Grantmakers and Best Practices:
A Topical Resource List

There is increasing interest evident in learning more about the management and "best practices" of foundations and other grantmaking organizations. Those engaged in philanthropy need to learn what is working, or not working, from others in their field, and they are looking for ways to share this information. A number of books and articles recently have been published on various aspects of this topic.

Presented here is an annotated list of notable publications. The broad categories include general works, governance, management, grantmaking and evaluation. If you would like to recommend additional titles for this list, please contact the Manager of Bibliographic Services at the Foundation Center at mbs@foundationcenter.org. For access to the complete holdings of Foundation Center libraries, refer to the Catalog of Nonprofit Literature.

General Works

Anderson, Karen L. (comp.) "Best Definitions of 'Best Practices.'" Foundation News & Commentary, vol. 40 (November-December 1999): p. 29.

A number of grantmaking professionals define what the term "best practices" means to them.

Backer, Thomas E. and John Bare. "Scanning the Environment for Philanthropic Best Practice Systems." Foundation News & Commentary, vol. 40 (November-December 1999): p. 25-8.

Discusses the findings of the environmental scan used by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation of Miami to gather information on the use of evaluation, collaboration and best practices by foundations. The scan was conducted by the Human Interaction Research Institute between November 1998 and March 1999, and involved interviews with foundation leaders and other informants, as well as a literature review. Includes an in-depth discussion of ways that foundations are currently utilizing best practices information. Sidebars provide suggestions for foundations seeking to improve their philanthropic practice; examples of innovative foundation approaches to evaluation and collaboration; and a listing of related reports.

Freeman, David F. The Handbook on Private Foundations. New York, NY: Foundation Center, 1991.

Designed as a resource for foundation boards and staff, this book provides practical information on the history of foundations in the U.S., reasons for creating a foundation, first steps in establishing a foundation, the grantmaking process, maintaining relationships with the public and with grantseekers, governance and administration, government regulations, and managing foundation assets. Includes footnotes, annotated bibliographies following each chapter, listings for resources providing information and assistance, and appendixes with detailed information on the various subjects with sample forms and letters.

Guide to Donor Involvement: Basic Considerations and Best Practices. Washington, DC: Council on Foundations, 1996.

Community foundations have multiple roles, which include providing funding to nonprofit organizations and profering services to donors. This booklet gives counsel on the latter, covering legal issues and other concerns related to the establishment and administration of advised funds, and gives examples of guidelines and policies in effect at four community foundations.

McCarthy, Stephen J. "Family Foundations: Insights on Best Practices." Trusts & Estates, vol. 139 (October 2000): p. 14, 16, 92.

Practical considerations related to grantmaking, governance, and management.

Prager, Denis J. Raising the Value of Philanthropy: A Synthesis of Informal Interviews with Foundation Executives and Observers of Philanthropy. Washington, DC: Grantmakers in Health, 1999.

By means of interviews with foundation leaders, seeks to identify the most effective programs and evaluation methods.

Governance

Nason, John W. Foundation Trusteeship: Service in the Public Interest. New York, NY: Foundation Center, 1989.

Nason examines the present state of the foundation universe, the importance of foundations to American society, why foundation performance is falling short of its full potential, and how today's trustees can face the challenges before them to help improve foundation performance. Discusses the modern foundation's dual nature (as privately organized public institutions), the complexities involved in developing programs for a changing society, the three routes to board membership, qualities of a good trustee, the dynamics of an effective board, the advantages and disadvantages of staffing, the respective roles and obligations of board and staff in foundation management, and the question of compensation.

Regelbrugge, Laurie. Washington, DC: Council on Foundations, 2001. Making the Most of Corporate Foundation Boards: Strategies and Practices.

Published with the National Center for Nonprofit Boards (now BoardSource), this book provides various models showing the responsibilities of corporate foundation boards; typical composition of the board; legal issues that board members will want to understand; board orientation; establishing meeting protocols; and the interaction between board and staff, among other topics. Appendices include sample by-laws and a bibliography.

