Last Thursday, the Foundation Center celebrated the publication of After the Grant: The Nonprofit’s Guide to Good Stewardship, the newest title in its proposal writing book series, with an event at its New York library featuring Altman Foundation
president Jane O’Connell and nonprofit consultant Marilyn Hoyt. Book
editor Judi Margolin kicked off the event by talking about how the book
came to life.
Over the years, the Foundation Center has published
a broad range of sector-related guides and nonprofit management books,
but nothing about how nonprofits can build relationships with funders after receiving a grant — which, according to Margolin, “is just the beginning.” After the Grant fills that gap with an in-depth look at what it takes to build and maintain lasting relationships with key funders.
While many of the development pros in the room had secured their
fair share of grants over the years, a quick show of hands revealed
that last year was a tough one for almost everyone. And, according to a
recent Foundation Center research advisory and a separate survey by the Nonprofit Finance Fund, foundation giving isn’t likely to rebound in 2010.
Speaking directly to that point, O’Connell said that “We may never
get back to where we were” — and that means everyone, foundations and
nonprofits alike, needs to re-evaluate what they are doing and how they
do it.
According to O’Connell, the economic downturn has caused many
foundations that don’t want “to waste a good crisis” to re-evaluate
their giving. As a result, foundations are:
- proceeding with caution and considering alternative forms of investment (including mission- and program-related);
- looking more closely at outcomes;
- looking more closely at who is sitting on their grantees’ boards
(and paying special attention to who is watching the organization’s
money); - looking more closely at their grantees’ financials to see whether
they have adequate reserves and/or are overly reliant on government
grants; - not particularly enthusiastic about mergers because in many cases “they haven’t panned out as we thought they would.”
Bottom line: Nonprofits need to treat their funders “just like they
were venture capitalists,” said Hoyt. Foundations want to have good
relationships with their grantees. Not only do they want to hear about
the good things a grantee was able to do with their grant, they
also want to hear about the things that didn’t go as planned — and, in
many cases, may be willing to offer additional help, if it makes sense.
“Our success is their success and our failure is their failure,” said
Hoyt, quoting a Wisconsin funder.
When reaching out to program officers, added Hoyt, think about the
fact that they’ve already gone to bat for your organization. Be nice to
them. Don’t be a pest.
Here are some things you can do:
- Hire a photographer to take pictures at your events. After every
event, e-mail your program officer and ask whether he/she would like
digital copies for their newsletter or annual report. - Set up Google Alerts. Each time your program officer or funder turns up in the news for a job well done, send them a brief congratulatory note.
- Most importantly, have a conversation with your program officer and ask how often he/she would like to hear from you.
What other things can or are nonprofits doing — both before and
after the grant — to cultivate solid, productive relationships with
their funders? Use the comments section below to share your good
stewardship tips.
This post by Regina Mahone was originally featured on the Foundation Center’s PhilanTopic blog.