NBA Cares - Sort Of

I've had no success in connecting with NBA player charities, and this article details some of the reasons why it may be more difficut to tap an athlete's charitable foundation than a traditional funding source:

Via Salt Lake Tribune

an analysis by The Salt Lake Tribune of hundreds of tax documents filed by NBA player charities has found these foundations face a dizzying array of problems, especially those set up by the athletes themselves, without outside expertise.

Among the findings of The Tribune's analysis of 89 stand-alone NBA player charities: Together, they reported revenue of at least $31 million between 2005 and 2007, but only about 44 cents of every dollar raised - or $14 million of that $31 million - actually reached needy causes. The average NBA player foundation put just 51 cents of each dollar it spent toward charitable programs, well below the 65 cents most philanthropic watchdog groups view as acceptable. Tax records show budgets are quickly eaten up by poor planning and administrative costs.

Some of the common problems include failure to hire professional help, hiring inexperienced relatives as foundation managers, or just plain lack of oversight:

Denver Nuggets shooting guard Dahntay Jones' charity, devoted to providing college scholarships and mentoring, took in $9,795 in 2005 and lost $8,102 in 2006. Charity vice president and Jones' mother, Joanne Jones, said a death in the family forced the organization to cancel its big annual fundraiser one year. "There's so much competition out there," she explained, citing fundraising, paperwork and finding volunteers all as challenges. "We can't afford to pay [staff] because we're trying to pay money into it so we can give scholarships out."

[...]

More than two-thirds of player-run foundation filing IRS forms between 2005 and 2007 had family members, friends or past sports associates on their boards. In several cases, the boards were made up entirely of family members. "They are all illegal," said Marc Pollick of the Giving Back Fund. "The IRS just doesn't have the arms to go after everybody."

If you've got a line on a relationship with an NBA player, that may be your best bet at scoring a grant or donation. Otherwise, it's most likely that your proposal or letter of inquiry will just wind up languishing in a pile on a desk somewhere.

Educational Funding in Massachusetts

Two interesting articles on the state of educational funding in the state of Massachusetts. The first comes from Fall River, where they are considering the once-unthinkable: applying for waivers to convert operating-funded positions to grant-funded.

Via Herald News

Acting Superintendent Meg Mayo-Brown said the district’s Title 1 amendment application was submitted in late November and is under review by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. She said ESE employees were expected to begin the process last Friday, but that meeting was postponed due to the impending snowstorm and Gov. Deval Patrick’s decision to keep all non-essential state employees home. The district is seeking grant amendments that would allow it to shave $740,000 from the school district’s operating costs by moving some positions out of the general budget and into grant-funded programs. The move was approved by the School Committee as one method to eliminate a $3.9 million shortfall.

Next, an article talking about how funding for charter schools - and traditional public schools - may be drying up quickly:

From the Gloucester Times

The recession gripping the country promises to stretch the state budget and thin the stream of education dollars that fund charter schools and bolster local spending on traditional public schools.

At the same time, Gov. Deval Patrick's administration continues to work toward an ambitious new wide-ranging education plan, already facing serious questions about affordability, that calls for the creation of new public schools similar to charters, but little mention of new charters themselves.

This winter the state is slated to rule on three applications for new charter schools — including the proposed Gloucester Community Arts Charter School — the smallest number of finalists for new charters in seven years.

As in most years, the proposals are facing loud opposition from teachers unions, school superintendents and local elected officials who warn of severe cuts to existing schools and municipal services if more charters are created. Cities and towns are already bracing for cuts in local aid from the state for the next fiscal year and are fearful that midyear cuts could scramble their current budgets.

A Few Quick Hitters

I receive quite a few newsletter emails from quite a few organizations dedicated to effective grant writing. The monthly missive from TGCI is often helpful, and I particulalrly liked a few things that Jane Hexter had to say about a foundation's giving history. The first item is a nice point about annual giving patterns:

How many organizations did they give to in the
most recent year?
If a foundation gave more than 30 grants it shows a pretty broad giving base. If it gave more than 60 grants I take it as a good sign that it gave broadly and is pretty amenable to entertaining proposals from organizations that it may not have given to in the past. On the other hand, if it just gave to 10 or so organizations, a little flare shoots up for me. Some foundations can even give out large amounts of money but disbursed to just a few, very lucky grantees. Either way, it indicates that the decisionmaking process rests with the strong preferences of a few board members.

