Northern California Grantmakers

Yesterday NCG member Jim Canales, President and CEO of The James Irvine Foundation, was a guest blogger on Tactical Philanthropy. As part of Tactical Philanthropy’s Audacious Ideas series, Jim reflected on the recent Gates/Buffett challenge:

“Bill and Melinda Gates along with Warren Buffett recently announced their commitment to devote the majority of their wealth to philanthropy. Perhaps more notably, they are encouraging other billionaires to pledge a similar commitment, and a new website, www.givingpledge.org, has been launched to encourage their peers to follow suit and to document these pledges.

This is certainly audacious. And it got me thinking about what similar “pledges” those of us privileged enough to work within organized philanthropy should be thinking about.”

This idea of making a pledge got Jim thinking about what kind of pledge a grantmaker could make.

Jim postulates that “[grantmakers]‘ ability to create positive social impact through [their] grantmaking is directly related to [a grantmaker's] capacity to be effective and thoughtful partners with the organizations [they] are privileged to support.”

So in an effort to improve the working relationship between grantmakers and grantees Jim put forth his audacious idea:

…to suggest—even implore—foundations to make commitments that address the following:

–Transparency: What specific action or actions will your foundation take to increase its openness and render its processes and approaches less opaque and more transparent?

–Accountability: To what specific measures should your grantee partners hold the foundation accountable, and what will be the foundation’s mechanism for reporting publicly on your progress?

–Authenticity: What specific steps will your foundation take to enhance its relations with grantees and grantseekers and create greater authenticity in them, rooted in respect for our partners? What mechanisms will you put in place to ensure that you are listening and learning from your grantees as much as you expect them to listen and learn from your foundation?

So what do you think? Will your foundation make a pledge to improve the working relationship between grantmakers and grantees?

Looking For A Place To Start?

If you’re looking for examples where foundations are making an attempt to increase transparency and accountability, or dialog with grantees I’d like to recommend the Foundation Center’s Glasspockets.org.

Glasspockets provides best practices in foundation transparency and accountability online, as well as links to examples.

Currently there are 20 foundations highlighted on the website for having “glass pockets,” a phrase coined by former Carnegie Corporation Chair Russell Leffingwell.

If you’re interested to putting your foundation to the Glasspockets test, or would just like to assess your Glasspockets quotient, check out their list of indicators on the Glasspockets website.

Read Jim Canales’ full blog post online.

Welcome to the third installment of blog posts on this morning’s NCG and Foundation Center program “Convergence: How Five Trends Will Reshape the Social Sector.”

The first two blog posts focused on the report’s findings and recommendations. This post will cover the panelists at today’s program.

A Role for Funders

Before we get to the panelists, I want to look back at the report one last time. It has a section specifically titled, “A Role for Funders” and yesterday it caught my eye:

“The challenge of the future is not for nonprofits alone. Much of what will be required of nonprofits in the future involves breaking down institutional walls, and seeking and leveraging resources and expertise from a diverse array of partners, both within and outside the sector. In many cases, funders must be willing to depart from traditional models in order to enable these kinds of initiatives. If not, they will stymie the sector’s attempts to transform itself.”

And no one wants to be blamed for stymieing anything.

So how can funders support the sector as it undergoes this transformation?

Granted, though the report is talking about trends that will directly affect both nonprofits and foundations, foundations are also in a position to assist nonprofits as they work to adapt to the new environment we all find ourselves in. Two funders who are working to do just that include Omidyar Network and Marin Community Foundation (MCF).

Panelists Matt Halprin of Omidyar and Dee Dee Nguyen of MCF each spoke on how the trends influence their work as funders.

Matt Halprin explained that Omidyar is interested in supporting technology platforms that connect individuals. These platforms have a “potential for large scale impact at low cost..a massive reach and easy, but meaningful engagement.”

Take for example Viikii.net, a website where volunteers add subtitles to videos from around the world. By making the content accessible to people who wouldn’t have had it otherwise, Viikii is working to create “a world without language barriers.”

Dee Dee Nguyen focused on the shifting demographics here in the Bay Area and the rise of civic engagement [read volunteerism].

One emerging trend that Dee Dee sees coming out of this demographic shift and demand for volunteerism is the rise of giving circles. To be more specific, “giving circles around demographic populations and around volunteering by offering [one's personal] expertise.

Two giving circles Dee Dee highlighted today were Lunar Giving Circle and Full Circle Fund.

Lunar Giving Circle is a “group of individuals pooling [their] resources and raising funds to affect positive social change in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community of Northern California.” And Full Circle Fund is an “engaged philanthropy organization cultivating the next generation of community leaders.” Full Circle also focuses on innovation and giving more than just money to nonprofits. “Fund members leverage their time, money, skills and connections to the service of nonprofits, businesses and government agencies in partnerships that result in significant impact on the community.”

Next, an example of a nonprofit adapting to the trends.

Welcome to the second installment of blog posts on this morning’s NCG and Foundation Center program “Convergence: How Five Trends Will Reshape the Social Sector.”

The first blog post gave an overview of the five trends and in this post I’ll focus on the competencies that David La Piana outlined for nonprofits of the future.

Key Competencies for Nonprofits of the Future

So now what? As you can see our world is evolving. And that means that we and our organizations need to evolve with it because the social sector’s landscape is changing and it will create new challenges for organizations.

David outlines key competencies that will help nonprofits face these challenges, they include:

• Leadership, Management and Workforce Development: “The changes these trends bring about will call for a rethinking of the concept of nonprofit leadership, writ large…Nonprofits of the future will need to abandon overtly hierarchical management structures and adopt more collaborative cultures.” Take the example of “reverse mentoring” where nonprofit CEOs are mentored by younger employees on how to use social media. Naturally the mentoring ends up going both ways to the benefit of both parties.
• Tools and Technologies: We’ve all witnessed the explosion of social media platforms. Yes, it can be daunting, but “the most important thing is not to freak out.” You don’t have to use every new tool at once. But you should be aware of them and find a strategy that makes sense to you.
• Partnerships and Organizational Structures: This can be a tough one to adopt “since our organizations are our way of life.” But this new environment “creates numerous opportunities for nonprofits to partner with others in new ways.” And remember what Beth Kanter and Allison Fine said about complex social issues: “Complex social problems outpace the capacity of any individual organization.”
• Strategic Thinking Instead of Strategic Plans: As a sector we’re very much into linear thinking, i.e. Strategic Plans. But those plans go out of date. “Planning actually kills strategy.” Organizations need to be flexible and not locked into a specific plan. They need a set of behaviors (see above bullets) that will help them navigate the future landscape.

So that’s a lot to digest, both the trends and the competencies. But the question now is: what should my organization do?

Next, A Role for Funders.