Learn how local funders:
Creating a New Project
Forming a funders’ collaborative around a new project requires two steps:
- identifying a complex problem of great concern, then
- developing a community approach to solving it.
Both require teamwork between grantmakers and nonprofit and public agencies.
Choosing the issue
In St. Louis, MO a group of funding partners set out to find an issue they could agree on and to invest in creating a program to solve it. After some exploration they chose to focus on the hardships faced by youth who “age out” of the foster care system. These teenagers are unprepared to be self-sufficient and unable to manage their finances, housing, employment and health care.
“We decided to work together to help the older teens in foster care, but we knew that we were not experts on the issue,” emphasizes Sister Joan Kuester, executive director of Daughters of Charity Healthcare. “We needed a process to learn about the needs and what we could do to address them.”
Bridget Flood, executive director of Incarnate Word Foundation, continues, “It’s important to consult with people who really know the issue and to be sure that those experts, as well as nonprofit agency staff, are treated as equals with the funders.”
Achieving system change
Grantmakers look at the big picture. “How can we go beyond putting a Band-Aid on the problem?” asks Betsi Kassebaum, executive director of the Toppel Family Foundation. “How can we fix this problem from the inside out?”
To accomplish system change Maria Levix, executive director of the Schmidt Family Foundation, stresses the need for funders and nonprofit leaders to work together and the importance of nonprofits collaborating. Flood agrees, noting, “Too often competing for the same dollars is what stops agencies from collaborating with each other. Everyone needs to leave their preconceived notions and agendas at the door.”
Grantmakers who have been involved in the development of a project are far more engaged than when a nonprofit brings them a proposed project and asks for a check. In the same way, Flood says, “You can’t bring a project in from the outside and impose it on the nonprofits. You need to include public and private agencies from the beginning.”
Engaging community leaders
In Boca Raton, FL a core group of funders took the Caregiving Youth Project to key players in the community. The school board offered to help in many ways; including asking guidance counselors to help connect children who care for an ill or disabled adult family member to the program. Hospital administrators and local newspaper editors were engaged in developing the project. Community support made it easier to approach additional grantmakers.
The Florida funders and community leaders appreciated the work of the project director, Connie Siskowski, who had brought the issue of caregiving youth to their attention. As founder and president of Volunteers for the Homebound and Family Caregivers, Inc., she had first-hand knowledge of children and families who needed support.
However, in St. Louis no single agency or individual was the acknowledged leader in services for youth aging out of foster care. The grantmakers asked five agencies to provide information regarding their qualifications to run the project and lead a collaborative effort. “We don’t always agree among the nine funders,” says Ann Vazquez, president and CEO of the Lutheran Foundation of St. Louis , “but our collaborative works so well because we trust and respect each other.”
Each funder had a different relationship or history of funding with the agencies being considered to coordinate the program, but everyone was willing to agree with the decision of the group. “You can’t play favorites. You need to be objective and do what’s best for the community,” Flood explains.
“It’s not the fastest process,” admits Vazquez, “but it comes out better when everyone is at the table.”
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