If any of you brave hearts are about to embark upon your next cycle of strategic planning, I share with you, below, a Board Input Survey we co-created with the help of our strategic planning consultant, Michela Perrone of MMP Associates. The survey worked extremely well and helped us all get clear, real, and focused on exactly what we need to do over the next 3 years.
Several features of the survey, and the process itself, contributed to some very honest feedback. It helped distill the ensuing discussion down to the very essence of our purpose and mission.
The Likert scale is unique and captures movement across all attributes of the organization. The open ended quesitons encouraged thoughtful feedback. The completed surveys were submitted directly to the consultant, Dr. Perrone, who prepared a general summary in her own words of the results, without individual attribution. And the outcome was a concise strategic plan across four distinct “Critical Areas of Engagement” that captured the very essense of our work.
Click “Read more” for the entire text of the Board Input Survey.
This is the last post on an article entitled Design Thinking for Social Innovation by Tim Brown and Jocelyn Wyatt, which appears in the current (Winter 2010) issue of Stanford Social Innovation Review.
My primary take away from the article is this: Always prototype an initiative to solicit feedback from the constituents you seek to serve. Rely on local expertise to uncover local solutions that work, then help scale up the solutions. This bottom up design model insures that you are using your constituents’ very best ideas to help design a lasting solution to meet their actual (not perceived) needs.
As a foundation leader, I see opportunities for applying design thinking to strategic plan initiatives. The design thinking described in this article has been codified by IDEO, a global innovation and design firm, into the “Human Centered Design Toolkit.” It is available as a free download from www.hcdtoolkit.com.
In design thinking, inspiration is the first step of the process. It embraces the problem or opportunity that motivates people to take action. What struck me most about this phase of design thinking was the authors’ statement that focus groups and surveys rarely yield important insights because all they do is collect data on what people want. Rather, the authors suggest a better starting point – go out into the target area and observe the actual experiences of your constituents. Observe how they move through their day and improvise their lives. Get out there, do “homestays,” and shadow locals at their jobs and in their homes. By becoming embedded in the lives of the people for whom you are designing, you have a much better chance of success.
Ideation is step two. The authors suggest a process of idea development that discourages the “devil’s advocate” and encourages vocalization of many ideas, among which the best simply rise to the top. The authors quote Linus Pauling, a two time Nobel Prize winner, who said “To have a good idea you must first have lots of ideas.” With a diverse group of people with multidisciplinary training, a strong and varied base of ideas can emerge.
Finally, implementation can occur. At the core of implementation is prototyping your designed solution. Testing, iterating, and refining.
This past year I read Daniel Pink’s book “A Whole New Mind.” Pink makes a very compelling argument that success in the coming decades depends on a work force that is trained in both left brain and right brain thinking. In particular, he highlights the need for design thinking. Jobs that can be reduced to a formula, mechanized, or shipped overseas are already gone from our economy. But design thinking will always be in demand, no matter what the business or industry. When I realized what he was saying, I immediately gave a copy of the book to my 17 year old daughter and 19 year old son, hoping it would sway them to incorporate some “design” elements in their college or post graduate education.
In the current issue of Stanford Social Innovation Review, an article entitled Design Thinking for Social Innovation by Tim Brown and Jocelyn Wyatt brings the very same “design thinking” approach to large and complex social problems.
The authors describe design thinking as an integration of both our (right brained) ability to be intuitive and to recognize patterns, and our (left brained) ability to be rational and analytical. It describes design thinking as a process that goes through three spaces, inspiration (the problem), ideation (the process of generating, developing and testing ideas), and implementation (the path that leads from the project stage into people’s lives). And movement through the three spaces is never linear. The build in feedback causes looping and reiteration. But the process, while chaotic, produces very effective results.
The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia is pleased to announce the award of $221,815 in Community Investment Grants to 35 nonprofits meeting critical community needs in Northern Virginia. The grants were awarded in four categories:
In just four business days, the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia has raised $70,145 for our Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund.
Since the fall of 2005 when I first became President of the Community Foundation, we have never engaged in efforts to fundraise for a cause outside of Northern Virginia. Before we took this step, the thought certainly occurred to us that we were spending our precious donor relationship capital on a need unrelated to our service area. There was no asset development or financial gain in this for either the citizens of our region or for the Community Foundation, as we are donating every dollar we collect through the Fund to the American Red Cross for emergency relief efforts in Haiti.
So why did we do it? I think there are several good reasons:
• Because we are a center of philanthropy in Northern Virginia and are widely perceived as such.
• Because some donors are clearly moved to fund this need, now.
• Because when we asked some community leaders and faithful donors should we do this, they unanimously said yes.
