An Easy Process

When you use The Philanthropy Index, you'll be able to determine your community's ability to create a charitable fund in three basic steps:

Step 1: Order and read The Philanthropy Index Guidebook. The Guidebook defines what philanthropy means to small town and rural communities, explains why creating permanent charitable assets is so important in these communities, and provides a complete overview of the process you'll want to follow before, during and after you compile your communities Philanthropy Index "score".
Step 2: Order and review your community's Philanthropy Potential Data Report. The Data Report scores your community on each of 12 indicators - such as number of exsiting nonprofits, changes in population, and number of high-income households. The results in your Data Report create a "snapshot" of the current social and economic landscape in your community and your corresponding chances of successfully building a charitable fund. The Philanthropy Index Workbook that accompanies the Data Report will help you understand what the numbers mean.
Step 3: Complete the Local Knowledge Questions in the Philanthropy Index Workbook with a group of leaders from your community. While objective data can provide one measure of philanthropic potential, no one can evaluate your community's chances of building a charitable fund better than the people who live there. The Local Knowledge Questions provide a second scoring system that, when combined with the score from your Data Report, will create your overall Philanthropy Index score. Your answers to these questions will also help you begin to set your goals for creating your new charitable fund.