SD Grantmakers Update
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April 2008 |
"If we really want to do work that makes a difference...then we have to know whether it's working. And if you really do it well, you don't only want to know what works; you want to know how it works."-- Rockefeller Foundation president Judith Rodin |
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In This Issue
Putting Guiding Principles into Practice
Keep an eye on your mailboxes for a hard copy of SDG's Guiding Principles: they will be mailed out to all members in the coming weeks. Our plan for 2008 is to engage the SDG membership in a process of dialogue and exploration to help identify ways to implement these broad guidelines to suit your organization – i.e., to develop the appropriate practices that will bring the principles to life. We will share ideas, self-assessments and other tools that have already been generated by grantmakers of all types from around the country. You will see this focus in our e-newsletters (each month we will focus on one principle) and at SDG meetings (recently, the Family Foundation Exchange met to discuss how to turn the principles into practices, and we will be convening other groups of members in the coming months).
New Report: "Drowning in Paperwork, Distracted from Purpose"
Does that sound like anyone you know? Project Streamline, a partnership among eight national organizations from both sides of the grantmaker/grantseeker divide, has released this report to explore current grant application and reporting practices and their impact on grantseekers and grantmakers. Click here to download the report and for more information. You can also click here for a related news article.
Additionally, COF will host a conversation about this topic at the upcoming Summit (see more below) on Monday, May 5 at 3:00.
California Cultural Data Project
In the meantime, the arts and culture community has already begun to streamline grant processes. The California Cultural Data Project (California CDP) is the most ambitious and comprehensive effort ever to gather and analyze information about the contributions of the cultural sector to California’s economy and quality of life. It was designed to provide an easier application process for potential grantees through the development of a standardized form for organizational data that will accompany grant requests to the partnering funders. Applicants will only need to complete this form once each year. During the coming year, applicants to many California grant programs will be asked to participate in the California CDP. Free training sessions are being held across the state to show organizations how to enter data into the California CDP and use its powerful reporting features. There are three coming to our region: please let your grantees know!
La Jolla
May 14
10:00 am
La Jolla Playhouse
San Diego
May 15
10:00 am
San Diego Museum of Art
Escondido
May 16
10:00 am
TBD
Member & Community Partner News
YOUR ORGANIZATION COULD BE FEATURED HERE! Don't forget to let SDG know what's new with you, from grantmaking to awards, events, and more. We want to share the good news about all of our members. To submit an item for the newsletter, email nancy@sdgrantmakers.org.
After 7 years with Alliance Healthcare Foundation, Bettina Rausa has accepted a new position, as Director of Grants Administration with Alpha Project, an agency providing services to the homeless. Congrats, Bettina!
California Council for the Humanities wants to spread the word to your grantees about an upcoming informational meeting regarding funding for artists and organizations. The Alliance for California Traditional Arts will discuss grant opportunities on May 12 from 1:30-3:00pm in the Santa Fe Room of the Balboa Park Club. The meeting is being hosted by the City of San Diego Commission on Arts and Culture. Please RSVP via email. For more information, please call (619) 533-3042.
Robert K. Ross, M.D., president and CEO of The California Endowment, will receive the Council on Foundations' Distinguished Grantmaker of the Year Award at Philanthropy's Vision: A Leadership Summit, to be held May 4-7. Click here for more details.
SDG members The California Endowment and The James Irvine Foundation have joined with The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund to commit $15.9 million over three years to support California Forward’s efforts to achieve more responsive, inclusive and accountable state government.
The Foundation for Change celebrated 25 years with an event on April 5, and has a new promotional video posted online.
The Foundation for Women also celebrated an anniversary recently: ten years ago, the Foundation for Women offered its first program-an evening at the La Jolla Woman's Club dedicated to women and creativity.
Jim Canales, President and CEO of The James Irvine Foundation, was interviewed as a Foundation Center "Newsmaker." Click here to read the article, and click here to read Irvine's 2007 Annual Performance Report.
The Leichtag Family Foundation will receive the San Diego County School Boards Association's "Honoring Our Own" Award as Community Partner of the Year, in recognition of the foundation's support for local schools.
The San Diego Regional Disaster Fund of The San Diego Foundation announced that community recovery centers are open to serve fire survivors in Fallbrook, Escondido, Rancho Bernardo, Ramona, and Dulzura.
Ruth Westreich of the The Westreich Foundation will speak at the AFPSD Chapter Meeting on May 2.
Recent Program on PRIs
Earlier this month, SDG hosted a program called "Stretching Grant Dollars for Greater Impact--Program Related Investments (PRIs): An Introduction." To follow up on this informative event, here are some related resources. Remember, you can always access past program materials in the members-only section of the SDG website.
