Foundation giving has held steady with little growth in recent years. How is foundation philanthropy evolving and what is are the most important ways we can garner support and sustain relationships in a new, volatile and changing environment? Look at several indicators that will help you plan your work, work your plan and define success metrics for your grant-seeking efforts. LEARNING OBJECTIVES/TAKEAWAYS: Share trends about recent foundation giving; Using these trends, define emerging performance measures for fundraisers. Define the meaning of a successful relationship with Board members; Review the principles of effective Board Development and building successful relationships; Identify tools and techniques to build a formal strategy around Board relationship building; Discuss tools for engaging your Board in your development efforts; Discuss how to initiate change.

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John W. Hicks, CFRE
President & CEO
J.C. Geever, Inc.

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3. *New kids on the block
*Generational shift in foundation leadership
*Changing needs/opportunities
*The nonprofit landscape
*Globalization of philanthropy
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4. *Foundations are recovering from the Great
Recession
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5. Data gathered from 140 private foundations
for the 2012 Study show that these
organizations’ endowments returned an
average of 12.0 percent (net of fees) for
the 2012 fiscal year -- a significant
improvement over the FY2011 return of less
than 0.7 percent.
Source: Commonfund/Council on Foundations

6. *Foundations are recovering from the Great
Recession
*Foundation giving is stable . . . and stagnant
*

7. Source: The Foundation Center

9. *Foundations are still recovering from the Great
Recession
*Foundation giving is stable . . . and stagnant
*The largest foundations are still saying that they
are wary of planning significant increases
*Small foundations may be more bullish
*

10. Private foundations with less than $50
million granted 9.1% more in 2012 than in
2011. These same foundations continue to
pay out more than twice their 5% minimum
distribution requirement and actually
increased their qualifying distributions in
2012 to 11.7% of assets, up from 11.2% in
2011.
Source: Foundation Source Study, March 2013

11. *Reduced giving as a percentage of assets
*Reduced overhead/staffing
*Lengthening the consideration/decision process
*Refocused giving priorities
*Greater discernment about grantees
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12. *Acquisition is tougher. Foundations are
becoming more selective in their choice of
grantees.
*Urgent needs will be harder to fund vs. strategic
needs.
*Small annual grants appear to be stable.
*Foundations will direct larger grants to strategic
priorities.
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15. *Modest gifts to let the recipient know that the
donor still cares
*Risk/reward = low/modest
*Global expectations
*Will do good work
*Will sustain change
*Allow the Foundation to maintain its mission
and its tax-exempt status
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16. *Large grants
*Risk/reward = modest-high/high
*Strategic philanthropy
*Global expectations
*Expansion/enhancement
*Real and positive change/outcomes
*Sustained change
*Allow a foundation to be strategic with its
philanthropy
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18. *Cast your net broadly
*Lots of proposals in the pipeline
*Time is on our side
*Foundations in “risk taking” entrepreneurial
mode
*We can sustain and grow total from year to
year with some predictability
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19. *Trade the net for a fishing rod
*Targeted applications/proposals
*Time is against us
*Foundations are entrepreneurial and adverse
to risk
*Grantseeking results vary from year to year
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22. *How much money did we raise?
*How many grants did we keep/lose?
*How many grants did we acquire?
*How many proposals are in the pipeline?
*How many calls did we complete?
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24. *How much of the right money did we raise?
*What is the quality of our portfolio?
*How many grants did we maintain?
*How many relationships did we create?
*How many relationships did we sustain?
*How many foundations know more about us?
*Is our message resonating with grantmakers?
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