writing is a skill that is often self-taught or acquired informally by trial and error. Few academic disciplines have grant writing as standard part of their curriculum at the graduate level. In the past, grant writing has received little or no emphasis in traditional library education since library science faculty themselves have a poor record of pursuing external funding. Yet, grant writing is a critical skill for new and experienced librarians. For many librarians, the prospect and challenge of writing a grant can seem daunting; however, with institutional support and the support of …

2015 Food And Function: An Assessment Of The Capacity Of Food Pantry Programs In San Diego County, Mary Jo Schumann, Crystal Trull, Carolyn Noack

Food Security

Food pantry programs play a critical role in meeting a basic need for thousands of individuals and families each year. They are the front-line support mechanism for providing short-term or emergency assistance to those struggling with food insecurity. San Diego County has a wide variety of food pantry programs that are helping to meet the need of thousands of hungry residents across the region.

In 2012, several of the major emergency food provider agencies in San Diego County gathered to discuss how collaboration could support cost-saving efficiencies in the food distribution network, and subcommittees were formed to collaborate on achieving …

State Of Nonprofits Annual Report: 2015, Laura Deitrick, Mary Jo Schumann, Dominika Bukalova, Kim Hunt, Crystal Trull

State of Nonprofits and Philanthropy in San Diego

For nearly a decade, The Caster Family Center for Nonprofit and Philanthropic Research (Caster Center) has gathered and analyzed data to tell the story of San Diego’s diverse, growing, and influential nonprofit and philanthropic sector.

This year’s State of Nonprofits and Philanthropy report documents the increased economic impact of the sector as revenue, assets, and employment continue to grow. Furthermore, our State of Nonprofit Quarterly Index (SONP) and survey data from nonprofit leaders indicate that, overall, the sector is moving in a positive direction.

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 …