The Trustee Notebook: An Orientation for Family Foundation Board Members. Washington, DC: National Center for Family Philanthropy, 1999.

An introduction to administering a foundation for those new to the field. Explains what trustees must do and cannot do, how to be an effective grantmaker, how to develop the board, how to ensure public accountability, among other issues. Provides several resource lists, and sample forms and policies related to grantmaking and board membership.

Management—General

Gast, Elaine C. The Guide to Small Foundation Management-From Groundwork to Grantmaking. Washington, DC: Council on Foundations, 2002.

Written with family foundations and those with less than $10 million in assets, the book summarizes good operating principles and practices. Beginning with the need for mission and vision statements, the author provides non-technical coverage of legal issues, setting up an office, technology, records, accounting, investments, boards, staff, consultants, grants management, communication, and networking. With numerous sample documents and forms.

Mergers: Implications for Corporate Philanthropy & The Community. St. Paul, MN: Center for Ethical Business Cultures, 2001.

This discussion paper looks at 332 corporate mergers in the state of Minnesota in 2000 with the question of how those new alliances might have impacted both corporate philanthropy and the nonprofit community. Also presented are eight trends that can be discerned in the wake of corporate mergers, and a discussion of best practices.

Rhoads, Paul K. Managing a Private Foundation: Maintaining the Donor's Intent. Washington, DC: Philanthropy Roundtable, 1999.

Covers planning, governance, staffing, grants management, investing, and legal issues. Appendices include an example of grant guidelines, a grant agreement, and an expenditure responsibility form.

Grants Management

Best Practices in Grants Management: A Project of the Grants Managers Network. Washington, DC: Council on Foundation, 2001.

A manual designed to assist grantmakers in the entire spectrum of the grants process ranging from pre-grant activities, approvals and notifications, through grant monitoring. Sample letters and forms for each stage are provided. Includes glossary, bibliographic references, and an index.

Schofer, Paul and Shirley Young. Centralization of the Grants Administration Function and the Development of Grant Processing "Best Practices." Kansas City, MO: Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, 2001.

The Kauffman Foundation explains how it streamlined its grants management procedures in spite of having three separate program divisions.

Grantmaking

Backer, Thomas E. and John Bare. "Looking Before Leaping." Foundation News & Commentary, vol. 43. (March-April 2002): p. 48-53.

Finding very little research on the effectiveness of planning grants (in fact, there is no consensus on a definition of the term), the authors undertook a project to survey the field about this particular type of giving. Some lessons from the survey are given, as are comments from three funders: Annie E. Casey Foundation, Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, and the Wallace-Reader's Digest Funds.

David, Tom. Reflections on Sustainability. Woodland Hills, CA: California Wellness Foundation, 2002.

The California Wellness Foundation presents thoughts on the issue of sustainability for nonprofits, and what it has learned about long-term funding. The report can be found at www.tcwf.org/reflections/2002/feb/.

Disaster Grantmaking: A Practical Guide for Foundations and Corporations. Washington, DC: Council on Foundations, 2001.

Jointly published with the European Foundation Centre, this pamphlet presents the results of a year-long study, outlining the best principles and approaches to funding for disaster relief.

Edie, John A. Expenditure Responsibility Step-by-Step. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: Council on Foundations, 2001.

Outlines and discusses the five steps to fulfilling the Internal Revenue Service requirements for expenditure responsibility, and explains when funders need to enact this particular procedure in order to avoid tax penalty. In brief, the steps include a pre-grant inquiry, a written agreement, establishment of a separate bank account, regular reports by the grantee, and a foundation report to the IRS. Includes sample forms for each step of the process.

Edie, John A. and Jane C. Nober. Beyond Our Borders: A Guide to Making Grants Outside the U.S. 2nd ed. Washington, DC: Council on Foundations, 1999.

Details the technical and legal requirements for private and community foundations, corporate grantmakers, and public charities for making grants outside the U.S. An appendix includes sample materials, foreign equivalency determination forms, discussion of treaties with Canada, Honduras, Mexico and Israel, Internal Revenue Service rulings governing friends organizations, suggested grant agreements for public charity grantors, and more detailed discussions of technical points.

