CEO Resources

The Council is dedicated to helping foundation leaders connect with information, people, and organizations. You will find a variety of tools and resources to help you shape and achieve your foundations’ goals.

Administration | Evaluation | Finance | Foundations and the Law | Foundation Management Tools | External Relationships | Grantmaking | Investments | Leadership Competencies | Sample Document Libraries | Stewardship
 

Administration

• Foundations Management Series
• The Foundation Center develops customized websites for foundations free of charge. To learn more, visit the Foundation Center's website.
• Electronic Data Initiative for Nonprofits (EDIN) shows foundations how to create an integrated public disclosure system.
• GrantCraft’s Working with the Business Sector: Pursuing Public Good with Private Partners weighs the case for engaging business, identifies skills for promoting corporate philanthropy and shares strategies for collaborating across sectors and seeking change in the business world.

 

Evaluation

• W.K. Kellogg Foundation Logic Model Development Guide
• Measuring what matters in nonprofits
• 35 Keys to Effective Evaluation
• Attitudes and Practices Concerning Effective Philanthropy [pdf]
• Chief Executive Performance [doc]
• Evaluation of Executive Director [doc]
• Getting Started presents an action list to help you determine your evaluation approach.
• Kellogg Foundation Logic Model Guide [pdf] has become the field's first reference source on program evaluation.
• Measuring What Matters in Nonprofits [pdf]
• General Operating Support: Assessing the Impact [pdf] created to demonstrate how some grantmakers are assessing the impact of general operating support. Gain new perspectives, share insights and pose questions that will guide your work by joining the GEO list serve.
• The University of Wisconsin's Extension Program Development and Evaluation Unit has a collection of resource tools to help funders.

 

Finance

• The Audit Committee Toolkit: Not-for-Profit Organizations — A product of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountant (AICPA)
• Sample Audit Committee Charter
• The Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Implications for Nonprofit Organizations
• Learning from Sarbanes-Oxley: A Checklist for Charities and Foundations
• Coping with Cutbacks from the Fieldstone Alliance

 

Foundations and the Law

The Council's Legal Services department welcomes questions from members. Call (703) 879-0600 or send an email to legal@cof.org.

• Resources for the 990 Form:
  
  • Are You Ready for the New Form 990? Webinar - Play-back the recording to learn about the important provisions of the newly revised Form 990 and common errors to avoid when completing the form
  • New IRS Form 990 Guidebook for Community Foundations
  • Form 990 instructions and background information from the IRS
  • Council on Foundations' comments on draft instructions
• Legal Brief: Tipping - Question: Will a large grant made to a small charity cause the grantee to fail its public support test, thus "tipping" it from public charity status into private foundation status?
• Issue Paper on Excise Taxes for Private Foundations - generally, private foundations are subject to a 2 percent excise tax on their net investment income. The tax is 1 percent in any year in which the foundation's percentage of distributions for charitable purposes exceeds the average percentage of its distributions over the five preceding taxable years.
• The 1969 Private Foundation Law: Historical Perspectives on its Origins and Underpinnings is a comprehensive reference for foundation libraries.
• Legal Information section of the website provides the most up-to-date legal issues papers, briefings and information.

 

Foundation Management Tools

• 2011 Grantmakers Salary and Benefits Report — measure salary ranges and check salary increase trends against similar grantmaking organizations
• 2010 Grantmakers Salary and Benefits Summary - analyzes 2010 salaries and compensation trends over a wide range of positions and grantmaking entities
• The Council's Diversity and Inclusiveness department has a broad selection of resources on best practices, policies and procedures.
• Directors and Officers: Liability Insurance and Indemnification
• The Foundation Management Series contains data on administrative expenses of private foundations (family and independent), and structures and policies of governing boards and staffing patterns of community, private and public foundations.
• Practice Matters: The Improving Philanthropy Project — Written by leading experts and practitioners, this series features ten thought-provoking papers and corresponding discussion guides that tackle some of the most compelling "best practice" issues in the field of philanthropy.
• Monographs:
  • Thoughts on Establishing Foundation Archives by Richard J. Kaplan, archivist, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
  • Core Resources for Foundations: Tools of the Trade [pdf] a foundation librarian's recommended library of resources.

 

External Relationships

• Quantum Leadership: The Power of Community in Motion - reflecting thoughts on community-based leadership
• The Collective Leadership Framework: A Workbook for Cultivating and Sustaining Community Change - a new tool designed to cultivate and sustain collective leadership for community change
• Public Policy Grantmaking Toolkit - Northern California Grantmakers has developed a toolkit to help funders build their capacity to engage in public policy initiatives. The online toolkit offers basics how-tos, definitions and strategies of public policy, legal parameters, evaluation and case studies.
• Quantum Leadership: The Power of Community in Motion – reflecting thoughts on community-based leadership
• The Collective Leadership Framework: A Workbook for Cultivating and Sustaining Community Change -- a new tool designed to cultivate and sustain collective leadership for community change

 