She makes another great point about multi-year commitments:

Do they give multi-year grants?
Take a look and see if they give multi-year grants. Sometimes these are listed on the 990. It will say something like “$50,000 as part of a three year $150,000 commitment.” It’s helpful to know this [...] you can see how much of their funds are already committed. For example, a local foundation in my neck of the woods once made a large, multi-year commitment to build a museum that severely curtailed its other giving. This is particularly significant given the economic climate because as foundation portfolios and giving shrinks, they will endeavor to maintain their multi-year commitments - meaning that there might not be much left in the pot for your project.

All that being said, I'm a big fan of submitting proposals to longshot foundations - particularly if they're a longshot due to temporary circumstances (like an endowment loss). Getting a rejection letter isn't always a bad thing; submitting your proposal brings your organization to the attention of the trustees, and may give you an advantage in subsequent years ("these folks have been consistently persistent, why don't I give them a call"). Submitting a proposal and getting rejected can also be used as a jumping-off point - you can call the foundation for feedback on your proposal and start a dialogue about what they're looking for, and you can now send them collateral materials throughout the next year promoting your good work.

More Madoff Blowback

The string of charities destroyed by Madoff's Ponzi shenanigans continues ... of course, some of these charities were "built" by Madoff's "returns" in the first place, so it may be a case of "live by the sword and die by the sword":

Via The Boston Globe

On Friday, the unfolding scandal claimed the Picower Foundation of Palm Beach, Fla., one of the largest educational benefactors in the country. The $952 million foundation, which has ceased making grants, funded groundbreaking research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School.

In the same article, Globe correspondents Ross Kerber and Hinda Mandell speak to that rarest of all species: a charity manager who resisted the urge to invest with Madoff:

Earlier this year, the American Jewish Committee got a feeler from Bernard L. Madoff: Would it care to invest some of its $90 million endowment with the storied New York investment manager? The organization's investment committee took a pass, said spokesman Kenneth Bandler, because Madoff wouldn't provide enough information about how he achieved such steady, high returns. "We dodged that bullet," Bandler said.

The true wisdom appears in the lone comment on the article:

Bottom line..If its too good to be true IT IS listen to your inner voice ...

Framing Grants

From time to time I will discuss strategic framing in this space. I was turned on to framing at a Boston workshop run by the Frameworks Institute last year, and I'm a true believer. What is framing? According to the Institute's website, "the way an issue is framed explains who is responsible, and suggests potential solutions conveyed by images, stereotypes, messengers, and metaphors." Basically, it's a fresh way of thinking about what's the best way to present a your message to your audience.

I primarily write proposals for youth development and education programs, and the Frameworks Institute provides some unique insights as to which messages play well with general audiences and which ones do not. When messaging about children (or any other public policy issue), the overarching principle is to emphasize the "public-ness" of the problem at hand. Instead of trying to elicit an emotional or empathic response, get your audience to understand that there is a collective benefit to solving the problem.

Why does this approach (supposedly) work? Audiences are, by and large, predisposed to believe that most childrens' issues are primarily correlated to the effectiveness of parenting: if parents are responsible, hard-working and moral, their kids will do well. It naturally follows from this assumption that problems associated with "troubled kids" stem from irresponsible, lazy parents ... and even if people feel badly for the kids, they will recoil from the idea that they should have to cough up cash to pay for the mistakes these parents made. Strategic messaging that changes the dominant theme (the "frame") of the discussion from "these kids have bad parents and need your help" to "when disadvantaged kids engage in positive youth development, they become a positive force in the community that benefits all of us" will make your proposals stronger and more accessible to a broader audience of readers.

While the Frameworks Institute is primarily concerned with mass media campaigns that influence public opinion, I believe their approach is tremendously relevant to proposal writing. Over the next few months, I'll discuss several of the Institute's findings on messaging for youth issues, and provide examples of how I've integrated their recommendations into my writing.

