Admitting Mistakes, Finding Solutions: The Gates Foundation’s Grantee Perceptions Report

July 19, 2010

Bill and Melinda Gates and their philanthropic partner Warren Buffet have been in the news a lot lately following the announcement of their ambitious $600 billion giving pledge, an open challenge to the nation’s billionaires to commit to giving away half of their fortunes to charity.

However, there’s been other recent news regarding The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that you may not have heard. As I read today in this post on the Philanthrocapitalism blog, a recent Center for Effective Philanthropy Grantee Perceptions Report found that the foundation is facing communications challenges with its grantees.

The report is based on a survey of 1,544 of Gates’ grantees. On the positive side of the ledger, it found that the foundation is perceived by grantees as having a profound positive impact on work in the grantees’ fields, particularly in the areas of knowledge building, public policy and creating effective practices.

However, the assessment of the Gates Foundation’s communications was not so rosey. Grantee partners reported that the organization’s goals and strategies are unclear, and that similarly they felt that the foundation had a poor understanding of their goals and strategies. Respondents also noted confusion about the foundation’s decision-making and grantmaking processes and expressed frustration over program officer turnover.

As you may know, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a member of MCF. So you may be wondering why we would report on one of our members performing poorly at, well, anything. The truth is, although the report found that the Gates Foundation has a need for improvement, its transparency about those challenges is admirable and should serve as a model for those grantmakers that value transparency and accountability in their work, both key tenets of MCF’s own Principles for Minnesota Grantmakers.

The Gates Foundation has been very open about its involvement in the assessment process and the results, posting the findings here on its website, along with the audio from a number of grantee community calls. The foundation also has been clear that it will be addressing these shortcomings by reevaluating its communications and creating new strategies for enhancing cohesion and clarity between program managers and executives at the foundation and its grantee partners.

That’s why I salute the Gates Foundation for being upfront about the challenges that it faces. It’s through this process that the organization will be able to enhance its relationships with grantees, and ultimately the impact of its grant giving.

As physicist Tom Hirshfield once wrote, “If you hit every time, the target is either too big or too near.” Philanthropy is a bold endeavor with high stakes. By learning from our collective mistakes through accountable and transparent practices, we can capitalize not only on success, but failure too, and ameliorate the world-changing work that we all share, while at the same time affirming the public trust.

- Cary Lenore Walski, MCF web communications associate

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Google Moderator — Your Key to Community Input?

June 3, 2010

“Don’t do something about me without me.” I first heard Tamar Cloyd of Education Voters of America speak these powerful words during a talk on diversity and the leadership pipeline on Rosetta Thurman’s podcast.

The Suggestion Box

Google Moderator, it's like the suggestion box for the 21st century.

This phrase succinctly states the importance of community engagement in the work we do as philanthropists, and the words come echoing back to me like an idiomatic boomerang every time I recognize a new tool for grantmakers to engage their grantees and community stakeholders.

Today I’d like to share with you one of those tools, Google Moderator, and discuss how using it to crowdsource decisions can help you tap into the communities you seek to serve.

If you’re unfamiliar with the term crowdsourcing, let me give you the quick explanation. Crowdsourcing is when you use an online platform such as a website or a web application to allow people to do an activity, like donate to a cause or create and rate solutions to a problem. Minnesota Idea Open is one such example of how a foundation is using crowdsourcing to determine how to solve pressing social issues and, in turn, who should receive its grant money.

Google Moderator is a free online tool that allows anyone who has a Google account and something to talk about to start a discussion. It allows the moderator to post a question in text or now in the form of a YouTube video and solicit feedback in the form of ideas, suggestions or questions. Anyone who has a free Google account, like a gmail account can submit a response. Once a response is posted, it can in turn be rated by other users for quality, so that best input gets pushed to the top.

To see an example of Google Moderator, you can view this discussion that I just made on the topic of using tools such as Google Moderator to crowdsource philanthropy (I know, it’s so meta!) While you’re there, feel free to give the platform a test drive by posting your own thoughts.

One of the most obvious limitations of the tool is that there’s no way to pick the crowd that you’re sourcing. Currently, if you create a discussion, anyone can participate. So, if you’re a grantmaker looking to engage a very specific community, then there’s no way to ensure that you’re engaging only your target population.

However, despite limitations, it’s exciting to think how grantmakers, policymakers and nonprofits can use tools like this to partner with communities in problem solving.

