Philanthropy Front and Center - New York

This Week at the Foundation Center: Sept. 29-Oct. 3

Grantseeker Training Seminar
Securing Corporate Partnerships
Thursday, October 1, 9:00 am–4:00 pm
Cost: $195 per person. Save $25 for each additional registration.

Thinking of taking courses related to proposal preparation? Check out our special offers for savings on a combination of courses.

Free Training
Tuesday, September 29
Film Series -
"Ready, Set, Raise!" Part 1
11:30 am-12:30 pm

Grantseeking Basics
1:00-2:30 pm

Introduction to Foundation Directory Online
3:00-4:00 pm

OFFSITE
Introduction to Fundraising Planning
3:00-5:00 pm
Queens Borough Public Library

Wednesday, September 30
Your Board and Fundraising
1:00-2:15 pm

Introduction to Fundraising Planning
3:00-4:15 pm

Saturday, October 3
Proposal Writing Basics
1:00-2:00 pm

Proposal Budgeting Basics
3:00-4:00 pm

Special Event:
What You Should Know Before You Buy: A Candid Conversation About Fundraising Management Software
Wednesday, September 30, 6:00-8:00 pm
Learn about different fundraising software programs and gain insights from users rather than vendors. Join the Greater New York Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and the Foundation Center for a panel presentation with candid overviews of fundraising database systems. Learn more and register for this free program today»

Visit the New York library/learning center for free access to funding databases, specialized book and periodicals collections for nonprofits, and expert help in using these resources. Open to all who are doing funding, nonprofit management, and related research. No appointment necessary.

Library Hours
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday
10:00 am-5:00 pm

Wednesday
10:00 am-8:00 pm

Sunday and Monday

Funding for Arts Month: Film, Fundraising, and Social Change

Our 8th annual Funding for Arts Month gets underway October 8 with an evening event for working documentary filmmakers. Some of you will remember Alice Elliott of Welcome Change Productions. Alice will be back to talk about funding her latest venture, the award-winning Body & Soul: Diana & Kathy, scheduled to be shown on PBS in October.

And this time she's bringing Emily Verellen of the Fledgling Fund, one of her funding partners, to talk about the creative use of media to address social change.

Space is limited, so sign up now for Film, Funding and Social Change. And speaking of change, please let us know if you can't come after all - we hate to turn your fellow filmmakers away and then have empty seats!

Charlotte Dion, Director, Foundation Center's New York Library

PubHub: The Foundation Center's Knowledge-Sharing Application

Sharing Knowledge to Build a Better World is PubHub's motto, and it's a fitting one. As you know, foundations do more than support direct service programs and organizations; they fund research that helps build an understanding of pressing issues in the work of nonprofit organizations. The Foundation Center's PubHub helps you access that research efficiently.

PubHub is an online catalog of foundation-funded research reports, evaluations, surveys, case studies, annual reports, and other useful knowledge, annotated, indexed, and made searchable for users, with links to the publications on the publishers’ web sites. Here are just a few examples of what's available:

Building Climate Change Resilience
August 2009
Funder: Rockefeller Foundation



Insurance Discrimination on the Basis of Health Status: An Overview of Discrimination Practices, Federal Law, and Federal Reform Options
February 2009
Funder: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation



The Qualities of Quality: Understanding Excellence in Arts Education
August 2009
Funders: Arts Education Partnership; Wallace Foundation



Time to Act: An Agenda for Advancing Adolescent Literacy for College and Career Success
September 2009
Funder: Carnegie Corporation of New York

Visit PubHub today to begin your research, sign up for alerts, get an RSS feed, or submit reports. And get the PubHub widget for your online use.

CRE Executive Director Hotline Helps Managers Get Answers by Phone

Funded by a grant from the New York Community Trust, a new Executive Director Hotline from Community Resource Exchange provides free practical advice to nonprofit leaders who need answers to management questions. Call 917-344-6678 during business hours. A flyer describing the hotline’s services is available on CRE’s web site.

