The Philanthropy Index

Stage 6: Study the Options

You will now need to consider how you want to structure the management of the assets that you bring together. Many options for this are available. You will want to study them carefully. People will want to be sure that contributions to their community's philanthropic fund will be well managed.

Perhaps the simplest approach at the outset would be to establish contact with a community foundation that serves or is willing to serve your area.
You can also could ask a local bank or other financial institution to serve as the investment manager of the assets you raise.
You may also create an independent public foundation by incorporating, creating bylaws, and applying for IRS tax exemption as a 501(c)(3) public charity.

In this section, you will find detailed information on: Community Foundations, Family Foundations, Private Foundations, Community-Based Philanthropy, Workplace Giving, and Youth and Philanthropy.

On the Types of Foundations see The Southeastern Council of Foundations website which describes the major types including: Community Foundations, Corporate Foundations, Private Foundations (Family and Independent Foundations), and Health Care Conversion Foundations. http://www.secf.org/about_foundations.asp.

Community Foundations

Community Foundations in Rural Areas: The Aspen Institute—Community
Strategies Group (CSG)
http://www.aspencsg.org/rdp/framesets/philant.html.

Building Engines for Rural Endowment: An RPD Thinking and Action Framework. “This Framework is a guide to help people who lead community foundations think about and act strategically to build more and better permanently endowed assets focused on vitalizing and sustaining rural areas, rural issues, and rural populations. It does so in hopes of advancing Rural Development Philanthropy—the process and practice of creating and strengthening locally controlled endowment, grantmaking and community programs to improve rural livelihoods, economies and community vitality.” Downloadable for free at: http://www.aspencsg.org/rdp/framesets/boonies.html.

Community Foundation Services—Council on Foundations

Community Foundation Services provides community foundations with assistance, resources and tools to make grantmaking more effective and assist with management issues: http://www.cof.org/index.cfmcontainerid=31&menucontainerid=34&crumb=2&.

Ways to Grow: A Study of Community Foundations Serving Populations Under 250,000 “explores ‘growth’ fundraising strategies used by small community foundations and the trends they have created. You'll discover what strategies work, learn what's involved in setting up challenge grants, and explore the ins and outs of affiliations, public/private partnerships and other ways to forge effective grantmaking relationships. This is also a great tool for evaluating community foundations in smaller communities.” Available for purchase at:
http://www.cof.org/Publications/Detail.cfm?ProductID=2840.

Community Foundation Locator (maintained by the Council on Foundations):
http://www.communityfoundationlocator.org/search/index.cfm.

You may want to supplement the information in this locator by using the search engine on the GuideStar—The National Database of Nonprofit Organizations site to look for community foundations in your state:
http://www.guidestar.org/search/index.jsp

You can also contact the Southeastern Council of Foundations for assistance:
www.secf.org.

Community Foundations of America
http://www.cfamerica.org.
CPA provides products and services that enhance the ability of community foundations to build their communities and serve their donors.

Community Foundations Serving Rural Areas is an excellent short introduction to community foundations and their potential for rural areas. Written by Karen Tice and available for free download through the Council of Michigan Foundations at:
http://www.cmif.org/SearchResults.aspx?Search=Karen%20Tice.

Family Foundations

National Center for Family Philanthropy
http://www.ncfp.org.
“The National Center for Family Philanthropy was founded to encourage families and individuals to create and sustain their philanthropic missions. The National Center, a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization, was established in 1997 by a group of family philanthropists. It is the only national resource center that focuses solely on matters of importance to families engaged in philanthropy and their effective giving.” Splendid Legacy: The Guide to Creating Your Family Foundation is available for purchase on their website.

Private Foundations

Starting a Private Foundation is available online through the Southeastern Council of Foundations:
http://www.secf.org/private_found_starting.asp.

Community-Based Philanthropy

Southern Rural Development Initiative (SRDI)

The SRDI Community-Based Philanthropy Sector webpage gives a succinct description of community-based philanthropy and provides links to SRDI’s member philanthropies:
www.srdi.org/info-url1708/info-url_show.htm?doc_id=17131.

