The issues facing today?s grant makers are significant.
Although foundations provide only part of the support for nonprofit
organizations, obtaining foundation support is often thought to
help in raising other forms of support from individuals,
corporations, and government. Today, grant makers are questioning
how they select grant recipients, how they assess success in their
grants, and how they measure their own management. The answers to
these and more questions are still being formed. The goal of this
issue is to share the questions and invite others to join in
suggesting solutions to improve and strengthen grant-making
organizations.
The chapters in this issue can be read as loosely interconnected
and building on one another. They include an historic overview of
grant-making and grant-seeking; views of governance and how mission
can be attained through talented grantsmanship; an examination of
the principles and practices for effective grantmaking from the
Council on Foundations membership in the council; and the benefits
of self-evaluation as it has been applied at the David and Lucile
Packard Foundation as a way to increase transparency,
accessibility, and accountability.
Other chapters look at the process from knowledge management to
knowledge builing; development of a common language and performance
standards for private foundations; foundation ethics, the growth of
the online sector of philanthropy, and philanthropic choice and
donor intent.
This is the 45th issue of the quarterly series New
Directions for Philanthropic Fundraising.
Author Biography
Eugene R. Wilson headed the ARCO Foundation in Los Angeles from 1980 to 1994 and served as president of its youth development division and senior vice president for strategic programs and planning for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation from 1995 to 2003.
Joanne B. Scanlan is a former program officer at two Chicago foundations and is now senior vice president for professional development at the Council on Foundations, where she has served in various capacities since 1984.