Susan Shiroma, Senior Librarian, Foundation Center-New York

This Week at the Foundation Center: Sept. 22-26

Grantseeker Training Seminars
Thinking of taking our training seminars related to proposal preparation? Check out our special offers for savings on a combination of courses.

Free Classes
Tuesday, September 22
How to Approach a Foundation
11:00 am-12:00 pm*
*This session is closed, but please sign up today for next month's class.

Introduction to Corporate Giving
1:00-2:00 pm

Wednesday, September 23
Grantseeking Basics for Individuals in the Arts
6:00-7:00 pm

Visit the New York library/learning center for free access to funding databases, specialized book and periodicals collections for nonprofits, and expert help in using these resources. Open to all who are doing funding, nonprofit management, and related research. No appointment necessary.

Library Hours
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday
10:00 am-5:00 pm

Wednesday
10:00 am-8:00 pm

Sunday and Monday
Closed

Foundation Center Launches National Education Stimulus Initiative

The Foundation Center announced the launch of "Foundations for Education Excellence," a national initiative to engage philanthropic institutions and education leaders across the country in a unified, strategic drive to improve public education.

foundationcenter.org/educationexcellence, the web portal developed by the Foundation Center with a grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, was launched in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Education. It connects foundation funders in education to information and tools that will help them support ARRA's education reform goals.

"There is a unique window of opportunity in the coming weeks and months for private philanthropy to leverage its investment in education," said Bradford K. Smith, the Center's president. "Funders need fast-track tools to target areas of need and collaborate in new ways to improve educational opportunities across the country. The Foundation Center is ideally positioned to provide foundations with the knowledge platform needed to advance this process."

Read the full press release for details on the contents and uses of the portal.

From the Answer Desk: Contingency and Scenario Planning: What's the Difference and How Do Nonprofits Get Started?

A: Both are structured ways for organizations to think about the future. In the context of planning, the terms "contingency" and "scenario" are sometimes used interchangeably. In simple terms, a contingency plan can be described as your organization’s “Plan B” or "worst case scenario" and is often tied to something specific, like a natural disaster. They are also sometimes called business continuity plans or disaster recovery plans. Scenario planning, on the other hand, is a “strategic planning method expressly developed to test the viability of alternative strategies," according to Mal Warwick in his book, Fundraising When Money is Tight. Warwick suggests six steps for creating an effective scenario plan, starting with exploring answers to the question, "What keeps you awake at night?," to draw out fundamental issues, and concluding with testing your strategic choices using “what-if” reasoning. Warwick describes scenario planning in detail and goes on to suggest Peter Schwartz’s classic 1991 book, The Art of the Long View, for further reading. (Listen to our February 2009 podcast with Mal Warwick here.)

In the July 2, 2009 Chronicle of Philanthropy article “Worst Case Scenarios,” author Ben Gose advocates that forming a contingency plan can help a nonprofit navigate the recession more successfully. Offering tips ranging from setting priorities and identifying "trip wires" (actions to take when revenues drop, for example), Gose cautions that organizations must come to terms with the fact that “painful decisions will still have to be made.” However, Mr. Gose goes on to note that during contingency planning “a charity may find that a program it considered cutting is in fact worth saving, and that finding can make a compelling story for donors.”

Additional resources:

Financial Scenario Planning for an Uncertain Future
Slides from a presentation made by Emil Angelica at the June 2009 annual conference of Dance USA.

Nonprofits Assistance Fund Scenario Planning Worksheet
A "step by step guide to nonprofit contingency planning."

ScenarioThinking.org
Open community on scenario thinking and scenario planning where you can publish scenarios, reflect on the planning processes and share online resources about scenario planning in a democratic and inclusive manner.

Do you have a question? Ask Us!

