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Want to learn more about the Philanthropy Index process in your community? Download the Index in Depth papers below. |
Stage 7: Establish an Organization
Any permanent philanthropic organization will require a governing or advisory body to set funding guidelines and priorities, do fundraising, maintain communications, manage finances and make grants. Work carefully as you choose the group that will govern your organization. Keep in mind the basic principles used to select your Index research team.
There are also many important laws and regulations governing the activities of charitable organizations. You should seek professional assistance from a community foundation, lawyer or accountant with knowledge of those laws and regulations. Now you are ready to begin encouraging individuals and organizations to make contributions to your community’s organization.
In this section, you will find information on: Creating a 501(c)3, Nonprofit Management, Organizational Development, Asset Development, Donor Education, Fundraising Associations and Resources, and Grantmaking.
The Council on Foundations website has excellent resources for those considering starting a foundation: http://www.cof.org/index.htm. These include:
Starting a Foundation
http://www.cof.org/starting/index.htm
Principles and Practices for Effective Grantmaking
http://www.cof.org/resources/prinprac.htm
A comprehensive paper on Stage 7, "Establish an Organization", prepared by the Philanthropy Index staff, is available on this web page by simply clicking on that title in the column to the left.
Creating a 501(c)3
How to Form a Nonprofit Corporation (National Edition). 5th edition. Anthony Mancuso. NOLO Press (2002). Step-by-step instructions for forming a nonprofit corporation in any state.
NOLO. The best general online legal resource. www.nolo.com.
Nonprofit Management/Organizational Development
How Effective Nonprofits Work: A Guide for Donors, Board Members, and Foundation Officers. Marcia Festen and Marianne Philbin. Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers. www.givingforum.org.
Managing a Nonprofit Organization in the 21st Century. 3rd edition. Thomas Wolf and Barbara Carter. Fireside (1999).
Standards of Excellence: A Self-Help Tool for Nonprofits’ Organizational Effectiveness. The Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations and the North Carolina Center for Nonprofit Organizations (1998). www.ncnonprofits.org.
Managing the Non-Profit Organization: Principles and Practices. Peter F. Drucker. Harper 1990).
Milano Nonprofit Management Knowledge Hub. This website “guides readers to the most useful free articles, resources and websites for nonprofit management professionals and researchers”. All links and entries are reviewed by two staff members and two volunteer reviewers. An exhaustive listing and outstanding resource. Produced by the Nonprofit Management Program of the Robert J. Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy at New School University in New York City. http://www.newschool.edu/milano/hub/
The Nonprofit Good Practice Guide. This website is a “comprehensive online resource directory and capacity building tool that offers Preferred Practices and Pitfalls, Glossaries, Resources, Trends and Web Site Profiles within ten topic areas. Nonprofitbasics.org offers answers to virtually any question about managing nonprofits by providing hands-on tips, articles and profiled links.” The Guide is a project of the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership at Grand Valley State University, Michigan. http://www.nonprofitbasics.org
Nonprofit FAQ. Online resource from the Internet Nonprofit Center that offers information “provided by participants in many online discussions about nonprofits and their work”. Based on actual questions and answers posted by nonprofit managers over the years. High-quality, and comprehensive. http://www.nonprofits.org/npofaq/
GuideStar—The National Database of Nonprofit Organizations. This free service offers information on the programs and finances of more than 600,000 American charities and nonprofit organizations, as well as news stories and a donor forum. http://www.guidestar.org
The Independent Sector. Current trends; national leadership forum; research and website links. http://www.indepsec.org/.
The NonProfit Times. Monthly newspaper covering current issues in the nonprofit sector, with an emphasis on management. Free for directors of nonprofits. www.nptimes.com.
The Board of Directors. A Special Edition of the Grassroots Fundraising Journal. Kim Klein and Stephanie Roth. Chardon Press (2000).
BoardSource. “Formerly the National Center for Nonprofit Boards, BoardSource is the premier resource for practical information, tools and best practices, training, and leadership development for board members of nonprofit organizations worldwide. Through our highly acclaimed programs and services, BoardSource enables organizations to fulfill their missions by helping build strong and effective nonprofit boards”. http://www.boardsource.org/default.asp?ID=1. Especially useful is their webpage “Board Essentials”, a set of FAQ’s on every aspect of Board formation and development: http://www.boardsource.org/QnA.asp?Class=BoardEssential.
Board Café. “The electronic newsletter exclusively for members of nonprofit boards of directors. Short enough to read over a cup of coffee, Board Café offers a menu of ideas, information, opinion, news, and resources to help board members give and get the most out of board service. Each issue will bring you a cornucopia of ‘Little Ideas,’ as well as one ‘Big Idea’ you can use in your board work.” http://www4.compasspoint.org/p.asp?WebPage_ID=652.
StrategicInterventions, Inc. is an international consulting firm dedicated to advancing progressive social change through building the long-term institutional capacity of organizations and expanding the skills and acumen of leadership. Strategic Interventions draws upon the unique culture and experience of each client organization or institution to address its specific organizational and leadership challenges. http://www.strategic-interventions.com/Home.asp.