For grantmakers concerned with upholding the principles of transparency and the engagement of diverse communities, figuring out how to harness these online tools effectively to support grantmaking decisions will be where the rubber meets the road, and support of these values translates to action in the 21st century.

- Cary Lenore Walski, MCF web communications associate

Image CC Peter J. Bury

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The Art of the Steal: A Lesson in Ethics and the Public Trust

March 22, 2010

This week, some of MCF’s staff went to see The Art of the Steal, a film documenting the fight over The Barnes Foundation and its $25 billion collection of post-Impressionist and early Modernist art.  This private collection includes seminal works by Cézanne, Picasso, Renoir, Degas, Manet, Monet and Van Gogh, but this isn’t a movie about art.

It’s about governance, transparency, donor intent and the interpretation of these principles by people who are entrusted to act in the best interest of the foundation.

Over his lifetime, Dr. Albert Barnes amassed an incredible collection of art at his foundation in Merion, Pennsylvania, unrivaled by many of the large, prestigious art museums in the United States, including the nearby Philadelphia Museum of Art.  But Barnes did not amass this collection to be viewed extensively by the general public; he established the foundation to “promote the advancement of education and the appreciation of the fine arts.”

First and foremost, Barnes thought of his foundation as a school for artists, a place where sincere students could view important and influential works of art away from the tourism of art museums.  Henri Matisse said the Barnes Foundation is “the only sane place to see art in America.”   Barnes was explicit in his trust documents that the collection should not be sold, moved, or loaned for any purpose, unless those demands became unreasonable or impossible due to unforeseen circumstances.

Therein lies the crux of the struggle to control the Barnes collection.  While Barnes loyalists say that to remove the collection at all would be a direct contradiction to Barnes’ original intent, several powerful people and institutions in Philadelphia, including the former Governor of Pennsylvania, several well-known philanthropists, and the Pew Charitable Trusts, have vied to move the collection to Philadelphia, where it would be more accessible to the general public (and a huge tourist attraction for the city.) They claim that The Barnes Foundation is financially unstable and has no other choice but to move the collection.  The film chronicles this fight, leading up to the dramatic decision as to the future of the foundation.

The Art of the Steal is definitely a movie with an agenda and a point of view (read this New York Times article for a full review of the film).  Funded and produced by several former students and teachers of the Barnes, the film is one-sided and paints the other side in an unflattering light.  Many of the people that the film accuses refused to participate in the movie, but some have made statements in response to the movie, including the Pew Charitable Trusts and Bernard Watson, chairman of the Barnes Foundation board of trustees.

No matter on which side of this argument you fall, The Art of the Steal provides an excellent case study on the topic of ethics.  Whether you have heard of this controversy before or not, you will walk away from the movie questioning how people can ensure that foundations and nonprofits maintain accountability with the public and whether a controversy like this could have been avoided.

At the Minnesota Council on Foundations, our members created, endorsed, and do their work by the Principles for Grantmakers & Practice Options for Philanthropic Organizations to prevent situations like this from happening.  Updated in 2009, the Principles are a how-to of principled philanthropy. Not only do they outline what philanthropic organizations are legally required to do, the Principles are also aspirational, encouraging foundations to reach for more than what the law says is necessary.  All MCF members are required to subscribe to the Principles.  In the preamble of the Principles, it reads:

“We acknowledge the fundamental roles and responsibilities of engaged individuals and the public, private and nonprofit sectors in a just and equitable society.  As a community of grantmakers, we embrace philanthropy’s role in a civil society.”

It is controversies like the one depicted in The Art of the Steal that remind those of us in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors that we must work daily to uphold the public trust.  We must take responsibility for the privilege of sustaining a just and equitable society.  We must respect and honor the people who turn to our organizations in search of support and guidance.  And we must appreciate the opportunity to assess ourselves against written and unwritten standards of ethical principles and practice, and value the chance to reach for a higher standard.

The Art of the Steal is playing now at the Landmark Edina Cinema.

- Stephanie Jacobs, MCF member services manager

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“Don’t do something about me, without me” – The Importance of Promoting Diversity

December 3, 2009

Shawn Lewis, board trustee at the Pan African Community Endowment of The Saint Paul Foundation, sent us a message yesterday about a blogcast discussion that he had recently with blogger Rosetta Thurman, Tamar Cloyd from Education Voters of America, and Stephen Bauer from American Humanics and Nonprofit Workforce Coalition.