• Because it just feels like the right thing to do, no matter what else is on our plate at the moment.
Just this once, for this special cause, we have vastly expanded the definition of “community” in “Community Foundation for Northern Virginia” to include the Haitian people who are suffering some of the worst deprivations and sorrows this human life can inflict.
As a community foundation leader, watching this unfold is inspiring and affirming. We feel so grateful for the response to the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund, so appreciative of the chance to help, and so eager to learn whatever lessons this effort will teach us about our role in Northern Virginia.
The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia announced yesterday the creation of a Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund. To my knowledge, this is the first time in our organization’s 31 year history that we have actively engaged in fundraising for a cause that was not squarely centered on our region.
Like the rest of the world, we are horrified by the devastation in Haiti from the January 12 earthquake. Images pouring out of the region on Wednesday the 13th were heartbreaking and impossible to ignore. Those images raised some questions for us last week. As leaders of a local community foundation, what role could and should we play here? Should we attempt to fundraise for relief efforts? And if so, were there other leaders from the broader community who would want to help?
By close of business Thursday, January 14, staff had sent out targeted emails to Board members and certain donor advisors we believed might be open to providing a matching grant for victims of the earthquake. By noon on Friday, we had raised $12,000 in matching grant commitments. With these funds in hand, we then reached out to the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, the Northern Virginia Technology Council, the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce, the Loudoun CEO Cabinet and others, asking if they would be willing to distribute notifications to their membership base advising them of the Fund and requesting contributions.
As I write this blog post, we have built the donation page for the new Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund on our website. All contributions, including the original $12,000 in seed matching grant funds, will be donated to the American Red Cross. Our donation page for the Fund went live Monday morning, January 18, at which point the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, the Northern Virginia Technology Council, and hopefully others distributed the email, Facebook and Twitter announcements of the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund’s creation at the Community Foundation.
A 7.0 magnitude earthquake has devastated Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince. As of 8:30 pm on January 13, 2010, CNN is reporting a death toll in excess of 100,000. Please consider making a donation to one of these organizations to help them provide disaster relief and follow up medical and basic needs assistance to the victims of the earthquake.
You can text “Haiti” to 90999 and donate $10 to the American Red Cross. This organization is the nation's premier emergency response organization. They offer neutral humanitarian care to the victims of devastating natural disasters. As of Wednesday evening, January 13, their website is reporting this: “The Red Cross is contributing an initial $1 million from the International Response Fund to support the relief operation, and has opened its warehouse in Panama to provide tarps, mosquito nets and cooking sets for approximately 5,000 families. In addition to Red Cross staff already in Haiti, six disaster management specialists are being deployed to the disaster zone to help coordinate relief efforts. At this time, the American Red Cross is only deploying volunteers specially trained to manage international emergency operations.”
Oxfam America is an international relief and development organization. It has long experience in Haiti. According to their website on the evening of January 13, Oxfam has 200 staff on-the-ground responding with public health, water, and sanitation services to prevent the spread of disease in the affected areas. Your support will help provide clean water, shelter, sanitation, and the longer term recovery.
Partners in Health
Partners in Health uses modern medical science to help alleviate the crushing economic and social burdens of poverty that exacerbate disease. It’s website reports as of 4:00 pm on January 13 the following: “At the moment, PIH’s Chief Medical Officer is on her way to Haiti, where she will meet with Zanmi Lasante leadership and head physicians, who are already working to ensure PIH’s coordinated relief efforts leveraging the skills of more than 120 doctors and nearly 500 nurses and nursing assistants who work at Zanmi Lasante’s sites.” You support will help procure emergency medical supplies, basic needs assistance, transportation and logistics for the victims of the quake who will be seeking aid at PIH’s mobile field hospitals in Port-au-Prince.
Doctors Without Borders is an international medical humanitarian organization providing aid in nearly 60 countries to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe, primarily due to armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from healthcare, or natural disasters. According to their website this evening, they are reporting this: "The situation is chaotic," said one senior staff. "I visited five medical centers, including a major hospital, and most of them were not functioning. Your support will provide emergency medical care for victims of the quake.
As foundation leaders, what will be the greatest opportunities and the most daunting challenges in the decade ahead? The January 14, 2010 issue of the Chronicle of Philanthropy decides to take an educated guess. This is the last post on the topic.
Increase in Charitable Business
For profit companies and nonprofit organizations currently occupy two ends of the spectrum. What about the middle? This article predicts that by 2020, many more hybrid entities like L3C's (low-income limited liabilty companies) will be the rule and not the exception. The millenials are already questioning the status quo. Will they succeed in driving corporate culture away from the single mindedness of shareholder value towards a lower-profit, more socially conscious model of operation? The authors of this article certainly think so. It is a simple matter of following the current trend lines.