“The Mission of Strategic Interventions is three-fold: 1) to build the long-term institutional capacity of organizations, agencies, and businesses; 2) to expand the creativity, knowledge, skills, effectiveness and impact of leaders and managers; and3) to foster progressive social change and social responsibility in the public, private and civic sectors around the world.”
“Positioning organizations for success is a specialty of our firm. Effective positioning often requires tailoring the assistance to each organization's specific developmental stage. We develop strategies that can be effectively implemented by organizations at every stage of development from emerging organizations to the most seasoned institutions. The firm assists organizations in the development of strategic thinking and planning approaches; creation of assessment tools; design of organizational restructuring options, and facilitation of succession planning.”
State Nonprofit Resource Centers have access to a multitude of resources for starting-up a 501(c)3:
Alabama
The Nonprofit Resource Center of Alabama
3324 Independence Dr., Suite 100
Birmingham, AL 35209
(205) 879-4712
www.nonprofit-al.org
Arkansas
Nonprofit Resources
500 Broadway, Suite 403
Little Rock, AR 72201-3342
(501) 374-8515
www.nonprofitarkansas.org
Florida
Florida Association of Nonprofit Organizations
7480 Fairway Drive, #206
Miami Lakes, FL 33014
(305) 557-1764
www.fano.org
Georgia
Georgia Center for Nonprofits
The Hurt Building, 50 Hurt Plaza, Suite 220
Atlanta, GA 30303
(404) 688-4845
www.nonprofitgeorgia.org
Louisiana
Louisiana Association of Nonprofit Organizations
700 N. 10th Street, Suite 250
Baton Rouge, LA 70821
(225) 343-5266
www.lano.org
Mississippi
Mississippi Center for Nonprofits
612 North State Street, Suite B
Jackson, MS 39202
(601) 968-0061
www.msnonprofits.org
North Carolina
North Carolina Center for Nonprofits
1110 Navaho Drive, Suite 200
Raleigh, NC 27609-7322
(919) 790-1555
www.ncnonprofits.org
South Carolina
South Carolina Association of Nonprofit Organizations
P.O. Box 11252
Columbia, SC 29211
(803) 929-0399
www.scanpo.org
Tennessee
Tennessee Nonprofit Association
2012 21st Avenue South
Nashville, TN 37212
(615) 385-2221
Asset Development
The Giving Forum offers a series of tools on their website for those working to build philanthropic assets. Go to: http://www.givingforum.org/about/ventures_tools.html.
These resources include an excellent web page providing resources for individual donors and donor education: http://www.givingforum.org/giving/guide.html.
Publications available through The Giving Forum:
Engaging Diverse Communities. This report from the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers provides practical advice to help philanthropic institutions broaden their donor bases, services, and programs by reaching out to culturally defined communities. It outlines a straightforward approach to identify, attract, and invite participation by diverse donors. The cost to nonprofits is $15.00, to for-profits, $25.00.
Starting a Private Foundation. If you are considering starting your own private foundation, this booklet will help you decide whether a private foundation is a realistic option. It will answer some questions about the federal and state regulations governing private foundations, and the tax benefits to private foundation donors. Starting a Private Foundation uses non-technical language to describe the legal climate in which private foundations operate, and it summarizes the tax benefits and limitations that private foundations offer donors. Starting a Private Foundation is free to nonprofits and $1.50 to for-profits.
The Giving Forum also provides a “Private Foundation Calculator” which can be useful in estimating how much money your community will need to raise in order to be able to make annual gifts of a certain amount, or to figure how much giving can be done with a certain amount in a foundation. Go to: http://www.givingforum.org/cgi-bin/calc/calc.pl
The Southeastern Council of Foundations offers the superb Southeastern Toolkit for Giving: Creating a Community for Philanthropy, a hands-on resource prepared to help professional advisors, potential donors and foundation staff explore charitable giving options. The Toolkit includes: 10 questions every donor should ask before giving; ideas on what, where and how much to give; profiles of donors who discuss their choices; additional resources throughout the Southeast for more information about giving options; and, much more. Discounts for bulk orders of 25 copies or more. Members: $6 each ($5.50 bulk); Non-Members: $10 each ($9 bulk). Order from the SECF website at: http://www.secf.org/publications.asp
About Giving is also available from SECF. Available through their website:
http://www.secf.org/about_giving.asp
Raising More Money: A Step-by-Step Guide to Building Lifelong Donors. Terry Axelrod. Raising More Money Publications (2002). Available through their website:
http://www.raisingmoremoney.com
The Seven Faces of Philanthropy: A New Approach to Cultivating Major Donors. Russ A. Prince and Karen M. File. Jossey-Bass (1994).
Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training (GIFT).
http://www.grassrootsinstitute.org
“Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training (GIFT) develops and strengthens the grassroots fundraising skills of people working for social justice. Created primarily for groups and people of color, the goal of GIFT is to build the capacity of progressive organizations to raise money and to increase the number of people of color in fundraising. GIFT seeks to decrease organizations' dependence on foundation funding by helping them develop a broad base of individual donors to support their work.” They publish an excellent “Fundraising Training Manual”.
Grassroots Fundraising Journal:
www.chardonpress.com.
The Philanthropic Initiative.
http://www.tpi.org.
“The Philanthropic Initiative, Inc. (TPI) is a non-profit philanthropic consulting firm founded to help donors increase the impact of their philanthropy. TPI seeks to increase the impact of philanthropy in society by: working with donors to make their giving more strategic, effective and fulfilling; crafting creative and productive approaches to important social issues; and inspiring and supporting others to become deeply engaged in philanthropic endeavors.”
State Philanthropy Development Organizations are specialists in helping groups build new philanthropy:
Alabama
The Alabama Giving Project
P.O. Box 530727
Birmingham, AL 35253-0727
(205) 313-4827
www.alabamagiving.org
Arkansas
Mid South Collaborative to Promote Philanthropy
c/o Foundation for the Mid South
308 East Pearl Street
Jackson, MS 39201
(601) 355-8167
www.fndmidsouth.org
Georgia
Georgia Rural Philanthropy Initiative
Georgia Center for Nonprofits
50 Hurt Plaza SE
Suite 220
Atlanta, GA 30303-2914
(404) 688-4845
http://www.gcn.org/grpi.html
Louisiana
Louisiana Giving
c/o LANO
700 N. 10th Street, Suite 250
Baton Rouge, LA 70821
(225) 343-5266
http://www.louisianagiving.org
Mid South Collaborative to Promote Philanthropy
c/o Foundation for the Mid South
308 East Pearl Street
Jackson, MS 39201
(601) 355-8167
www.fndmidsouth.org
Mississippi
Mid South Collaborative to Promote Philanthropy
c/o Foundation for the Mid South
308 East Pearl Street
Jackson, MS 39201
(601) 355-8167
www.fndmidsouth.org
North Carolina
Community Foundation Alliance for North Carolina
http://www.communityfoundationsnc.org
North Carolina Network of Grantmakers
Heidi Gilmore, Project Manager
c/o North Carolina Community Foundation
200 S. Salisbury St.
Raleigh, N.C. 27601
(919) 319-8986
heidilgilmore@aol.com
South Carolina
South Carolina Gives!
Marika Michaels, Project Coordinator
c/o Central Carolina Community Foundation
1400 Pickens Street, Suite 300
Columbia, SC 29201
(803) 254-5601
michaels@huxleygroup.com
West Virginia
West Virginia Community Foundations Consortium
Post Office Box 314
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia 25425
(866) 567-3457
www.givetowestvirginia.org
Donor Education
About Giving. Southeastern Council of Foundations. Available through their website:
http://www.secf.org/about_giving.asp
The Giving Forum offers an excellent web page providing resources for individual donorsand donor education:
http://www.givingforum.org/giving/guide.html.
Inspired Philanthropy: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Giving Plan (2nd edition). Tracy Gary. Chardon Press/Jossey-Bass (2002). Available from: www.chardonpress.com.
The Minnesota Toolkit for Giving is an excellent online primer for donors on the field of philanthropy and the various methods and instruments for giving:
http://www.minnesotagiving.org.
The NewTithing Group is a philanthropic research organization committed to increasing charitable giving and personal fulfillment. They provide a budgeting perspective that helps people decide how much they can afford to donate. http://www.newtithing.org/index.html.
Robin Hood Was Right: A Guide to Giving Your Money for Social Change. Chuck Collins, Pam Rogers and Joan P. Garner. W.W. Norton (2000) Available through their website:
http://www.robinhoodwasright.org/thebook.html.
Strategies for Sharing (from Northwest Giving):
http://www.nwgiving.org/htm/strat.htm.
This link provides a table that “summarizes key points about major giving options.”
Fundraising Associations and Resources
American Association of Fund-Raising Counsel (AAFRC)
www.aafrc.org.
The member firms of the AAFRC provide fund-raising counsel to not-for-profit organizations. The AAFRC also publishes Giving USA, an annual analysis of charitable giving trends.
The Fundraising School
www.philanthropy.iupui.edu/fundschool.htm.
The only national fund raising education program housed within a university. It is part of the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy, and offers a variety of courses on fund raising for nonprofits.
Association of Fundraising Professionals
www.nsfre.org.
The professional association for individuals responsible for generating philanthropic support for a wide variety of not-for-profit, charitable organizations.
Grantmaking
The Giving Forum has an excellent web page providing resources for grantmakers: http://www.givingforum.org/giving/grant_resources.html.
Grantcraft A source of practical wisdom from grantmakers on the tools and techniques of effective grantmaking; offers guides, videos, and case studies.
http://www.grantcraft.org.