The Power of Foundations as Community Conveners

August 8, 2019

More and more these days, we hear a rising desire from foundations across the impact ecosystem to take a more active role in their focal issue areas and to move those relationships beyond sending out a few checks each year. These leading foundations want to foster deeper learning, spark connections, and break down silos. They want to support true collaboration.

Spotlight

Blue Star Families

Blue Star Families (BSF) is a national, nonprofit network by and for military families from all ranks and services, including active duty, National Guard and reserves. Blue Star Families strengthens military families and connects America to the military through a robust array of morale, empowerment, education and employment programs. Founded by military spouses in 2009, the organization has engaged tens of thousands of volunteers and served more than 1.5 million military family members annually, including wounded and transitioning service members and their loved ones. Free BSF worldwide membership includes military spouses, children, parents, and friends, as well as service members, veterans, and civilians.

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How to Elevate Employee Engagement and Community Impact Through Workplace Volunteer Programs

whitePaper | February 2, 2022

Employee volunteer programs are a vital part of your corporate social responsibility, employee engagement, and community relations efforts. If done well, your program can play an important role in building nonprofit capacity, engaging employees, serving stakeholders, meeting social impact goals, and ensuring your company’s sustainability – not to mention all the positive impact you will have on the community.

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Metrics for Mission Impact How Nonprofits Can Strengthen Outcomes through Quantitative Measures

whitePaper | March 25, 2020

In their seminal article, "Nonprofit Starvation Cycle", Ann Goggins Gregory and Dan Howard exhort nonprofit finance professionals to report to funders the real costs of running nonprofit organizations. The authors explain that the popular trend to restrict funding to specific programs without accounting for infrastructure expenses leads to an unintended consequence, a "nonprofit starvation cycle", where charities cease to function because they can't pay for overhead costs, such as administrative employees, computers and electric bills. To break this unhealthy cycle, the article encourages nonprofits to recalibrate funder expectations by providing accurate financial reports and other supporting information to reflect the true costs of nonprofit operations.

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Learning Experience Platforms for Nonprofit Success

whitePaper | May 5, 2022

There is no doubt you have noticed the evolution of accelerated technology over the last two years. With that evolution, technology has morphed into every single field of work. With new work models, technology and innovation are essential for every organization to grow and thrive. The benefits of technology are endless, including social connectivity, streamlined communication, and remote collaboration.

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Supporting Grantee Capacity

whitePaper | July 5, 2022

In supporting Grantee Capacity: Strengthening effictiveness together, we look at how funders approach building capacity with grantees. through example from foundation ranging in size, mission, and geography, we explore various strategies for capacity building and the type of awareness that funders can choose to incorporate in decision making to faciliate informed, thoughtful judgements about strengthening organization.

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11 Trends In Philanthropy For 2023

whitePaper | January 11, 2023

The philanthropic sector is an ecosystem: a web of interdependent actors, infinitely variable, striving constantly to build something greater than the sum of its parts. The same is true in philanthropy. Each nonprofit, foundation, donor, community, or network is affected differently by our national and global zeitgeist. But as each player adapts to changes in that context, the sum of those many reactions can become a force of its own.

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40 Nonprofit Trends for 2020

whitePaper | February 12, 2020

As technology and innovation continue to be in the forefront of the nonprofit sector, 2020 will be about learning more about what these technologies and solutions have to offer and tying them back in with traditional fundraising strategies. New bright and shiny technologies are offering what seems like limitless ways to connect with donors. But it’s important to remember that donors still need human interaction, personalization and relationships, so the tried-and-true fundraising strategies shouldn’t just be tossed out the door.

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Spotlight

Blue Star Families

Blue Star Families (BSF) is a national, nonprofit network by and for military families from all ranks and services, including active duty, National Guard and reserves. Blue Star Families strengthens military families and connects America to the military through a robust array of morale, empowerment, education and employment programs. Founded by military spouses in 2009, the organization has engaged tens of thousands of volunteers and served more than 1.5 million military family members annually, including wounded and transitioning service members and their loved ones. Free BSF worldwide membership includes military spouses, children, parents, and friends, as well as service members, veterans, and civilians.

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