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Get philanthropy insights, learn best practices and research documents that help you further your impact. Begin your search by typing a keyword in the "Search" bar below, or search by "Resource Type" by selecting the section(s) in the right-hand panel. Next, scroll to the bottom of the page to view search results. Have a resource to add? Email us at info@mcf.org.
 

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Policy Influence: What Foundations are Doing and Why

For all the conversation and critique about foundations’ engagement in public policy, relatively little data about their efforts in the public policy realm are available, including how many foundations engage in efforts to influence public policy, as well as why and how. To better understand foundations and public policy influence, the Center for Effective Philanthropy studied the perspective of foundation leaders across the country on this topic, through surveys and in-depth interviews.
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Public Policy

The PRI Pulse

The PRI Pulse is an ambitious research project undertaken by Venn Foundation to learn how Minnesota private foundations have historically used Program-Related Investments (PRIs) from 1998 to 2016. Their goal was to put their fingers on the state’s PRI pulse and then report back the results, providing Minnesota’s philanthropic and impact investing communities with high-quality baseline statistics on how PRIs have been used in the past, right at a time when many are discussing how best to utilize them in the future.
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Impact Investing

The 2018 Diversity Among Philanthropic Professionals Report

In 2018, Funders for LGBTQ Issues set out to survey the board and staff of foundations in order to identify how many LGBTQ people worked in philanthropy. In the process, the organization realized that it had an opportunity to not only ask about sexual orientation and gender identity but also to inquire about a range of personal identifiers. With the inaugural Diversity Among Philanthropic Professionals (DAPP) Survey, Funders for LGBTQ Issues asked participants to identify their role within their foundation, their age, gender identity, sexual orientation, race and ethnicity, and disability...
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Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

D5 State of the Work 2012: The Road to Greater Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Philanthropy

State of the Work 2012 explores milestones and stories in each of the four goal areas. It’s intended as a qualitative companion to the quantitatively focused State of the Work 2011. Each section of the report focuses on work in one goal area. Within each section you’ll find a baseline analysis of where philanthropy is in this area, a progress report on D5’s work, stories or interviews based on work in the field, and preliminary lessons learned. On page 47, you will also find a glossary that defines various acronyms referenced in the report. Throughout the report, we mention data that quantify...
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Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Racial Equity Toolkit: An Opportunity to Operationalize Equity

Racial equity tools are designed to integrate explicit consideration of racial equity in decisions, including policies, practices, programs, and budgets. It is both a product and a process. Use of a racial equity tool can help to develop strategies and actions that reduce racial inequities and improve success for all groups. Too often, policies and programs are developed and implemented without thoughtful consideration of racial equity. When racial equity is not explicitly brought into operations and decision-making, racial inequities are likely to be perpetuated. Racial equity tools provide...
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Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Support Beyond Dollars

Lifting up the genius and lived experience of Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) leaders is necessary to advancing racial equity and uncovering the solutions to large, systemic problems like disparities in housing, education, healthcare and the wealth gap. BIPOC communities continue to be excluded from, and wholly oppressed by, these systems and continue to experience the highest barriers when engaging with them. Even across the nonprofit landscape, leaders who reflect their communities typically receive only a fraction of funding for their nonprofit organizations, despite better...
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Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

The Costs of Political Violence in the United States: The Benefits of Investing in Communities

The insurrection at the United States Capitol occurred while this report was being prepared for publication. As more details emerge, it will be some time before the lead-up to the violent insurrection, the insurrection itself, and its aftermath can be fully analyzed. However, this event certainly illustrates many of the types of costs of political violence that this paper details. There are the immediate economic costs of shutting down the Capitol complex and repairing the damage that incurred. There are costs in increased security; 25,000 National Guard troops were brought into Washington, D...
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Public Policy

Awake to Woke to Work: Building a Race Equity Culture

Awake to Work to Work
The attainment of race equity requires us to examine all four levels on which racism operates (personal, interpersonal, institutional, and structural), recognize our role in enduring inequities, and commit ourselves to change. As a sector, we must center race equity as a core goal of social impact in order to fulfill our organizational missions. This publication is relevant for you if you: Have some awareness that race equity is essential to driving impactful change within the social sector Want to play an active role in advancing race equity in your organization Lead, want to lead, or have...
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Diversity, Equity and InclusionResearch

