Philanthropy Front and Center-Atlanta

Applying for Funding from Family Foundations

"As the chances of getting a grant from the larger foundations increasingly become slim to none, many nonprofits are rethinking their strategy of applying to the philanthropic behemoths....In this environment, nonprofits would be wise to look beyond the largest foundations to the largely untapped reservoir of philanthropic dollars in family foundations. Many operate almost invisibly, often providing needed funding in their own hometowns."

So states Page Snow, chief philanthropic officer at Foundation Source and president of Foundation Source Advisors, in an August 2009 GuideStar article.

Foundation Source, "the nation's leading provider of outsourced support services for private foundations", recently surveyed 120 of its clients to find out how they would advise applicants in their quests for funding. While the sample size may be small, the results are still worth telling.

What do these foundations advise?

• Focus on building the relationship first, not writing the proposal.
• Contact them via email, their preferred mode -- unless they instruct otherwise.
• Small family foundations may be more willing to provide general operating support.
• Make sure the project falls within the funder's grantmaking guidelines ("64 percent said they reacted negatively if the 'request does not reflect an understanding of our foundation's priorities or guidelines.'")
• Follow the funder's application instructions.
• Demonstrate that you have clear goals, plans, measures for success, strong need, and expertise for the project.

Do these sound familiar? They might, if you've ever attended our Grantseeking Basics or How to Approach a Foundation classes.

What turns them off?

• Generic, boilerplate proposals.
• Requests that don't fit in the foundation's funding priorities.
• Overambitious goals and hyperbole about the organization.
• Project isn't described clearly or completely.
• No discussion about risks and challenges.
• Misspellings, grammatical errors, other typos
• Applicants who don't follow application instructions.

Read the article.

Sandy Pon, Virtual Library/Learning Center Specialist

Read the Latest Studies on Family and Corporate Foundations

Two recently released reports provide useful perspectives for nonprofit grantseekers on company-sponsored and family foundations in the U.S.

Key Facts on Corporate Foundations presents data on, among many other topic areas, estimated giving, allocation of funding by subject area, and forecasts about future funding by the nation's 2,500 corporate foundations. Steven Lawrence, senior director of research at the Foundation Center, states in this report: "Corporate foundations will not be alone in having to reduce giving this year, but the cuts may well be deeper than for other types of grantmakers." Learn what else is happening with corporate foundations.
Download the full report>> [pdf]

Published jointly by the Foundation Center and the Council on Foundations, Perpetuity or Limited Lifespan: How Do Family Foundations Decide? presents results from the first national survey of family foundations on the topic of lifespan planning. Learn what family foundations are considering when they make these long-term decisions and see what factors and characteristics influence whether a foundation plans to exist in perpetuity or limit its lifespan.
Download the full report>> [pdf]

Originally posted by Ines Sucre, Foundation Center-New York