Those member philanthropies include:

Appalachian Community Fund
Black United Fund of Memphis
Commission on Religion in Appalachia (CORA)
Community Shares of North Carolina
Community Shares of Tennessee
Fund for Southern Communities
Foundation for the Mid South
Georgia Black United Fund
Georgia Shares

Changemakers
http://www.changemakersfund.org/cbp.htm.
“Community-based philanthropy supports grassroots initiatives and community groups that work to address the underlying causes of social, economic and environmental problems. Democratic governance structures ensure that decision-making bodies are representative of the marginalized communities served by the foundations' programs.”

The Funding Exchange
http://www.fex.org/1.0_ourvision.html.
“The Funding Exchange is a national membership organization of publicly supported, community-based foundations. We are a unique partnership of activists and donors dedicated to building a base of support for progressive social change through fundraising for local, national and international grantmaking programs.”

Hispanics in Philanthropy
http://www.hiponline.org/about.html.
“Founded in 1983 to promote stronger partnerships between organized philanthropy and Latino communities, Hispanics in Philanthropy is a transnational association of grantmakers, with more than 450 members representing corporate, public and private philanthropies, nonprofit leadership and academia.”

National Conference on Black Philanthropy
nationalconferenceonblackphilanthropy@juno.com.
Promotes increased giving and volunteerism on the part of African Americans. Offers national biannual conference and regional conferences.

Women and Philanthropy
www.womenphil.org.
Women and Philanthropy is an association of grantmakers, women and men who recognize that effective solutions to our most pressing societal issues cannot be developed without specific attention to the critical needs and distinctive talents of all women.

The Neighborhood Funders Group
http://www.nfg.org.
“The Neighborhood Funders Group is a national network of foundations and philanthropic organizations. Our members support community-based efforts that improve economic and social conditions in low-income communities. NFG provides information, learning opportunities, critical thinking and other professional development activities to our members.”

National Office on Philanthropy and the Black Church
http://www.fndmidsouth.org/nopbc/nopbc.asp.
“The National Office was designed to build bridges between organized philanthropic institutions and the African-American church community. Long-term project goals are to: increase the impact of foundation resources and the African-American faith; enhance the quality of life in the African-American community; and to revitalize neighborhoods and the larger community via economic development.”

Rural Funders Working Group
http://www.nfg.org/rural/index.htm.
The mission of the Rural Funders Working Group is to increase the awareness of funding needs in rural communities and to foster greater involvement and partnership efforts in responding to the needs of rural communities. The group is a project of The Neighborhood Funders Group.

Of particular interest for people working on the Index is a public policy paper sponsored by this group: Collaboration and Partnership in Funding Rural Communities. It is available as free download at: www.nfg.org/publications/ruralcollab.htm.

The National Rural Funders Collaborative
http://www.nrfc.org.
“The National Rural Funders Collaborative (NRFC) is a partnership of national and regional funders and investors, grass roots practitioners, policymakers, and public sector agencies working together to expand resources for communities and families in rural areas facing persistent poverty. Beyond leveraging new and sustainable resources for rural areas, NRFC is developing a learning network in which practitioners and funders, along with other rural stakeholders and strategic allies, can identify best practices and measurable outcomes, while working together for effective policy change.” NRFC is an outgrowth of the Rural Funders Working Group.

