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One of the greatest challenges encountered in thinking about evaluation is that there usually is more than one acceptable way to evaluate a given grant, project, or program.
The form that an evaluation takes and the products that it yields will depend on choices made about the following issues…
As different as foundations can be from one another, they all share the need to know what works and, especially, what works well. The more foundations can show how their grants are making a difference, the more value they can bring to their communities.
To know what works, foundations must…
Question
The same company representatives serve on our company foundation board of directors and our Corporate Contributions Committee. Can we hold the meetings for both programs simultaneously?
Answer
No. While it is possible to hold the meetings for the corporate giving program and…
Question:
Can a company provide office space to the company foundation?
Answer:
A parent company can always provide the company foundation with office space as long as it does so free of charge. While it is even possible for the parent company and the foundation to share the cost of office…
Question: Why do Council on Foundations membership materials and invoices state that if my foundation and corporate giving program share a membership, dues must be paid by the corporation? Is this true for other memberships as well?
Answer: IRS self-dealing rules prohibit private foundations (…
A mission statement gives all who are interested an idea of why the foundation was established and how it defines its own work. The statement is usually broad, worded to reflect the donor’s intent, and give a flavor of the foundation’s values and interests. For family foundation trustees,…
Family celebrations and holidays are prime opportunities to create philanthropic traditions (and develop philanthropic values). To honor a child’s birthday you might plant a tree. For Mother’s Day, help your children do a good deed for someone else’s mother whose children can’t be with her. Family…
This perspective offered by William Graustein of the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund in 2013 provides useful context on creating your own foundation's mission and vision statements.
When you get down to it, the reason a charitable foundation exists is to change the world or, at…
Most people do not think of their family as having a “culture.” For many, it's a group of familiar people doing what they always do.
Yet it is exactly this—a characteristic way of thinking, feeling, judging, and acting—that defines a culture. Both in direct and subtle ways, children are molded…