Philanthropy Front and Center-Atlanta

Go Green/Receive Green

Green symbolizes growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility and is closely associated with nature, while dark green is commonly associated with money. In today’s post, we will highlight both types of green; the greening of offices and how you can find funding to help green yours.

June was "Funding for the Environment Month" at the Foundation Center-Atlanta. We held a series of special programs including a session on Philanthropy, Faith and the Environment, at which Dr. Katy Hinman of Georgia Interfaith Power and Light; Reverend Dr. Gerald Durley from Providence Missionary Baptist Church; and Mr. Barry Berlin, representing Atlantic Trust and the Kendeda Fund, shared insights on how organizations can make small changes to preserve the environment.

The Hurt Building where the Foundation Center-Atlanta is located is registered with the US Green Building Council and is applying for their prestigious Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Building (LEED EB) designation.

Let me tell you how we are shrinking our carbon footprint, while helping the Hurt Building earn their Green honor. We are:

• Installing aerators on all faucets in 2 bathrooms and kitchen
• Installing sensor lighting in bathrooms and workroom
• Closing the window blinds against the hot summer sun when we leave on Fridays
• Recycling plastics, cans, bottles, and paper.

According to Pratt Industries, more than 1/3 of solid waste is paper. You can visit their website for conservation tips for your home and office.

A resource that provides free, non-regulatory and confidential assistance in the areas of pollution prevention and resource conservation is the Pollution Prevention Assistance Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

If you have proven techniques for greening your nonprofit office, please share by posting a comment to this blog.  Your ideas can help others.

Now that you know how to green your office, it’s time to look for funders who will support your efforts.

Foundation giving to Georgia recipients for the environment and animals totaled $32.2 million in 2006, according to Spotlight on Funding for the Environment and Animals in Georgia.

You can find funders through our Foundation Directory Online, which has over 91,000 foundations. You can use the database for free at the Foundation Center or visit one of our Cooperating Collections. If you are unfamiliar with the database, you can receive instruction on-site or via webinar.

Either way you choose, we look forward to serving you!

Asia M. Hadley, Training Coordinator, Atlanta office

This Week at the Foundation Center-Atlanta

We invite you to take classes and use our library this week.  Here are the details:

Grantseeking Basics – Tuesday, August 19: 9:30-11:00 am

Introduction to Foundation Directory Online – Tuesday, August 19: 11:15-12:15 pm

Introduction to Fundraising Planning – Thursday, August 21: 10:00-11:15 am

Unless otherwise noted, the classes above are free of charge, but registration is required.

If you can't come to the library/learning center this week, don't forget the Foundation Center's webinars for the week of August 18:

Grantseeking Basics – Tuesday, August 19: 2:00-3:00 pm

Proposal Budgeting Basics – Wednesday, August 20: 2:00-3:00 pm

Introduction to Fundraising Planning – Thursday, August 21: 2:00-3:00 pm

Use our library:  You can use the Foundation Directory Online Professional for free, borrow books, and ask our staff of experts for information assistance.

Library Hours:
Monday - Friday: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm

Pattie Johnson, Director, Atlanta Office

"Nonprofit Times" Announces Sector's Top 50 for 2008

The NonProfit Times, a leading business publication covering the nonprofit sector, released its eleventh annual Power and Influence Top 50 list.  As PhilanTopic, our PND blog reported recently, the big news in the current year is the number of first-timers on the list, perhaps signaling the beginning of the first wave of leadership transitions from the old guard to the new.  For more on the first-timers on the list, read PhilanTopic's good coverage on this angle.

Given that the focus of our blog is regional news, here is a list of the two Georgians on the Nonprofit Times list:

• Michelle Nunn, CEO, Points of Light Institute, Atlanta
• John Seffrin, CEO, American Cancer Society, Atlanta

Congratulations to both!

To view or download the complete list, visit the NPT Web site. And feel free to use the comments section to suggest other sector leaders who belong on the list and/or are up-and-comers who deserve wider recognition.

Pattie Johnson, Director, Atlanta office

Technical Assistance for Nonprofits

Daily, some of our physical and virtual visitors ask if we can act as consultants or recommend individual ones.