In other words, some charities will become more business like, and some businesses will become more charity like. The lines between the two will blur. And the result for nonprofits? Despite their favorable tax status, they will no longer entirely own the charity space.
As foundation leaders, what will be the greatest opportunities and the most daunting challenges in the decade ahead? The January 14, 2010 issue of the Chronicle of Philanthropy decides to take an educated guess. This is the second of three posts on the topic.
Technology Gets More Interactive
What will be the impact of technology on the nonprofit sector in the next decade? This article in the January 14 issue of the Chronicle of Philanthropy tries to envision this.
According to some United Nations research, 6.3 billion people, or a whopping 83% of earth’s population, will own a cell phone by 2014. This ever increasing connectivity and resulting networking and access to information will certainly modify the nonprofit world’s fundraising activities, communications with donors, and program evaluations. It will also enable donors to better understand how their dollars were spent.
Of course, there’s a predicted downside as well. There will be increased competition from other entities who will find it increasingly easy to attract resources to their causes.
I personally enjoy the challenge of staying on top of our technology communications game. But technology is just a tool. Like community foundations everywhere, the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia works hard to more deeply understand the needs of our community and focus philanthropy on them. It is our primary purpose. If we do that job well, then the technology tools we choose to communicate the resulting knowledge is just a question of organizational process.
As foundation leaders, what will be the greatest opportunities and the most daunting challenges in the decade ahead? The January 14, 2010 issue of the Chronicle of Philanthropy takes an educated guess at this using known demographic data. This is the first of three posts on the topic.
The Graying of America
Today, 13% of our population is over 65. That percentage will rise to 16% by 2020. The graying of America will continue to present both opportunities and challenges.
First, the opportunities:
1. The over 65 population in the next decade is going to offer quite an impressive cache of skills and experience. The volunteer opportunities alone are significant, let alone the part time employment pool.
2. The “explosion” of philanthropic wealth is staggering. The article says that baby boomers will pass on $41 trillion to their heirs before all is said and done!
Next, the challenges:
1. Funding the increased demand for health care services will certainly be a huge challenge.
2. Growing philanthropy to help address multigenerational issues will also be a trend.
According to an article in the Huffington Post yesterday, a survey of Chicago based businesses on corporate philanthropy found that a full 65% will maintain or increase their corporate philanthropy in 2010. Only 11% are planning on reducing their charitable donations this year. Most of that philanthropy will be in the areas of social services and education, with fewer dollars going to environmental and cultural causes.
Corporate givers are feeling optimistic! What great news for our sector.
Under "Read More" below you will find a full copy of my comments to the Corporation for National and Community Service's request for comments on the Social Innovation Fund NOFA. Their NOFA was posted in late December 2009, and comments from the field are due January 15, 2010.
In addition to providing input on their specific questions around how to define "low income communities," how to evaluate the intermediary foundation grantees, and how to evaluate the nonprofit subgrantees, I also included a request that they drop the minimum grant level from $5 million to $1 million. Such a drop would enable community foundations like ours to apply as there is a 1- for - 1 dollar matching requirement imposed on community foundation (and other intermediary foundation) grant recipients.
It would be very disappointing if the mere level of potential SIF grants put us out of the running. I'm sure I'm not the only foundation leader in this boat. So if there is any chance you may be interested in trying for one of these amazing SIF grants, please send in your comments to the Corporation. The link to the Social Innovation Fund, above, takes you to a page from which you can submit comments. From that link, see the "Seeking Feedback on Draft Funding Notice" box to the right.
Community Foundation Leaders: Please join me on March 16 and 17 for Foundations on the Hill. Since 2003 this annual event has been co-sponsored by the Council on Foundations and the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers. It provides us all with the chance to meet our federal lawmakers in Washington, D.C. and to personally discuss our work with members of Congress. In addition to the one on one congressional meetings, participants also attend training sessions and a breakfast event featuring remarks by member of Congress.
YEAR EIGHT REPORT ON AVI CHAI NOW AVAILABLE
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YEAR EIGHT REPORT ON AVI CHAI NOW AVAILABLE
December 31, 2019
Joel Fleishman
2019
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Today, Joel Fleishman’s final report on the spend-down...
Introducing the Intrinsic Investing Blog
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Hey Tactical Philanthropy Community! It is hard to believe it has been
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"There is no power greater than a community discovering what it cares about." Very few people have inspired me in my journey as a foundation leader as much as Margaret Wheatley.