The program, which you can listen to on Rosetta Thurman’s blog, was a response in part to the Council on Foundations report titled Career Pathways to Philanthropic Leadership, which found that only 20 percent of successful candidates for leadership positions within the philanthropic sector are from racially diverse backgrounds.

During the show, the panel speakers talked about the importance of having diverse leaders at the top level in the independent sector, not only because a diverse staff affects organizational decision making, but because pitfalls can occur when nonprofits and grantmakers attempt to serve constituents that are not represented within their organization.

As Tamar Cloyd responded during the interview, “Don’t do something about me, without me.” Shawn Lewis also shared insights from his experience working within the sector. He stated that generally much of the progress that he’s seen in creating better recruitment practices has come from board or committee members who advocate strongly for better, more inclusive practices within organizations.

Stephen Bauer suggested that one of the best strategies for increasing the likelihood of hiring someone of color is to be willing to search again for diverse applicants if, after an initial collection of applicants, it’s revealed that the pool of people you’re considering does not have enough diverse candidates.

If you are interested in learning more about how your organization can recruit people of ethnically and culturally diverse backgrounds, check out the recording of this interview at Rosetta Thurman’s blog. Then, after you’ve listened to the interview, visit the MCF Diversity Resource page to access the free, downloadable resources that we’ve created and collected to assist MCF member and non-member grantmakers to create better diversity practices within their organizations and fulfill the MCF Diversity Principle.

If you are currently searching for candidates for a position in your organization, you may also find the Minnesota Ethnic and Community Media Directory (pdf) produced by Twin Cities Media Alliance a helpful resource as you look for publications to advertise your job openings.

Join the conversation: Do you think that your organization is doing enough to recruit diverse candidates for leadership positions? Do you have any strategies or practices that you’ve found have been successful in encouraging people of color and other minority groups to apply?

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Charting a Course From the Boardroom Table

November 16, 2009

At kitchen tables across America, we’re mulling over what the current economic situation means for each of us. Jobs, bills, education, loans, investments, travel, holiday shopping, donations.

With the exception of holiday shopping and perhaps travel, similar conversations are happening around foundation boardroom tables as well.

Decisions to shift funding guidelines, focus areas, investment practices, grant timelines, grant payouts, internal staffing and organizational short- and long-term priorities – the list goes on – are not made lightly or quickly. And for many board members and trustees, this is the first time they’ve encountered such significant and perhaps drastic discussions.

These conversations and decisions by foundation leaders are critical and necessary. MCF’s Effective Governance Principle calls for its members to share a commitment to excellence and achieve effective governance by ensuring performance in the areas of stewardship of assets, donor intent, fiduciary responsibility and sound decision-making.

Join the conversation: What types of effective governance decisions has your organization made during these challenging times? What shifts and changes in how your organizations does its work have resulted from discussions by your board or executive leadership in response to the economic stresses we’re facing?

Here is one example: Marina Munoz Lyon, vice president of the Carl and Eloise Pohlad Family Foundation, recalls going to the offices of Pohlad family members to discuss how the foundation could step up to support communities in need.  The foundation, winner of the 2009 Minnesota Nonprofit Award for Responsive Philanthropy, established a $20 million Economic Crisis Initiative last spring.

In the video below, which was shown at the awards presentation at the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and Minnesota Council on Foundations Joint Conference Nov. 5-6, Jim Pohlad, Pohlad Foundation board member, says, “We took a big chunk of principle and decided that it’s more important to spend it now.”

- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF communications associate

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Awareness to Action: Where’s the Disconnect?

August 11, 2009

On Saturday one of our members forwarded to his MCF colleagues a link to the latest Strib article on child poverty.  The numbers, reported from The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2009 KIDS COUNT Data Book, show Minnesota is slipping, which does not bode well for our state’s children of color, who are already more than a few steps behind their white peers.

But my point of writing today is not to highlight poverty rates and racial and ethnic disparities.   It’s to muse about the frustration expressed by our members when they can’t seem to get any traction on community issues about which they care so deeply.

Where’s the disconnect?

Are you experiencing a disconnect with your stakeholders?

Are you experiencing a disconnect with your stakeholders? Connecting with your audiences is challenging, but vital.

The question takes me back to my days as a professional communicator in the for-profit sector.  Marketers have long understood that consumers progress along a continuum before they make a purchase:  from Awareness to Interest to Desire to Action . . . A-I-D-A.  Skip any of those steps and it’s an instant disconnect, and the sale is lost.

