Goal

To accelerate the growth and leadership of nine small and emerging community foundations in rural areas of California.

Initiative Description

Irvine has a long history of partnering with community foundations. In 2005 we launched a second Community Foundations Initiative (CFI II) to develop philanthropic resources in regions of the state that have been underserved by organized philanthropy. CFI II is based on the premise that if a community foundation successfully undertakes a visible and thoughtful regranting program, it will raise awareness of the community foundation's work and increase its credibility among stakeholders. With this increased recognition and simultaneous investments in internal capacity, the community foundation will be able to accelerate growth and increase its ability to serve the local community.

CFI II is a $12 million, six-year initiative with three key components: direct grants to each community foundation for core support and capacity building; an Irvine-funded regranting program to help each community foundation develop skills as a grantmaker; and a robust program of technical assistance. Additional details about CFI II are available here.

Evaluation

The evaluation for CFI II is an integral part of the technical assistance provided to the initiative's community foundation participants. The evaluation measures and indicators were developed by our evaluators with help from an advisory team comprised of three community foundation CEOs and our learning community coach. Each community foundation receives annual reports on their progress to build their capacity for continuous learning. The evaluators will also be highlighting lessons for the field in future publications and tools.

Objectives

This evaluation will assess how participation in CFI II develops the capacity of the community foundation grantees in terms of asset development, community grantmaking, donor engagement, strategic management, board governance and other priority areas. Developing strengths in these areas is expected to increase the ability of these emerging community foundations to mobilize community resources.

Time Frame

2006 — 2010

Participating grantees:

Methods

This evaluation involves analyzing grantee financial data, self-assessment surveys, interviews with community foundation leaders and consultation with technical assistance providers.

Findings:

Early findings show that all nine community foundations have achieved significant growth in assets. Philanthropic funds held by the cohort increased from $65 million in 2004 to $144 million in 2007, a 30 percent annual growth rate which exceeds the expected growth rate of 20 percent for community foundations of similar size. Among the individual foundations, growth rates ranged from 15 percent to 54 percent.

Grantmaking has increased 71 percent from $10.1 million in 2005 to $13.8 million in 2007, not including regranting funds from Irvine. In addition to engaging new donors, cohort members deepened connections to the regions they serve: 86 percent of their grants were directed to organizations in local communities.

Financial trends, such as higher fund averages, growth of endowed assets and a greater portion of expenses covered by fees, indicate that participants are making progress toward long-term sustainability.

Evidence also shows progress in governance practices and board involvement.

Related materials

Evaluator:

Eva Nico
Director
FSG Social Impact Advisors
625 Market Street, 6th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105
Phone: 415.397.8500
www.fsg-impact.org

top of page