By Aaron Saxe With the new year approaching, many of us will both reflect on the year that was and think about what we hope to accomplish in the year, or years, to come. In other words, we will do some type of planning. At the Jim Joseph Foundation, one tool we use to support grantee-partners in this regard is investing in strategic and business planning, which we do within a relational-grantmaking approach that establishes and strengthens … [Read more...] about It’s Your Plan, Not Ours: An Approach to Investing in Strategic Planning
Foundation-Grantee Partnerships
Building Granting Success on Five Key Principles
By Laura Fish I work for an organization that supports and builds the community in many different ways. With each activity or role, we do our best to ensure that our donor dollars are spent with the greatest impact. As a funder, whether through one of multiple granting envelopes or through our annual allocations process for affiliated agencies, we aim to find the right combination of support while allowing room for innovation. This is … [Read more...] about Building Granting Success on Five Key Principles
Mitigating Risk of a Risky Grant
By Aaron Saxe “It’s an incubator. All of it is a risk.” Michele Friedman, Foundation for Jewish Camp, Director of New Camp Initiatives When the Jim Joseph Foundation made a $10 million grant to the Foundation for Jewish Camp (FJC) in 2007 to launch the Specialty Camp Incubator, the field of Jewish camping was in a vastly different place than it is today. Jewish specialty camping was in its infancy, with only a smattering of specialty programs … [Read more...] about Mitigating Risk of a Risky Grant
Why Effective Philanthropy Requires Trust
By Chip Edelsberg In this, my penultimate blog as Executive Director for the Jim Joseph Foundation (read the first blog in this series here), I revisit a theme I have discussed numerous times in the past decade. For years, I have asserted that foundation personnel who conduct their business as transactions of authority and power - as opposed to a series of ongoing interactions in pursuit of partnerships to make enduring changes in the world … [Read more...] about Why Effective Philanthropy Requires Trust
Seeking Foundation Funds: Changing Environment for Foundations Requires Nonprofits to be Smarter in their Ask
By Avrum Lapin My colleagues and I have the honor and pleasure of serving nonprofits on three continents. We listen carefully to the needs and expectations of every nonprofit, and prepare carefully tailored plans and solutions that will enable each nonprofit to meet their goals. That includes a multifaceted, multi-channel effort that opens up the maximal possibilities for each organization. One of the most common questions that often comes … [Read more...] about Seeking Foundation Funds: Changing Environment for Foundations Requires Nonprofits to be Smarter in their Ask
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