WriteNow: Wal-Mart Foundation

The deadline for the final round of the first year of Wal-Mart's State Giving grants is December 19th. This program represents a major shift in giving for the Wal-Mart Foundation, which until recently only made grants to national organizations and provided funds to local stores for small sponsorships ($100 - $2,500 range). While I have not dug into their gift list, some of the awards for the State Giving program have been quite substantial. This gift was announced in a press release yesterday:

Via Marketwatch

Responding to an unprecedented crisis in Ohio's emergency food network and recognizing the struggle of Ohio families to pay their utility bills this winter, the Wal-Mart Foundation today announced a $300,000 grant to the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks (OASHF), Ohio's largest charitable response to hunger, and a $100,000 grant to the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP), a federally funded program administered by the Ohio Department of Development to help low-income Ohioans pay their utility bills.

It appears that state giving councils are given roughly $100k-$500k to give each quarter, depending on the size of the state and Wal-Mart's presence there (and where isn't Wal-Mart present?). Here's the September announcement of grants for Washington state:

Again, Via Marketwatch

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and the Wal-Mart Foundation have announced the organizations that have received the first grants in the new State Giving Program in Washington state. The total amount of the grants is $307,000. This program is intended to support non-profit organizations with unmet needs that are not currently addressed by existing programs. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and the Wal-Mart Foundation have a history of supporting the communities they serve.
"We are proud to be able to support these worthy organizations and recognize their considerable contributions to our communities," said Jennifer Spall, Wal-Mart senior manager for public affairs and government relations. "The Washington State Giving Program is a way to really focus our contributions and make them count."

The State Giving programs cropped up soon after Margaret McKenna (photo above, right) was named President of the Wal-Mart Foundation. Formerly President of Lesley University, McKenna pledged to make sweeping changes in Wal-Mart's giving strategy and it appears she has done so.

Fraud and Philanthropy

By now, Bernie Madoff is a household name. The man who until recently was only well-known in financial circles is now internationally notorious, thanks to his $50 Billion Ponzi scheme that defrauded thousands of investors. The revelation of Madoff's criminal enterprises will have quite an impact on the global philanthropic community - after all, many of those who thought they were "investing" in Madoff's funds are among the America's most generous givers. In Boston, the Shapiro Family Foundation (big hospital and healthcare backers) took an immediate hit:

Via Bloomberg

Boston philanthropist Carl Shapiro’s charitable foundation lost at least $145 million to Bernard Madoff’s alleged Ponzi scheme that cost investors $50 billion, the Boston Globe reported

A smaller Boston-area foundation and a larger California-based foundation have shut their doors:

Via JTA News

On Dec. 12, the Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation based in Salem, Mass., shut its doors after saying it had lost all its money -- $8 million -- by investing with Madoff.

[...]

California-based ... Chais Family Foundation, which gives away approximately $12.5 million annually to Jewish causes in Israel, the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, closed Sunday because all of its assets were invested with Madoff. The United Jewish Communities and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee were among its main beneficiaries.

And count a prominent member of Congress among the victims:

Via IHT.com

New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg, one of the wealthiest members of the Senate, entrusted his family's charitable foundation to Madoff. Lautenberg's attorney, Michael Griffinger, said they weren't yet sure the extent of the foundation's losses, but that the bulk of its investments had been handled by Madoff.

Lautenberg's foundation handed out more than $765,000 to at least 100 recipients in 2006, according to the most recent listing on Guidestar, which tracks charitable organization filings.

The foundation helps support a variety of religious, educational, civic and arts organizations in New Jersey and elsewhere, and its contributions range from a gift of than $300,000 to the United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey to a $2,000 donation to a children's program at the Hackensack Medical Center.

And Madoff, through his family foundation, also made many big-money gifts himself:

Via Fox News

In fact, the Madoffs have poured millions upon millions into lymphoma research — just under $6 million in just 2003, their peak year of total giving to charities. In 2004, a year when their total donations came to almost $6 million, the Madoffs sent $2.5 million to Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital and $1.7 million to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Some non-cancer charities made out pretty well in 2005. Girls Inc – a sort of "Big Sisters" group — got $25,000; Lincoln Center put $50,000 in its till; the Special Olympics had a gift of $25,000 and Robin Hood Foundation, $30,000.

