Resources for Grantmakers

Resources for Grantmakers ~ February 2012

In This Issue

General Philanthropy

Family Foundations

Education

Nonprofits

General Philanthropy

Trends Among US Grantmakers - Achieving the Most Impact Abroad The Izumi Foundation interviewed foundations and philanthropists from the east and west coasts of the United States, asking them the same core questions about the state of global health and development philanthropy. The results of the interviews have been compiled in this report and cover a broad range of foundation topics, from selecting grantees to the value of qualitative metrics.

Endowments Code of Conduct The Investment Management Code of Conduct for Endowments, Foundations, and Charitable Organizations outlines ethical responsibilities for the sound management of longer-term financial assets.

Next Generation Community Revitalization: A Work in Progress A new wave of efforts designed to break the cycle of poverty and revitalize distressed communities is attracting attention and support from every segment of society. Prominent among these efforts are six emerging national networks: Building Sustainable Communities, Choice Neighborhoods, Promise Neighborhoods, Purpose Built Communities, Strive, and The Integration Initiative.

Nonprofit Management The Nonprofit Management blog of the Stanford Social Innovation Review offers practical advice and insights from leaders in the field on relevant topics, such as a recent post entitled, "Reality Time for Human Services Organizations" following the Hull House closing.

Channeling Change: Making Collective Impact Work This is a follow-up on the popular "Collective Impact" article by FSG and provides updated, in-depth guidance.

Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think Since the dawn of humanity, a privileged few have lived in stark contrast to the hardscrabble majority. Conventional wisdom says this gap cannot be closed. But it is closing-fast. In Abundance, space entrepreneur turned innovation pioneer Peter H. Diamandis and award-winning science writer Steven Kotler document how progress in artificial intelligence, robotics, infinite computing, ubiquitous broadband networks, digital manufacturing, nanomaterials, synthetic biology, and many other exponentially growing technologies will enable us to make greater gains in the next two decades than we have in the previous two hundred years.

Leveraging Limited Dollars: How Grantmakers Achieve Tangible Results by Funding Policy and Community Engagement For every $1 invested in policy and civic engagement by grantmakers, the community benefitted $115. This report makes a compelling case for grantmakers to re-orient their funding to focus on community engagement. This report supports the claim that by involving all sectors of society on issues such as education, health care, and human services, measurable systemic change is possible.

IRS Releases New and Improved Online Search Tool

The IRS launched a new online search tool, Exempt Organizations Select Check, to help users more easily find information about tax-exempt organizations.

Family Foundations

Best Practices for Family Foundations with Geographically Dispersed Board Members This study by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University investigates how family foundations manage governance, decision making, and, especially, daily work activities when the number of local board members diminishes.

Education

Quality Counts 2012 takes a critical look at the nation's place among the world's public education systems. Veteran

Education Week journalists put to the test popular assumptions about the country's competitive status in education. Working with colleagues from the Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, they illuminate innovations in high-performing nations that have taken root in the United States, lessons to be drawn from the experience of other countries, and the promise and risks such strategies hold for U.S. policymakers. Plus, you'll find the critical benchmarks on school quality, and state-by-state ranking in this annual report. Read the executive summary of the report and its findings, or check out the articles and expert commentary.

Arizona ranked 42nd out of 50 states with a grade of C minus.

Nonprofits

Holding the Fort: Nonprofit Employment during a Decade of Turmoil Defying two recessions, the nonprofit sector posted a remarkable 10 year record of job growth, achieving an average annual growth rate of 2.1 percent from 2000 to 2010, while for-profit jobs declined by an average of minus 0.6 percent per year, according to a new Johns Hopkins University report.