I think grantmakers understand this idea, too.  Although when consumed by passion for one’s mission, it’s easy to forget the complex process of connecting with one’s audience.

Aspects of the A-I-D-A concept seem to be summed up neatly in MCF’s “Engaged Learning” principle, one of eight “Principles for Grantmakers” to which all MCF members subscribe.  The “Engaged Learning” principle states: ”To foster continuous learning and reflection by engaging board members, staff, grantees and donors in thoughtful dialogue and education.”

The juxtaposition of the two words — “engaged” and “learning”  — really resonates with me.  How can we really learn without discovering the personal connection between our selves and our subject matter?  And how can we encourage others to move along the continuum toward action without first engaging and connecting in ways that foster sincere interest in and desire to address community issues?

Join the Conversation: When it comes to achieving your mission, where are you and your audiences on the A-I-D-A continuum?  How can grantmakers use their resources to create connections that will guide us from awareness toward action?

- Wendy Wehr, MCF V.P. of communications and information services

Photo CC DJ King

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Social Giving Contests, a New Trend in Corporate Philanthropy?

June 12, 2009
As the economy tightens and the Costanza wallet becomes a thing of the past, I encourage more companies to engage in their own social giving campaigns. The cash-strapped public will appreciate the chance to donate, even when they cant afford to give as much personally.

As the economy tightens and the "Costanza wallet" becomes a thing of the past, I encourage companies to do social giving contests. The cash-strapped public will appreciate it.

As a web-junky up to her eyeballs daily in news about philanthropy, I am excited to note what may be a new trend in corporate giving, letting the public decide where dollars should go through what I’m calling corporate social giving contests.

Both Target, an MCF member, and Toms of Maine have recently launched online campaigns to engage the public directly in deciding where their precious giving dollars should go.

Target’s campaign, conducted entirely on Facebook, allowed members of the popular social networking site to vote on how $3 million would be distributed among 10 different pre-selected charities. St. Jude’s was the eventual “winner” of the campaign, receiving almost $800,000 from the online contest.

Similarly, Toms of Maine announced a new campaign and site entitled 50 States for Good. At the site visitors can nudge their favorite nonprofits from anywhere in the nation to apply for the competition until August 30.  Then on September 21, voting begins!

Any site visitor will be able to vote on the nonprofit finalists to determine who will receive a $20,000 scholarship out of a pot of $300,000 to be given away.

I salute both Target and Toms of Maine for embracing innovative ways to get the public engaged in their own corporate giving.

Not only does it help them be more transparent in their giving practices, something that we at MCF advocate, and get some great PR, it also gets people engaged in giving at a time when many of us may find our own ability to give diminished.

Let’s face it, as our wallets get thinner, it’s nice to have a chance to get that warm-fuzzy feeling by giving away someone else’s cash!

It’s my hope that this recent activity becomes a trend, and I’ll see more tweets about companies undertaking their own corporate social giving contests.

Update: Just saw a tweet that said Staples has begun its own Facebook campaign with DoSomething.org. Participants can fill a virtual backpack, and then go to the store and buy the items to donate to students of low socioeconomic status. It’s not a social giving contest, but definitely in the same vein. Read more about Staple’s campaign here. (6/19/09)

-Cary Lenore Walski, MCF Web Communications Associate

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Principal Principles in Education Grantmaking

May 15, 2009

As a follow-up to the blog I wrote earlier this week about transparency and funding education successes (and failures), I wanted to write about the Principles for Effective Education Grantmaking developed by Grantmakers for Education.

The tagline on the publication containing the principles reads, “Roadmap for Results in Education Philanthropy.”  Effective education grantmaking has the power to change lives.  All the more reason to take a closer look at principles that, when adopted and pursued, can impact educational outcomes, influence policies and practices, engage and empower stakeholders, and leverage needed resources.

The eight principles are:

  1. Discipline and Focus
  2. Knowledge
  3. Resources Linked to Results
  4. Effective Grantees
  5. Engaged Partners
  6. Leverage, Influence and Collaboration
  7. Persistence
  8. Innovation and Constant Learning

Click on the link above to read more about each principle.  Which of these education grantmaking practices – drawn from the experience and wisdom of successful grantmakers and donors – do you think is the principal concept that can create change through our support of education endeavors?

The Minnesota Council on Foundations asks its members to formally subscribe to its Principles for Grantmakers.  Read more about these. Which do you think is principal?

- Chris Murakami Noonan, MCF Communications Associate

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