[...]

In 2006, that huge total sum included one big winner: the Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation, which received $1 million.

The upshot? If you're about to submit a request to a family foundation, pull their 990 and find out if they invested in Madoff's hedge funds. If so, you may want to pull that proposal out of the queue until the foundation figures out where they stand.

A Cautionary Tale

Time-delimited grants provide tremendous enhancements to nearly every public school district. However, many schools utilize non-renewable funds to support teacher/staff salaries, and when the funds run out, find themselves holding the bag ... and needing to either (a) integrate the positions into the regular budget, or (b) eliminate the positions (and the programs/activities they support). A district may be able to hedge their bets on a few positions here and there, but for the most part, the rule of thumb is "don't hire anyone with grant funds that you can't afford to lose." And you certainly shouldn't do what the Springfield (MA) Public Schools have apparently done:

MassLive: Springfield Schools

Grants funding 723 school jobs
Monday, December 08, 2008
By MIKE PLAISANCE

SPRINGFIELD - A School Committee member said a report that shows the School Department has 723 grant-funded positions is important as officials prepare for possible state funding cuts.

Loss of state money - which accounts for 70 percent of the district school budget of nearly $304 million - would limit the system's ability to begin paying the salaries of those positions if the grants end, committee member Michael P. Rodgers said.

The 723 are mostly teachers with some clerical and administrative staff included. The district has about 4,800 employees.

[...]

Most cities and towns in MA are gearing up for a 10% cut in local aid ... if that happens in Springfield at the same time a lot of these grants run out, there could be a lot of folks looking for work (including the Superintendent, and any staff who greenlit all of this grant-funded hiring).

To Chase Or Not To Chase

One of the accepted truisms of non-profit management is "don't chase the money." You can find literally thousands of articles online advising non-profits to stay focused on their missions, and resist the urge to chase funds that would cause them to divert from that focus. Here are a few snippets:

Center for Participatory Change

DON'T "CHASE THE MONEY!" All too often, community organizations start by identifying a grant possibility, and only then make decisions and plans about their project. This practice can lead to a group running programs that they think will get funding, rather than the programs that their community actually needs. Trust your knowledge and understanding of your own community, and find money to fit your vision, rather than the other way around.

ACF Compassion Capital Fund

Identify the need for your proposed program and clarify your motivations for seeking funding. Ensure that the program you are considering is consistent with your mission. Let the needs of those you seek to serve drive your pursuit of dollars. Do not "chase the money."

Seems like simple logic, right? In many cases, this approach is probably the correct one. However, one study suggests that if you are fundraising for growth, chasing the money may actually be the correct approach ... with certain conditions, of course:

Stanford Social Innovation Review

In a recent study of the most dynamic, midsized youth-serving nonprofits in the country, the people we talked to repeatedly asked, “How do we get really big?” The answers to this question are anything but obvious.

[...]

(W)e identified three important practices common among nonprofits that succeeded in building large-scale funding models: (1) They developed funding in one concentrated source rather than across diverse sources; (2) they found a funding source that was a natural match to their mission and beneficiaries; and (3) they built a professional organization and structure around this funding model.

Getting big is not the right choice for every nonprofit, of course. Securing large-scale funding generally involves some programmatic trade-offs. And large sources of funding appear to be more readily available for – and appropriate to – some missions than others.

In essence, the message is "if you want to get big someday, create a mission that matches a funder." For established organizations with mission-committed donor bases, this advice may not be valuable. However, for young non-profits and those with the flexibility to choose multiple "mission pathways," chasing the money could be a profitable (metaphorically speaking, of course) approach.

Welcome!

Welcome to the Pro Grantwriter blog! My name is Chris, and I spend almost all of my time writing funding proposals for human service agencies and K-12 educational institutions.

This space will feature articles and news items from the world of grant writing and philanthropy, and my own commentary on giving trends and messaging techniques. I hope that you will find the content helpful in your own fundraising efforts.