- Click here for ASF powerpoint presentation, "Foundation Mission Investing."
- Click here for the Jacobs Center powerpoint presentation, "PRI Fundamentals for Grantmakers."
- Click here for 2% for Mission Campaign Overview-- a campaign designed to increase mission investing activity by a total of two percent of all U.S. foundation assets over the next five years.
Diversity Update
Diversity is a hot topic all over our sector: COF has launched a major Diversity & Inclusiveness initiative, several national funders have formed a Diversity in Philanthropy Project, and legislative interest in California has led to Foundation Center research that will benchmark diversity in the staff and leadership of foundations, their grantees and communities served.
Our diversity site (you will need to log in with SDG username "SDGmember" and password "2001") contains all the media reports about the pending bill (AB624) as well as other resources relating to incorporating diversity into philanthropy (including research reports, blog posts, op-eds, and more). For example, check out:
- BRAND NEW Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors report "Philanthropy in a Changing Society: Achieving Effectiveness through Diversity." Click here for the report summary.
- A letter to the editor by Jim Canales in The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
- You can also click here to access the handouts from our March session on diversity (again, log-in required).
COF Philanthropy Summit
Philanthropy’s Vision: A Leadership Summit
May 4-7, 2008
Washington, DC Region (MD)
We are hoping to have a big contingent from San Diego. Let us know if you are planning to go so we can organize an informal SDG get-together! Join your SDG colleagues who are attending, including Dixie Newman, Janine Mason, Judy McDonald, Mary Herron, Paul Thompson, Paul and Diane Garrett, Richard Kiy, Renata Hron Gomez, Nancy Jamison and Meghan Duffy.
The national Council on Foundations invites grantmakers to this historic opportunity to discuss philanthropy’s future with other leaders from around the globe and to take part in programs designed to enhance collaboration and impact. SDG members can register at COF member rate! In order to receive the member rate, please indicate that you are a member of SDG when you register.
More Philanthropic Headlines
David Brooks in NYT: Thoroughly Modern Do-Gooders
"Fashions in goodness change, just like fashions in anything else, and these days some of the very noblest people have assumed the manners of the business world — even though they don’t aim for profit. They call themselves social entrepreneurs, and you can find them in the neediest places on earth."
FT: Crisis of Age Requires Cure
"Every day an estimated 6,000 Americans turn 65. Four years from now, that figure will swell to 10,000 people a day so that by 2030, one in five Americans will be 65 or older. At the same time, geriatrics programmes across the US are shrinking, the number of certified geriatricians is falling relative to the population, physicians are disenrolling from Medicare, and fewer medical students are choosing careers in geriatrics." The article goes on to discuss philanthropy's response (or lack thereof) to aging issues, and highlights Grantmakers in Aging.
Chronicle: Fall TV Drama will Spotlight Philanthropy
"A recent spate of reality television shows about giving, such as Oprah’s Big Give, have drawn some poor reviews, but NBC announced...that it will have a scripted drama about a wealthy donor in its fall lineup. According to NBC’s Web site, the hour-long show, The Philanthropist, will feature the character Teddy Rist, who after the death of his only child, 'has an awakening and becomes the world’s first vigilante philanthropist -– a renegade billionaire who uses his wealth, connections, and power to help people in need.'”
Hispanic Business: Sandra Hernandez named 2008 Hispanic Business Woman of the Year
2007 SDG Annual Conference speaker Sandra Hernandez, CEO of The San Francisco Foundation, has been honored.
NYT: Charities Seek Donors to Replace Wall Street
"Charities that benefit from the largess of Wall Street, law firms and corporations in New York have begun defensive planning for the end of this social season and next year."
Resources
James Irvine Foundation: Foundations and Public Policy Grantmaking
Offers a framework to inform foundations' grantmaking strategies for advancing public policy reforms, organized by desired outcomes and audiences to engage. Discusses trends, case studies, and lessons in strategic decisions in public policy grantmaking. Click here to download.
Beyond the Money by Edward Skloot
Concluding nearly 18 years as president of the Surdna Foundation, Edward Skloot looks back on a period of rapid change in American philanthropy, social policy, politics and civic ideals. Building on his experience
as grantseeker and foundation chief executive, Skloot asks how foundations, nonprofit organizations and individuals can reach beyond the simple economics of donations and volunteerism to implement a more
effective approach to organizational leadership, philanthropy and fundamental social change. Click here to download (pdf).
Peer Learning Reports from GEO
The California Endowment, the Atlantic Philanthropies and the Annie E. Casey Foundation recently discovered they were each making grants to do similar field-building work. The field: advocacy and policy change evaluation. And the upshot of the foundations’ discovery: a decision to coordinate their grantmaking and engage in peer learning. Today, the foundations are working together – and with additional stakeholders – on a range of shared learning activities. As a result of their collaborative efforts, they aren’t just learning more about how to advance the evaluation of advocacy and policy change, they’re also learning more about peer learning itself. Among the takeaways from their work to date: keep participants engaged by producing outputs; and invest in professional facilitation to sustain the learning group. For more on the foundations’ work and what they’ve learned, see Lessons in Peer Learning: Foundations Partner to Advance Advocacy and Policy Change Evaluation. In addition, GEO has begun to compile information about a variety of peer learning approaches grantmakers can use. The document, Models of Peer Learning & Problem Solving, summarizes several peer learning models.
Philanthropy Timeline
Click here to check out a timeline of American philanthropy developed by Charity Navigator.
Thursdays with SDG Program Series
Join us for 2008's Thursdays with SDG monthly program series. Building upon the success of last year’s series, we are offering a wide range of topics to meet the varying interests of our membership. Please take a few minutes to read about the individual programs and mark your calendars! Click here for the full listing of Thursdays with SDG programs.
This month's session:
Getting the Biggest Bang for Your Buck and Beyond
May 15, 2008
12:00 noon- 2:00 pm
Location: Casey Family Programs, 3878 Old Town Ave., San Diego, CA 92110
Caroline D. Avery, President, The Durfee Foundation
Lee Draper, President, Draper Consulting Group
How can you get the biggest bang for your buck with limited dollars? Learn from the experiences of our guest speakers on ways to successfully extend your philanthropic reach well beyond your financial resources as well as strategically maximize creative small grant programs. Through this exploration, you will identify ways that your organization can accomplish more with less.
To RSVP for this program, call 619/744.2180 or email programs@sdgrantmakers.org.
Upcoming
SDG Programs
Click here for a complete listing of SDG Programs.
A Discussion for Corporate Giving Professionals
May 1, 2008
9:00-11:00am
Location: NTC Promenade Command Center, 2640 Historic Decatur Road, San Diego, CA
Thursdays with SDG: Getting the Biggest Bang for Your Buck and Beyond
May 15, 2008
12:00 noon- 2:00 pm
Location: Casey Family Programs, 3878 Old Town Ave., San Diego, CA 92110
Statewide Efforts to Coordinate Disaster Philanthropy
May 22, 2008
10:00am-12:00pm
Location: United Way of San Diego County, 4699 Murphy Canyon Road, San Diego, CA
Lunchtime Briefing: LGBT Funders
May 27, 2008
11:30am-1:30pm
Location: San Diego Human Dignity Foundation, 4070 Centre Street, San Diego, CA
Working Group Meetings
Workforce Funders: May 14
Homelessness Working Group: May 12
Child Welfare Funders: May 27
San Diego Neighborhood Funders: May 2
Family Foundation Exchange: June 10
Click here for more information about all of these SDG programs. All programs are free for SDG members except where indicated.
To RSVP, please call (619) 744-2180 or email programs@sdgrantmakers.org.
Other Events of Interest
Business Civic Leadership Center National Conference: Corporate Community Investment
April 27-29, 2008
Anaheim, CA
COF: Philanthropy's Vision: A Leadership Summit (SDG members can register at COF member rate)
May 4-7, 2008
Washington, DC Region (MD)
CECP Corporate Philanthropy Summit (featuring Andre Agassi and Katie Couric!)
June 3-4, 2008
New York, NY
The Rensselaerville Institute Corporate Philanthropy Workshop
June 11-12, 2008
Rensselaerville, NY
The Grantmaking School Advanced Proposal Analysis
June 11-13, 2008
San Francisco, CA
Stanford Executive Program for Philanthropy Leaders
July 27 - August 2, 2008
Application deadline: May 19, 2008
Palo Alto, California
Association of Small Foundations National Conference (SDG members can register at the member rate--mention discount code COLLEAGUE!)
September 18-20, 2008
Denver, CO
Today, the role of philanthropy is expanding and so are its
responsibilities. This online SDGrantmakers Update is published
by San Diego Grantmakers to help SDG members meet the challenge. Our mission is to connect, educate, develop, and inspire a diverse
group of foundations and corporations to stimulate effective
philanthropy in the San Diego region. For more information,
visit www.SDGrantmakers.org. Copies
of past editions are archived here. Contact Nancy Jamison, 619/744.2180 or nancy@SDGrantmakers.org to suggest article ideas or submit news items, or if you no longer wish to receive these updates.
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