Philanthropic practice

First Nations Development Institute and Native Americans in Philanthropy convened a group of Native philanthropic leaders in Minneapolis/St. Paul on September 14 2005, to discuss how we can better support the development of Native foundations and Native philanthropy. The objective of this meeting was to provide insight and input into the design and implementation of a structure to support the further development of Native foundations and Native philanthropy through technical assistance, advocacy and research.

This report presents key findings from a study of large foundations' giving to Native American causes and concerns. It addresses the real dollar value of grantmaking from 1989-2002, top donors and top recipients, and the general purposes to which grants are targeted. The pamphlet concludes with a discussion of what the data imply (and in particular, what action they ought to motivate) for foundations, Native-serving nonprofits, and tribal governments.

The story of how the Boston Foundation became the first community foundation to develop and implement policy on exercising its proxy votes on investments to advance its mission.

Posted courtesy of Stanford Social Innovation Review

Download:

   What Works (5.9Mb)

This book features profiles of 18 family foundations and giving groups that have developed unique or noteworthy programs of arts giving, reflecting the values and character of the donors in a variety of ways. Interviews with principals and trustees from each foundation provide further insights to how these programs were developed and realized.

90 pages, perfect bound
ISBN 0-9705157-4-X

This Field Resource Book profiles nine foundations that provide general operating support to arts organizations. The featured foundations reflect geographic and institutional diversity, as well as myriad grantmaking approaches. The chapters are the result of research and interviews with senior staff at each of the nine foundations.

Each chapter includes six sections:

"Learning and the Arts: Crossing Boundaries" was a meeting of 120 funding professionals in the arts, education, or children, youth and family programs of fifty foundations, that was organized by the Getty Trust, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. Together with a group of outstanding researchers, practitioners, and policymakers, they explored the value philanthropy can add to education and child development by integrating the arts into schools and non-school programs for children and youth.

Independent Sector and the Foundation Center have partnered in developing this research, resulting in a quantitative study of social justice funding by 1,000 of the largest private and community foundations in the U.S.

Documents the growth in number, giving, and assets of all active U.S. foundations from 1975 through 2003.

June 2005 / 100 pp.

Available online from The Foundation Center.

Provides a first look at estimates of foundation giving for 2004 and final statistics on actual giving and assets for 2003. It also presents new top 100 foundation lists.

April 2005 / 13 pp.

Available online from The Foundation Center.

Examines 2003 grantmaking patterns of a sample of more than 1,000 larger U.S. foundations, and compares current giving priorities with trends since 1990.
February 2005 / 86 pp.

Available online from The Foundation Center.