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Best Practices for Nonprofit Boards

Published: 
July 2022
Nonprofit boards play a critical role in making sure that their organizations stay strong and healthy, especially during times of crisis. Alice Antonelli, Director for NFF's Advisory Services, has gathered a series of best practices for nonprofit boards , including special crisis tips to help boards prioritize specific actions they can take right now during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Best PracticeLeadership and Governance
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Trust-based Philanthropy Presentation

Published: 
June 2022
Trust-based philanthropy is informed by experience that funder-grantee relationships are stronger when they are built on the foundation of trust. These relationships: Center equity, humility and transparency. Recognize the power imbalance between funders and grantees, and work to actively rebalance it. Deeply value the quality of relationships, and honor how we treat others on the path to winning on our issues, as much as the act of winning itself. View the resources shared during a presentation to MCF's Corporate Community Affairs Network in June 2022.
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Best PracticeGrantmakingPresentation
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Native Nations and Communities 101

Published: 
March 2022
In March 2022, MCF and WASH-MN (We Are Still Here)* hosted a rich learning opportunity about Native Nations and communities. A recording of the presentation, linked here , introduces high-level topics specific to Native Nations and peoples, including what it means to be a Native Nation, the importance of treaties, basics of tribal citizenship and enrollment, and information on how to engage more effectively with Native communities. Viewers will gain base-level knowledge to help their foundations better understand and support Native communities and resources to continue learning. The session...
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Crafting a Compensation Philosophy

Published: 
December 2021
A compensation philosophy serves as a guide for employers who are making compensation decisions. It also provides transparency to employees who seek to understand decisions that are made. The attached documents offer a starting point for crafting a comprehensive compensation philosophy along with sample excerpts from philanthropic organizations.
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Principles for Philanthropy: Introductory Presentation

Published: 
October 2021
MCF offers this PowerPoint deck as a tool for educating your colleagues, staff, board or community members about the Principles for Philanthropy. Ideas for using this PowerPoint deck: Use the whole deck to introduce all of the principles at a staff or board meeting. Focus on one slide – one of the 8 principles – for 15 minutes at the start of a meeting. Use the questions at the end of the deck to engage your team in discussing one principle – or the entire set of principles: What principles / concepts resonate most with your foundation? What principles / concepts do you think will feel...
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Embracing Complexity: Towards a Shared Understanding of Funding Systems Change

Published: 
January 2020
As we stand on the threshold of an epochal decade, we are confronted with an urgent need to find, fund, and support transformative solutions at a far greater pace than ever. To that end, Ashoka and McKinsey invited additional partners to join their annual collaboration to co-create a shared perspective: Catalyst 2030, Co-Impact, Echoing Green, the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, the Skoll Foundation, and SYSTEMIQ. Together, we seek to reflect on the sector’s insights to the question: how do we get better at funding and supporting systems change? This report is the product of a...
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The Role of Philanthropy in Systems Change

Published: 
December 2017
This paper was created to spark conversation and ideation for foundations interested in exploring investments in “systems change.” It offers a scan of the work of systems change within the philanthropic field, as well as a focus on policy advocacy – a key systems change strategy. It also provides an overview of approaches grantmakers are using, along with some examples of systems change investments at work, to help foster ongoing conversation among Foundation board and staff.
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Foundations Respond to Crisis: A Three-Part Series

In early spring of 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic worsened, foundations in the U.S. began to respond by shifting resources and practices. Some funders, nonprofits, and others in the field called for fundamental changes in how funders approach their work — including upping the provision of long-term, flexible funding; shifting the funder–grantee power dynamic; placing greater trust in nonprofits; and increasing foundation payout. The pandemic has exacerbated long-standing structural inequities — especially in Black, Latino, Native American, low-income and working-class communities, and for...

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