Faber, Daniel R. and Deborah McCarthy. Green of Another Color: Building Effective Partnerships between Foundations and the Environmental Justice Movement. Washington, DC: Aspen Institute, 2001.

An analysis of the relationship of "green politics" to philanthropy, documenting the current under-funding of the environmental justice movement, according to the authors. Begins with a brief history of the environmental justice movement, which began in 1982 as a protest against a proposed landfill in North Carolina. Profiles of numerous organizations active in the field are provided. Data showing foundation giving to environmental causes in general, and environmental justice, specifically, is given in chart form. Concludes with a discussion of exemplary grantmaking practices for the field, and ways to increase diversity.

Ford Foundation. A Primer for Endowment Grantmakers: Endowment Strategies to Assist and Enhance the Work of Nonprofit Organizations. New York, NY: Ford Foundation, 2001.

A guidebook on endowment grantmaking for program officers, based on the experience of leaders at the Ford Foundation, and applicable to other philanthropies.

Furnari, Ellen, et al. Exemplary Grantmaking Practices: Manual. San Diego, CA: National Network of Grantmakers, 1997.

Highlights the grantmaking practices of 40 foundations, based on research covering 1994-6. Outlines the primary principles that the authors consider to be exemplary, specifically, respectful communication, open information, inclusive planning, diverse governance, integrity, flexibility, and ongoing evaluation. For each principle, strategies for meeting standards are outlined, and demonstrated with case examples. Appendices list the 40 foundations that were studied, examples of commonly-used forms, and checklists for grantmakers.

Goldsmith-Hirsch, Suzanne. Leveraged Grantmaking: Challenging Funders and Program to Sustain National Service. Washington, DC: Points of Light Foundation, 2000.

Gives descriptions of thirteen innovative collaborations between funders and nonprofits that participated in the Service as a Strategy Initiative. Many projects included community foundations as well as regional associations of grantmakers.

Greene, Stephen G. "Getting the Basics Right: Grant Makers Seek Effective Ways to Improve Charities' Operations." Chronicle of Philanthropy, vol. 13 (3 May 2001): p. 1, 9-10, 12.

Explains that more foundations are making capacity building grants to help nonprofits manage and operate their organizations more successfully. Nonprofits may need assistance in strategic planning, board development, financial management, and technology. Cites Milton S. Eisenhower Foundation publication, "Lessons from the Street," which reveals that organizations in existence for three to five years with annual budgets between $150,000 and $600,000 benefit the most from capacity building. Sidebar includes tips on improving nonprofit operations from Barbara D. Kibbe of the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

Gulati, Gita and Kathleen Cerveny. General Operating Support: A View From the Field. Seattle, WA: Grantmakers in the Arts, 1999.

Leaders from nine foundations are interviewed about their organization's general operating grants. The funders indicate how they determine funding levels, how they evaluate these grants, and why they consider this an essential grantmaking strategy. The organizations represented are the Bush Foundation, Chicago Community Trust, Cleveland Foundation, Dayton Hudson Foundation, Heinz Endowments, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, James Irvine Foundation, McKnight Foundation, and the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Kibbe, Barbara D., Fred Setterberg, and Colburn S. Wilbur. Grantmaking Basics: A Field Guide for Funders. Washington, DC: Council on Foundations, 1999.

Written for staff from any type of foundation, the authors cover the typical work and workday of a grantmaker, how to review grant proposals, how to say no, how to assess nonprofit budgets, communications with the board and others, and how to develop professionally. Worksheets and sample forms are provided. With glossary and index.

Mittenthal, Richard A. Effective Philanthropy: The Importance of Focus. New York, NY: Conservation Company, 1999.

The author posits that grantmaking can be most effective when a strategic approach is made to narrow the focus of the funder by identifying specific goals and clarifying the mission. Another approach might be to establish a finite period for the life of the foundation.