Although the Foundation Center's staff can recommend books, databases, and websites that can provide much of the information you need on nonprofit management, we cannot act as consultants, nor recommend specific consultants, to address your particular issues.  However, you can find experts with specialized knowledge through other organizations.  There are numerous nonprofits to help other nonprofits with their specialized needs, be they in the legal, public relations, management, financial, and other fields. We call these nonprofits technical assistance providers. Like us, their missions have to do with building stronger nonprofits, and their services often are free or at a fraction of the cost of what you might pay in the for-profit market.

At our website, you can see a list of technical assistance providers in the Southeast. Those who need technical assistance in the metro Atlanta area can view, download, or print a directory of Atlanta and Georgia technical assistance providers that participated in our Nonprofit Resource Fair in February 2008.

If you're still searching for help, state nonprofit associations, like the Georgia Center for Nonprofits, often can provide consulting or referral services. The types of services provided vary with each state organization. To find your local nonprofit association, start with the National Council of Nonprofit Associations' directory.

Don't forget to ask your own network of nonprofit colleagues, as their recommendations often are the most valuable.

Do you know of a technical assistance organization in the Southeast that's missing from our website? Feel free to reply to this entry with their information. We'll make sure it gets added to our list.

Sandy Pon, Reference Librarian, Atlanta office

This Week at the Foundation Center-Atlanta

We invite you to take classes and use our library this week.  Here are the details:

How to Approach a Foundation - Tuesday, August 12: 10:00 - 11:30 am
followed by speaker on evaluation research techniques

Your Board and Fundraising - Wednesday, August 13: 10:00 - 11:15 am

Setting Up a For-Profit Subsidiary or LLC - Thursday, August 14: 10:00 - 11:30 am

Unless otherwise noted, the classes above are free of charge, but registration is required.

If you can't come to the library/learning center this week, don't forget the Foundation Center's webinars for the week of August 11:

Introduction to Finding Funders - Tuesday, August 12: 2:00 - 3:00 pm
Proposal Writing Basics - Wednesday, August 13: 2:00 -3:00 pm
How to Approach a Foundation - Thursday, August 13: 2:00 - 3:00 pm

Use our library:  You can use the Foundation Directory Online Professional for free, borrow books, and ask our staff of experts for information assistance.

Library Hours:

Monday, Wednesday - Friday: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Tuesday: 10:00 am - 8:00 pm

Pattie Johnson, Director, Atlanta office

Executive Transitions

Change is in the air and one of the most difficult changes is the transition in leadership at a nonprofit organization. I've been thinking about this for a while because Sara Engelhardt, president of the Foundation Center for 17 years, will retire on October 1; her position is being filled by Bradford K. Smith, currently president of the Oak Foundation in Geneva, Switzerland.  Today is Martin Lehfeldt's last day as president of the Southeastern Council of Foundations, a membership association of grantmakers in 11 southeastern states. Michael Howland, former CEO of Noble of Indiana, a community based organization serving people with developmental disabilities, will assume Martin's position on Monday, August 11.

Maria Saporta, who frequently covers philanthropy and nonprofit issues for the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, has mentioned several other such transitions - Atlanta Union Mission and Families First to name two - in recent columns, further fueling my thoughts about transitions.   (By the way, Maria plans to leave the AJC at the end of August for something new and different!)
 
There are numerous issues and aspects to consider when a nonprofit executive departs, not least of which is finding the appropriate person to assume the departing person's duties and responsibilities. How to conduct the search? Which "headhunter" to use?  How to orient the new leader? In addition there are other issues, such as the board's role, staff morale, and the impact on fundraising, that need to be addressed.  If the departing executive is the organization's founder, there are further complications. 

Has your organization's leadership (you?) given any thought to succession planing and executive transition?  The combination of aging baby boomers, the volatile economy, and the ripple effect of change in general would suggest that this topic should be on your agenda. Being prepared makes change easier.

The Foundation Center-Atlanta has a number of books and articles - many of which can be read online - that address the issue of changing leadership.  I've listed a few below; others can be found through a search of the collection using the Catalog of Nonprofit Literature.   

Adams, Tom. "Departing? arriving? surviving and thriving: lessons for executives". Nonprofit Quarterly vol. 9 (Winter 2002) p. 6-11.

Adams, Tom. Founder transitions: creating good endings and new beginnings. Baltimore, MD: Annie E. Casey Foundation. 2005. [28 p].