Appalachian Community Fund
107 West Main Street, Suite 202
Knoxville, TN 37902
Phone: (865) 523-5783
http://www.appalachiancommunityfund.org/

Commission on Religion in Appalachia (CORA)
P.O. Box 52910
Knoxville, TN 37950-2910
Phone: (865) 584-6133
http://www.geocities.com/appalcora/Page_1x.html

Environmental Federation of North Carolina
P.O. Box 196
Durham, NC 27702
Phone: (919) 687-4840
E-mail: info@efnc.org

Foundation for the Mid South
308 E. Pearl Street, 4th Floor
Jackson, MS 39201
Phone: (601) 355-8167
http://www.fndmidsouth.org/home.asp

Fund for Southern Communities
4285 Memorial Drive, Suite G
Decatur, Georgia 30032
Phone: (404) 292-7600
http://www.fund4south.org/

Southern Partners Fund
1237 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd., SW
Atlanta, GA 30310
Phone: (404) 758-1983

Workplace Giving

National Alliance for Choice in Giving (NACG)
http://www.nacg.org.
The National Alliance for Choice in Giving (NACG) is an association of 52 local and statewide funding federations who raise funds through workplace charity drives for their member agencies. The federation members of NACG work for social and economic justice, women's rights, and environmental protection and preservation. NACG members partner with public and private businesses to develop programs that increase employee awareness of the community in which they live, while increasing involvement and support.

National Black United Fund (NBUF)
http://www.nbuf.org.
A network of more than 16 Black United Funds throughout the country which raise funds from workplace charitable giving campaigns and distribute grants to nonprofits assisting African American and other minority groups. NBUF provides technical assistance and support to its network members. In addition, NBUF's National Black United Federation of Charities raises funds through the Combined Federal Campaign nationally and distributes these funds to national organizations serving African-Americans and other communities of color.

National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy
http://www.ncrp.org.
The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy is committed to making philanthropy more responsive to socially. economically and politically disenfranchised people, and to the dynamic needs of increasingly diverse communities nationwide. Links collection: http://www.ncrp.ora/interest/links.htm.

Black United Fund of Tennessee
283 North Bellevue
Memphis, TN 38105
Phone: (901) 726-5353
http://tenn.nbuf.org

Community Shares Knoxville
107 West Main Street, Suite 201
Knoxville, TN 37902
Phone: (865) 522-1604
http://www.korrnet.org/cshares/

Community Shares Middle TN
One Vantage Way
Suite D-105
Nashville, TN 37228
615-726-2284
http://www.korrnet.org/cshares/

Community Shares of Louisiana
2010 Peniston St.
New Orleans, LA 70115
(504) 896-2285
http://www.louisianashares.org/

Earth Share of Georgia
1447 Peachtree Street, Suite 214
Atlanta, GA 30309
Phone: (404) 873-3173
http://www.earthsharega.org/index.html

Georgia Black United Fund, Inc.
10 Park Place South, Suite 505
Atlanta, GA 30303
Phone: (404) 524-4003

Georgia Shares
P.O. Box 78611
Atlanta, Georgia 30357
(404) 284-4349
http://www.georgiashares.org/

North Carolina Community Shares
P.O. Box 783
Durham, NC 27702
Phone: (919) 687-7653
http://ncshares.org/

Youth and Philanthropy

The Giving Forum maintains a webpage on Youth Philanthropy that is a good place to start gathering ideas and information: http://www.givingforum.org/news/granteespotlight.html.

Community Partnerships with Youth Inc., (CPY INC)
http://www.cpyinc.org/index.htm
CPY believes that youth from all walks of life are gifted and talented; and want to share these gifts and talents with community. CPY is a national training, resource design and technical assistance organization that specializes in: Youth as Trustees of their communities; Youth in Governance; and Youth as Philanthropists. Curriculum and training are available in all of these areas. They have an exciting new curriculum for young philanthropists (ages 7-11) called “The Word For Me Is Philanthropy”, plus a wonderful new storybook for children called “What if Everybody Gave?”. Also available is the “Youth as Philanthropists” that helps young people explore the many ways to practice giving and serving, and build lifelong philanthropic habits.

Resource Generation
http://www.resourcegeneration.org/
Resource Generation is an alliance of young people supporting and challenging each other to effect social change through the creative, responsible and strategic use of financial and other resources. Our purpose is to promote innovative ways for young people with wealth to align their personal values and political vision with their financial resources. We also strive to strengthen cross-class alliances with people and organizations working for social and economic justice.