Orosz, Joel J. The Insider's Guide to Grantmaking: How Foundations Find, Fund, and Manage Effective Programs. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2000.

Written primarily for program officers of foundations, the author provides a brief history on foundations, their structure, and their role in society. In the following chapters, he details the program officer's responsibilities from building relationships with applicants, reviewing, accepting, and declining proposals, and making site visits to writing and presenting the funding document, managing projects and leveraging their impact. The author shares real-world advice on a variety of issues confronting program officers, including how not to raise a grantseeker's expectations, what to do during a site visit, and the ethics of grantmaking. Includes bibliographic references and index.

Stevens, Susan Kenny and Diane Espaldon. Investing in Capacity: How the Working Capital Fund Promotes Sustainable Change. St. Paul, MN: Working Capital Fund, 2001.

Documents the efforts of the Working Capital Fund, initiated by the Ford Foundation In 1995, during its first six years, the Fund concentrated on aiding mid-sized arts groups in their efforts toward sustainability.

Visser, Deborah and the Working Group on Workforce Development. Mapping Foundation Investments. Working Group on Workforce Development, 2001.

This workgroup is composed of approximately 30 funders with an interest in workforce development. This report describes the funding initiatives of fourteen of these grantmakers, noting issues and challenges they are encountering. In addition, the author notes the funders' interest in collaborative efforts and sharing of best practices.

The Ford Foundation has recently published the GrantCraft series, a set of resources that illustrate best practices and provide case studies of the foundation's efforts. The first videotapes of the series include these titles: Amplifying New Voices: International Collaboration in the Arts Building a Network: State Fiscal Analysis Initiative Funders Collaborative: Sustainable Forestry Opportunities from the Unpredictable: Hurricane Mitch Reflection on Practice: An Introduction & Three Grant-Making Cases Scaling up Successful Work: Project GRAD Supporting a New Partnership: One Stop Crisis Center Supporting a Planning Process: Citizen Participation in Northern Namibia

Evaluation and Performance Measures

Backer, Thomas. Innovation in Context: New Foundation Approaches to Evaluation, Collaboration and Best Practices. Encino, CA: Human Interaction Research Institute, 1999.

Offers descriptions of several innovative ways foundations are approaching evaluation, which include involving the community, collaboration between larger and smaller philanthropies, and establishment of best practices models.

Castle, Alfred L. Evaluation Essentials for Small Private Foundations. Washington, DC: Council on Foundations, 1991.

Concisely describes cost-effective techniques that small foundations can use to assess the impact of their grantmaking. Defines evaluation; provides an outline of guidelines that foundations should make available to grantseekers (such guidelines provide clear criteria for pre-grant evaluation); discusses the elements and advantages of post-grant evaluation; and describes options such as grantee self-evaluation, the use of professional consultants or graduate students; and on-site visits by trustees.

Council on Foundations, Jan Corey Arnett, Robert Matthews Johnson, and Barbara H. Kehrer. Evaluation for Foundations: Concepts, Cases, Guidelines, and Resources. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1993.

Shows how foundations can use evaluation to strengthen their own and their grantees' programs. The authors offer practical advice for foundations interested in, or beginning to formulate a strategy for, evaluation. Part one describes issues to consider, provides guidance for developing an evaluation plan and interpreting evaluation results. Part two uses nine case studies to illustrate how actual foundations have conducted evaluations, and what the foundations and others thought of the results.

Striving for Philanthropic Success: Effectiveness and Evaluation in Foundations. Gütersloh, Germany: Bertelsmann Foundation, 2001.

Numerous foundation leaders met in June 2000 at an international symposium focusing on the best practices for evaluation. This book reprints the presentations from the conference and transcripts from panel discussions.

Toward a Common Language: Listening to Foundation CEOs and Other Experts Talk about Performance Measurement in Philanthropy. Boston, MA: Center for Effective Philanthropy, 2002.

Interviews with 18 executives from larger private foundations indicate how they are approaching performance measures in their organizations.