Axelrod, Nancy R. Chief executive succession planning: the board's role in securing your organization's future. Washington, DC: BoardSource. 2002. v, 67 p. Call #: 610 AXE CHI

Bonavoglia, Angela;  Mackinnon, Anne. Executive transitions: grant makers and nonprofit leadership change. New York, NY: Ford Foundation. 2006. 21 p. Call #: 519 GRA EXE

Pattie Johnson, Director, Atlanta Office

More Winning Proposals

One of the most frequently asked questions at the Foundation Center is “Where can I see sample proposals?”  In response to this question the Center has published its third collection of funded proposals, The Grantseeker's Guide to Winning Proposals.

This latest addition to our best-selling Winning Proposals series includes 35 actual, funded proposals reprinted in their entirety.  There are sample proposals for special projects, both single year and multi-year; capital campaigns; program development; and various other types of support. A wide variety of nonprofits, from start-ups to a major medical center, is represented. The Grantseeker's Guide features proposals to international funders, large regional funders, corporate funders, and regional/local foundations. Georgia-based foundations in the book include the Atlanta Women’s Foundation, The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, and the Robert W. Woodruff Foundation. Each proposal includes remarks by the program officer who approved the grant.

You can use The Grantseeker’s Guide to Winning Proposals free of charge at the FoundationCenter-Atlanta; two copies are available to check out.  If you would like to purchase your own copy, you may do so in person at the Foundation Center-Atlanta or you may order a copy from the Foundations Center's Marketplace - shipping is free in August!   

Pattie Johnson, Director, Atlanta Office

This week at the Foundation Center - Atlanta

We invite you to take classes and use our library this week.  Here are the details:

• Grantseeking Basics - Tuesday, August 5: 5:15 - 6:45 pm
• Introduction to Foundation Directory Online - Tuesday, August 5: 7:00 - 8:00 pm
• Finding Foundation Support for Your Education + a representative of the Georgia Student Finance Commission - Wednesday, August 6: 10:00 am - 12:15 pm
• Before You Seek a Grant: A Checklist for New Nonprofits - Thursday, August 7: 10:00 - 11:00 am

Unless otherwise noted, the classes above are free of charge, but registration is required.

If you can't come to the library/learning center this week, don't forget the Foundation Center's webinars for the week of August 4:

• Grantseeking Basics - Tuesday, August 5: 2:00 - 3:00 pm
• Before You Seek a Grant: A Checklist for New Nonprofits - Thursday, August 7: 2:00 pm
• Preparing for the New Form 990: Insights from the Internal Revenue Service - Friday, August 8: 1:00 pm

Use our library:  You can use the Foundation Directory Online Professional for free, borrow books, and ask our staff of experts for information assistance.

Library Hours:

• Monday, Wednesday - Friday: 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
• Tuesday: 10:00 am - 8:00 pm

Pattie Johnson, Director, Atlanta Office

Welcome to Philanthropy Front and Center - Atlanta

Welcome to Philanthropy Front and Center-Atlanta, our new blog.  for those of you who don't know us, the Foundation Center-Atlanta, the Southeastern regional offie of the NYC-based Foundation Center, has been helping grantseekers, nonprofits, grantmakers and others for some 14 years now.  We're located in Atlanta and from our library/learning center in the historic Hurt Building, we serve not only metropolitan Atlanta, but also Georgia and the entire Southeast.

Philanthropy Front and Center is our first step to developing a philanthropy central, a space to highlight regional philanthropy news and local nonprofit happenings, successful grantseekers from whom we can learn, tools you can use in our library and online, and upcoming programs or lessons learned from recent programs.  It also provides an opportunity to stay on top of what's happening in the field through your comments and posts.  So, please consider yourself invited to join us on this journey and contribute to the conversation.

Because today is the first of the month, I encourage you to check our Education and Events calendar for August to see if there are classes you want to take.  for those who need evening hours, we'll be open until 8:00 p.m. twice this month, Tuesday, August 5, and Thrusday, August 28.  We offer classes after 5:00 p.m. both days and the library will be open for research while the classes are in session.

If you can't get downtown for our training, we're offering eight classes and one special program as webinars during August.  If you are interested in the IRS' insights about preparing the new Form 990, you want won't to miss the webinar on Friday, August 8.  All you need is a phone and a computer with Internet access to participate in any of the webinars.

A journey of a thousand blogs begins with a single blog (with apologies to Lao-Tsu).  So we begin . . . please join us on this journey.

Pattie Johnson, Director, Atlanta Office