State of Funding: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Grantmaking in Minnesota

This report shows that U.S. foundations awarded nearly $1.3 million in 2007 to LGBTQ organizations and programs throughout Minnesota; 83 percent of this giving came from foundations based inside the state. It also found that nearly half of the Minnesota organizations that responded to our study have annual budgets of $100,000 or less and operate with two or fewer paid staff members. These groups rely more on support from foundations and individuals, and less on government and corporate sources. A number of opportunities exist for foundations to invest in LGBTQ communities throughout Minnesota...
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Diversity, Equity and InclusionResearch

Grantmaking with a Racial Equity Lens: A Practical Guide

Written by PRE Senior Fellow Rinku Sen and Executive Director Lori Villarosa with contributions from Maggie Potapchuk, Lisa McGill, and Makani Themba, this resource provides grantmakers with reflections, frameworks and tools built from the direct experience of activists and funders for advancing racial justice in any philanthropic setting. Download it here

Writing a Successful Grant Proposal

This outline should meet the needs of most funders, or guide you when approaching a funder with no written guidelines. The outline is for a project proposal, and is most appropriate for a project that is trying to correct a problem, such as water pollution, school truancy or ignorance about how HIV/AIDS is transmitted. The grant proposal as a whole, not including supplementary materials, should usually be five pages or less.
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MCF PublicationsNonprofit Resources

Race, Culture, Power and Inclusion in Foundations

This report was sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, more particularly, by an internal group at the Foundation called RESPECT. This group seeks to improve the ways in which the Foundation addresses issues with respect to race, class, culture, and power both internally and externally. Although various dimensions of this very broad topic are broken down and addressed in this report and in the questionnaire, the results of this study clearly indicate that internal and external hiring, grantmaking, grantee relations, and board recruitment are all interrelated when it comes to race, class,...
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Diversity, Equity and InclusionResearch

Listening to Black Women and Girls: Lived Experiences and Adultification Bias

This study's goal was to measure participants’ responses to our adultification findings by asking them about their real-world observations and seeking their insights about solutions to overcome this bias, as well as directions for future research. To that end, it asked participants whether the results of the original study align with their lived experiences and whether they believe the findings presented in the previous Girlhood Interrupted report would contribute to meaningful change.
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Diversity, Equity and InclusionResearch

Foundation Diversity Policy & Practices Toolkit

Changing demographics throughout the United States are redefining the role of diversity within the field of philanthropy. Foundations are embracing diversity in their grantmaking and organizational practices and thereby strengthening their knowledge of the communities they serve. This, in turn, broadens their perspective on the political, economic, and social problems they aim to resolve. A foundation that both reflects and acknowledges the myriad characteristics of its communities operates from a richer range of viewpoints toward successful grantmaking and as an authentic philanthropic...

Disability Etiquette: Tips on Interacting with People with Disabilities

The United States Census Bureau reports that approximately 56.7 million Americans have a disability. This booklet is for anyone—with or without a disability—who wants to interact more effectively with people with disabilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 was conceived with the goal of integrating people with disabilities into all aspects of life, particularly the workplace and the marketplace. Sensitivity toward people with disabilities is not only in the spirit of the ADA, it makes good business sense. It can help you expand your practice, better serve your customers or...

Building on a Better Foundation: A Toolkit for Creating an Inclusive Grantmaking Organization

The toolkit now in your hands is the product of many years of dialogue, debate and learning among a committed group of people at regional grantmaking associations across the country and their colleagues at member organizations. What began with talk about race and ethnicity in the 1980s eventually evolved into discussions of the broader issues of inclusion and diversity at grantmaking institutions. This toolkit takes the talk to another level, to walk the walk of inclusion by encouraging others to think about and pursue diversity in both their internal organization and their external work as...

A Toolkit for Centering Racial Equity Throughout Data Integration

Societal “progress” is often marked by the construction of new infrastructure that fuels change and innovation. Just as railroads and interstate highways were the defining infrastructure projects of the 1800 and 1900s, the development of data infrastructure is a critical innovation of our century. Railroads and highways were drivers of development and prosperity for some investors and sites. Yet other individuals and communities were harmed, displaced, bypassed, ignored, and forgotten by those efforts. As railroads and highways both developed and decimated communities, so too can data...

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