This week, Dane hosted Elizabeth Wong on the Future of Teamwork Podcast (if you haven’t had a chance to listen to it, you can do so here). Elizabeth is the National Director of Philanthropic Advisory Services at Foundation Source and has a wealth of knowledge on starting a foundation. Below I outline three critical takeaways from Elizabeth’s podcast with Dane on creating and running a foundation.
1) You May Not Need to Start with a Mission
In the snippet above, Elizabeth notes that new foundations often feel they “have to” write a mission before they begin. She recommends taking the pressure off yourself and the foundation to have your mission identified before you start granting funds. Instead, she recommends “learning by doing” through “learning by grant-making.” This allows you to understand where your foundation can sit within the community where you’re working. Additionally, you can begin to learn from non-profit leaders you find compelling and consider the best ways in which you can support their work.
2) Money and Non-skilled Volunteer Days Are Not the Only Way You Can Give Back
During the podcast, Elizabeth noted that money isn’t the only way foundations can give back, nor are non-skilled volunteer days where employees of the foundation give time to the non-profit’s cause. She recommends contemplating your employees’ expertise and strengths to consider how they could help non-profits you work with. Some of her ideas include:
- Helping the non-profit develop a financial plan
- Writing a business plan for them
- Assisting with IT challenges
- Marketing an event for them
- Developing their social media strategy
3) It’s Important to Reflect on the Grants You Give
While it’s essential to remain nimble and agile in your first year or two of giving, your board should ask questions like, “Do we like how this organization is engaging the community?” Or “Are they aligning with things that are important to us, like diversity, equity, and inclusion?” Asking these existential questions after giving the grant will allow your foundation to grow its identity.
Together, these three tips will help your foundation not only develop its identity and ultimate mission, but they’ll also help you form dynamic and genuine partnerships with the organizations you want to help!