The challenges posed by the economic downturn and subsequent slow-motion rebound have led foundations of all types, sizes and missions to pause and ask tough questions to determine their direction in the months and perhaps years ahead.
To help foundations navigate what, for many, are uncharted waters, their boards and executive leadership must take a long look inward. Relying too heavily for direction on resources and circumstances external to the foundation may pull the organization off course.
Our winter issue of the Giving Forum, which will be available online tomorrow, includes examples of several foundations that are relying on their own histories and values as guides.
The work of the Otto Bremer Foundation during the economic crisis has been guided by a consistent theme: What would Otto Bremer do? “Our trustees feel that people are in such desperate situations now,” explains Randi Ilyse Roth, the foundation’s executive director. “When the trustees look back and think about what our founder would do, they know he would help people through times like this and hope that the work we support helps them get back on their feet.”
The foundation introduced the Bremer Emergency Fund, a joint response of the foundation and the Bremer banks. “This was about getting cash into the hands of people who needed it immediately to pay rent, buy food, heat their homes,” Roth says.
In an additional shift last year, the foundation specified that all of its funding targeting the Twin Cities would focus on poverty relief. “This wasn’t an easy change. Some of the longer-term work that also would have a positive impact on society – work that is good and important too – is not getting funded.
“There’s no real right answer,” reflects Roth, “which is why the trustees often turn to what they believe would be our founder’s intent.”
Kerrie Blevins, foundation director of the Patrick and Aimee Butler Family Foundation and vice president of Private Philanthropy Services, defines this inward look at missions, values and histories to shape direction as “values-based giving.”
In this issue of Giving Forum, Blevins authored an article describing the values-based giving decisions of three foundations with which she works:
- The Patrick and Aimee Butler Family Foundation board decided that, in keeping with its values and decades-long commitment to providing general operating support for nonprofit organizations, it would continue making two-year gen op grants in 2009 and 2010, recognizing that nonprofits need a stable base of support now more than ever.
- The James R. Thorpe Foundation, which regards itself as a relationship-based funder, elected to deepen those relationships by hosting a convening of youth grantee partners representing diverse disciplines, including the arts, education and human services. Grantees discussed the opportunities and challenges they’re facing, giving the board a deeper understanding of the issues confronting these nonprofits.
- The Laura Jane Musser Fund has long supported the arts and the environment in rural communities. Aware that many foundations were moving away from supporting these in an effort to respond to mounting basic human needs, the Musser Fund directors elected to “stay the course” with its focus, recognizing that their grantmaking is responsive and community-based and that it supports the sustainability and vitality of rural communities.
Join the conversation: Share your examples of foundations and giving programs that have chosen to chart a new course, stay the course or a combination of both after checking their internal compass during this economic crisis.
- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate
