Eye on FDO

It's Annual Survey Time!

It's that time of year again, when we ask you to tell us what you think of Foundation Directory Online. If you give us just a few moments to complete the annual user survey and tell us about how you use FDO, how satisfied you are with different elements of it, and what enhancements to data and functionality you'd like to see us implement, you'll get more than our gratitude. If you'd like, we'll send you a promo code you can redeem for the free Digital Grant Guide (a $39.95 value) of your choice!

Grant guides are available for 25 different subject areas, covering everything grants for everything from AIDS/HIV research, to information technology, to the environment, to housing, and more.These PDF guides provide you with descriptions of hundreds—often thousands—of recent foundation grants of $10,000 or more, with convenient hyperlinks to essential funder information to help you identify prospects and get the grants you need. Just complete the survey, then keep an eye out for an email containing your promo gift code, which you can redeem for the guide of your choice. We'll start sending out the gift codes in about two weeks.

The feedback you provide is an invaluable resource for us as we strive to keep Foundation Directory Online up to your standards and make sure it remains an indispensable source for helping you meet your funding needs. So please, tell us what you think!

Foundation Directory Mobile

We recently reached an exciting milestone for the Foundation Directory Mobile app for iPhone: 1,000 downloads since its release!

We're excited about this not because we reached a nice round number, but because it means more and more of you think your access to Foundation Directory Online Professional is valuable enough to take it with you on the go, which tells us that you find FDO integral to your fundraising.

If you want to get the app for your iPhone (we're working on a version for Android to be released in the coming weeks) visit the FD Mobile home page and click through to the iTunes App Store. It's free to download, but you'll need your FDO Professional login to use it. You can also use it for free without a login at certain Foundation Center libraries and Cooperating Collections — just make sure your local collection has IP access to FDO and an open WiFi network.

Jumo-GOOD Rundown

Last week on the Philanthropy News Digest blog PhilanTopic, President Bradford K. Smith posed a question about a social networking nonprofit portal: 

Jumo — a nonprofit portal built with grant funds from some of America's largest philanthropic foundations — is being acquired by GOOD, which despite its altruistic-sounding name and mission is a for-profit company. Is this what grants are for? 

Brad goes on to pose some interesting questions about the relationship between non- and for-profits, and whether philanthropies — and their grant agreements in particular — are keeping up with the times. 

Read: Jumo: Get Grant, Do Good, Sell

Brad's article sparked a Twitter debate, summarized in another PhilanTopic post:

Read: Jumo and Some GOOD Unanswered Questions

Finally, Antony Bugg-Levine, a managing director at the Rockefeller Foundation, approached the debate in a follow-up post:

Read: Jumo-GOOD: The Future Is Now

Giving USA 2011

Robert Bruno from the Foundation Center's Nonprofit Literature Blog summarizes the just-released Giving USA report:

The full report of Giving USA was released last week, and it continues to provide valuable data on giving by individuals, foundations, estates (bequests) and corporations.  The latest findings of Giving USA 2011: the Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2010 published by the Giving USA Foundation include:

• Total estimated charitable giving in the U.S. rose 3.8 percent in 2010, reflecting the modest economic recovery achieved that year
• Giving by individuals rose an estimated 2.7 percent   
• Foundation giving remained steady, falling 0.2 percent. Family foundations provided approximately 48 percent of all grants by independent, community, and operating foundations
• Giving to international affairs rose an estimated 15.3 percent, the largest percentage increase of any subsector, in part due to various global political and humanitarian crises, specifically the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

Read the full post»

Visit Giving USA to get the report»

Philanthropy Front and Center: What to Consider When You're Contemplating a Merger

Tracy Kaufman writes on Philanthropy Front and Center - New York today about the complicated topic of nonprofit mergers. As part of a longer series on nonprofit collaboration, Tracy tackles the merger issue with answers to questions such as: Why do nonprofits merge? What types of obstacles might come up? What can be done to facilitate the process? The post concludes with a list of resources for further reading to learn more about mergers.

The post follows from a Foundation Center seminar held on July 27, Nonprofit Collaborations: Focus on Mergers:

Our expert panel was moderated by Sandra Lamb, president and CEO of Lamb Advisors, and featured Ethan Kahn, audit manager at MBAF-ERE CPAs, LLC; Linda S. Manley, legal director at the Lawyers Alliance for New York; and Jill O'Donnell-Tormey, executive director at the Cancer Research Institute. The presenters stressed that while a merger can be extremely beneficial for your organization's financial well-being and your mission, it is also a complicated, costly legal undertaking, fraught with obstacles along the way. Below are a few of the things they recommend that you think about when considering a merger, and ideas on what can make the process more successful.

Read the full post on the New York blog.

If you're interested in learning even more, Grantspace offers several resources on the topic. Here's a selection:

• Philanthropy Chat: Tom McLaughlin Discusses Mergers and Alliances (podcast)
• Knowledge Base entry on collaboration, including mergers (FAQ)
• Upcoming event: Come Together: Successful Bay Area Partnerships (San Francisco event)

An earlier version of this post credited the Philanthropy Front and Center post to Ines Sucre; the post was written by Tracy Kaufman.

Christopher Doyle, Colleague and Friend, 1982-2011

We at the Foundation Center lost a dear friend and former colleague last week, Christopher Doyle, who died in a bicycle accident near his home in Brooklyn. Regina Mahone remembers Chris in a PhilanTopic post, which you can read in its entirety here. Regina writes of Chris:

[He helped] to redesign or create from scratch various Foundation Center Web pages, blogs [...], and portals, including the 2010 Global Philanthropy Forum annual conference site. Although he eventually moved on to freelance full-time for a number of organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, before settling down at the New School eight months ago, Chris stayed in close contact with his former colleagues, many of whom he frequently bumped into near Union Square Park or in the lobby/elevator at 79 Fifth Avenue. 

I worked with Chris for a few years in the Center's web services department. What I'll remember about Chris, besides the fact that it was good to have a fellow southerner around, is that he was everything you'd want in a work friend: an easygoing manner, intelligence, a sense of humor, an ability to put the day-to-day in its proper perspective.

I was always happy to see him at the occasional happy hour, and thrilled at the lucky coincidence that he ended up working back in the same building once he joined the New School.

As a talented web developer and programmer, Chris helped bring the Foundation Center up to speed with the latest technologies and web practices. But we'll miss him most as a good guy, wry and loyal, friendly and unpretentious. You can't ask for more out of anybody.

Social Media at Your Nonprofit

Last week, two of the Foundation Center's regional blogs highlighted ways that nonprofits can use social media to their advantage.

Follow the links to see what Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn can do for you.

Twitter for Nonprofits: Getting Started
from Philanthropy Front and Center - Washington DC

Everyone is on Twitter these days, right? Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber each have more Twitter followers than the entire population of Sweden. (Check out this super-cool video with more eye-opening stats about the impact of social media.) But it's not just celebrities who are using this platform to connect with an audience. Nonprofits are getting in on the act too. So how — and why — would your nonprofit get started on Twitter?

Read the whole post »

12 Ways to Put Social Media to Work for Your Nonprofit
from Philanthropy Front and Center - Atlanta

Last Wednesday, fundraising and research specialist Jay Frost paid a visit to the Foundation Center to present The Horse's Mouth: Social Media as a Window on the Prospects of the Future. It was a great class, with a ton of practical tips and great examples for making the "big three" (Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter) work for your nonprofit, helping with everything from finding prospects and potential board members to boosting attendance at your next event. The best part? Jay's advice is super easy to implement, providing a quick boost to the value of your organization's existing social media efforts.

Read the whole post »

 

Funding Opportunity for Emerging Arts Leaders in California

    The following post is from the Foundation Center's blog Philanthropy Front and Center-San Francisco regarding arts funding:

The Center for Cultural Innovation (CCI), in partnership with the James Irvine and William and Flora Hewlett foundations have announced the next round of the NextGen Arts Initiative. The NextGen Arts program is offering professional development grants to individual emerging arts leaders and arts organizations to support their emerging arts leadership. 

NextGen Arts Professional Development grants provide up to $1,000 to emerging arts leaders throughout California to enroll in workshops, attend conferences locally and nationally, or to work with consultants and coaches to build the administrative skills needed to lead the nonprofit arts sector of tomorrow.

Arts administrators, artists and board members between the ages of 18 and 35 are encouraged to take the NextGen Survey, which is providing valuable data to arts funders and program providers about the needs of California's emerging arts leaders. Completion of the survey fulfills one of the eligibility requirements to apply for the NextGen Professional Development grant. This grant has a rolling application deadline on the 15th of each month.

 

 

Exciting News! The FDO Mobile App Is Here

The Foundation Center has launched the Foundation Directory Mobile iPhone app for FDO Professional. While anyone may download the app for free from the App Store, only Professional subscribers will be able to search FD Mobile using their existing login.

Download Foundation Directory Mobile now to:

• Search over 100,000 grantmakers and 2.4 million grants
• Search prospects and grants by name, location, field of interest, and more
• See detailed funder profiles and grant records

Foundation Directory Mobile is designed for the iPhone and iPod Touch and is also compatible with iPad.

* An earlier version of this post noted that you could access FD Mobile without logging in anywhere with institution-wide access via IP recognition. Please note that this is only true if you have access to the wireless network associated with that account.

Answering the "Future Funding" Question

More funders are asking about nonprofits' future funding options, yet a 2009 report suggests that most nonprofits may not have good answers. What is your answer when donors ask how you will keep your program running if they stop giving you money?

Learn about what funders want to hear when you talk about your sustainability plan, so you'll have an answer ready when (not if) you're asked. Join us for our live Q&A chat on Friday, July 22, 1-2pm ET, with nonprofit sustainability consultant Kevin Monroe. Mr. Monroe is the Managing Partner and Founder of X Factor Consulting, based in the metro Atlanta area.

Join our live Q&A, tap the expertise of our featured panelist, and share your own expertise. We devote most of the hour to your questions and comments! Register now>>

See also our related resources on sustainability:

• Knowledge Base Articles
• Nonprofit Sustainability: Building Blocks to Organizational Success (free class)
• Building a Sustainable Nonprofit Organization (fee seminar)