Grantmaking

• The Departing: Exiting Nonprofit Leaders as Resources for Social Change - how to leverage the talent of executive directors who are transitioning out of their organization
• Investing in Leadership Vol. 1: A Discussion Guide for Grantmakers (Executive Summary) - grantmakers learn how to ask the right questions to help support nonprofit leadership
• Investing in Leadership Vol. 2: Inspiration and Idea from Philanthropy’s Latest Frontier - grantmakers learn how to support leadership development
• Imagine, Involve, Implement: Transforming Grantmaker Practices for Improved Nonprofit Results - re-evaluating grantmaking practices to maximize impact
• Luck of the Draw - grantees of foundations have little control over which program officer takes their case. Yet program officers make or break grantees’ experiences with foundations. To trigger social change, foundations must give program officers better training, clearer expectations, and regular performance feedback.
• The Expanding Universe: New Directions in Nonprofit Capacity Building - this research study looks into the leading edge of capacity-building work, highlighting new strategies in strengthening nonprofit organizations via intermediaries, grantmakers, community-based nonprofits and even individual philanthropists.
• Due Diligence Tool: For Use in Pre-Grant Assessment - provides grantmakers with a complete guide to the due diligence process. The Due Diligence Tool includes worksheets and interview questions grantmakers can use to create or refine their own due diligence process.
• Foundations Support Families Hit By Economic Downturn – Council survey results show foundations support families hit by the current economic downturn.
• Drowning in Paperwork, Distracted from the Purpose - this report offers principles grantmakers can adopt to reduce the burden on nonprofits, and free up more time and money for mission-based activities.
• Update your grants management library with The Complete Guide to Grantmaking Basics: A Field Guide for Funders.
• Leading Boldly - Stanford Social Innovation Review - Rarely do foundations publicly communicate their dissatisfaction with their grantees, withhold funds, or use tactics that carry the risks of creating ill will. Yet extraordinary results can be achieved if foundations were more imaginative, visible, and controversial. Here's how foundations can exercise leadership without misusing authority.
• Foundations Active in Capacity Building - the Philanthropic Capacity Building Resource (PCBR) Database profiles more than 320 foundation capacity-building programs.
• The Expanding Universe: New Directions in Nonprofit Capacity Building - this research study looks into the leading edge of capacity-building work, highlighting new strategies in strengthening nonprofit organizations via intermediaries, grantmakers, community-based nonprofits and even individual philanthropists.
• The Dos and Don'ts of Working with Local Funders [pdf] — The Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers
• GrantCraft - practical wisdom and guides for journeyman and international grantmakers. GrantCraft is a project of the Ford Foundation
• The grants management "tutorial" includes a comprehensive compilation of sample forms
• Due Diligence Tool: For Use in Pre-Grant Assessment - provides grantmakers with a complete guide to the due diligence process. The Due Diligence Tool includes worksheets and interview questions grantmakers can use to create or refine their own due diligence process.
• Find timely articles on a variety of grantmaking legal issues on the Legal Information section of the website.

 

Investments

• The Role of the Investment Committee
• Sample Investment Committee Charters
• Sample Investment Policy Statement (DuPont Fund)
• "Twenty Questions Your Advisor Should Ask" [doc] explains the rules and regulations that restrict the activities of private foundations risky investments -- the 2 percent and reduced 1 percent excise taxes, excess business holdings and more.
• Program Related Investments (PRIs) support charitable activities that involve the potential return of capital to the foundation within an established time frame.
• Mission Related Investing
• The Power of Mission Related Investing - a growing number of foundations are offering low-interest loans, buying into green business ventures, and investing in other asset classes to advance their missions. Yet most mission investing remains haphazard and inconsequential. To bring about real change, foundations need to take a fundamentally different approach, making strategic mission investments that complement their grantmaking and leverage market forces.
• How to Start a Private Foundation [pdf] is a primer by the Association of Small Foundations
• A to Z Survival Guide for Uncertain Times

 

Leadership Competencies

• CEO Functions and Competencies - with input from veteran foundation leaders in the field, the Council has identified core skills and knowledge needed to perform the foundation CEO job. The competencies are applicable for most foundations CEOs.
• What are the personal characteristics of successful foundation leaders? See "Halene, Your Ideal CEO" cartoon. Share it with your board and colleagues.
• What are foundation leaders responsible for? CEO leadership survey chart.

 

Sample Document Libraries

Whether you are an established foundation looking for benchmarks or starting a new foundation, you will discover a wide range of sample governance documents donated by Council member organizations from small, medium and large foundations.

• Governance Documents
• Human Resource Documents
• Operations Documents

 

Stewardship

Council members agree to promote the development and application of the highest standards in the practice and reporting of philanthropy so that grantmakers may fulfill their responsibilities to serve the public good.

• The Council on Foundations Recommended Guiding Principles and Governance Standards:
  • Stewardship Principles and Practices for Independent Foundations
  • Corporate Grantmakers: Stewardship Principles Initiative
  • National Standards for U.S. Community Foundations
  • Stewardship Principles for Family Foundations