Robert Bruno, Reference Librarian, Foundation Center-New York

Live from Low-profit Limited Liability Companies (L3C): A For-profit with a Nonprofit Soul

At its most elemental level, the low-profit limited liability company, or L3C, is a cross between a nonprofit and a for-profit. It is a new form of business enterprise that is designed specifically to further a socially beneficial mission, and, in the right circumstances, can qualify as a program-related investment for foundations.

Want to know more? Cass Brewer, a partner at Morris, Manning & Martin in Atlanta, will explain the nuts and bolts of this new kind of for-profit structure with a nonprofit soul. The in-person presentation at the Foundation Center-Atlanta will be followed by a question and answer session for participants. Follow along and ask your questions.

How it Works
Although this in-person program will happen in our Atlanta learning center, we will provide real-time reports on what's being said and done, right here at our blog. In the viewer window below, you can easily submit comments and questions. Our staff will ask posted questions during the program's Q&A session.

New Edition of The 21st Century Nonprofit

The Foundation Center has just released the second edition of The 21st Century Nonprofit, expanding and updating the original work and detailing the significant improvements in management practice that have taken place in recent years.

This new edition discusses the growing emphasis on governance reform, with a focus on three main concepts: accountability, transparency, and responsibility. New sections examine the increasingly pivotal role of board members in governance, as well as the implications for executive directors and other professional staff. Revised chapters contain updated information on strategic and operational issues, such as long-term planning, marketing, and earned income. The new edition also provides a special discussion of the strategic issues facing nonprofits during times of recession and severe economic downturn.

The 21st Century Nonprofit is available for purchase online at the Marketplace section of our web site or at any of our five library/learning centers across the U.S. Order your copy today!

About the Author
Paul Firstenberg has had extensive experience in the philanthropic sector as an executive, trustee, advisor, author, and teacher. He has held leadership positions with Tulane University, Princeton University, Children's Television Workshop, and the Ford Foundation. Mr. Firstenberg currently lectures at the Baruch College School of Public Affairs.

Visit the Marketplace section of our web site for more information on this and other Foundation Center publications.

Resources for Scholarship Seekers

Starting the search process as early as possible and submitting applications in advance of deadlines will help you in the highly competitive process of finding scholarship and grant support for your education. The Foundation Center's training, databases, podcasts, and online resources can help you to streamline the work:

Introduction to the Process:
Foundation Center training:

• Finding Foundation Support for Your Education
  Onsite, New York
  Online, Webinar
  Online, Interactive self-paced tutorial
• Getting Started With Foundation Grants to Individuals Online
  Onsite, New York
  (Learn to search the Center's online database for scholarships, fellowships, and other grants using various types of strategies.)

Databases and Search Wizards:

• Foundation Grants to Individuals Online
  Access to the Center's database is provided free of charge at the Foundation Center's New York library and at local Cooperating Collections.
• Student Aid on the Web
• Council of Graduate Schools, Fellowships and Financial Aid
• International Scholarship Search
• Philanthropy News Digest - RFPs: To search for current fellowship opportunities, use the keyword Search RFPs tool at the top of the page.

Additional search sites and the print directories you need to complete your research are listed and described in our FAQ, "Where can I find information about grants to attend college, graduate school, or beyond?".

This FAQ is also available in Spanish, "¿Cómo consigo apoyo financiero para asistir a la universidad?".

Other Tools

Check out the following for more ideas and information.

• Philanthropy Chat: How Donors Can Support Students' Educational Funding
• Philanthropy Chat: John Beahm Discusses Support for Student Humanitarian Work
• Focus on Funding for Education

The Foundation Center's New York library is the place to be to get this research done, but the main branches of the New York, Brooklyn, and Queens Public Library systems also offer access to excellent resources and dedicated librarians to help you organize and focus your searching. For example, check out the 5th floor of the beautiful Bronx Library Center (the first City-funded green building), a Cooperating Collection of the Foundation Center, which offers access to funding databases and provides educational counseling. Go ahead, get started today!