Winter 2008

Dear Friends,

Last summer, we posted the results of our Grantee Perception Report, a confidential survey of Irvine grantees conducted for us by the Center for Effective Philanthropy. When we posted these results, we also identified a series of next steps we proposed to undertake to address what we learned from these surveys. Now, after careful consideration among our staff and board, I'm pleased to report on plans for 2008 that we hope will address one of the key areas of concern identified by the survey.

One of the primary findings from the survey was the relatively low level of satisfaction among grantees of our New Connections Fund (NCF), a pilot program created in 2004 to expand our reach by funding small to midsize organizations well-aligned with selected priorities within our three core programs.

As an open, competitive grants program, NCF has enabled a broader range of organizations across the state to access Irvine resources. Indeed, since its inception, NCF has provided more than 300 grants totaling nearly $11 million and reached organizations across the state. In addition, more than 75 percent of NCF grants were to organizations with no history of Irvine funding.

However, the tradeoff for processing a high volume of applications and reaching such a large number of new organizations has been a relatively low-level of Irvine staff interaction with individual NCF grantees. The Grantee Perception Report revealed that NCF grantees want more interaction with Irvine staff and access to the kind of non-monetary support (technical assistance and capacity building) that we make available to grantees in our core grantmaking programs. NCF grantees also expressed a desire to apply for renewal support.

With this feedback, we have worked over the past several months to redesign NCF. Full details will be announced in February, but briefly what we intend to do is to create tailored funds within each of our core program areas to address what we heard. Specifically, in California Perspectives and Youth, we will work with an intermediary organization to carry out regranting and enhance the non-monetary resources available to grantees, and in the Arts, we will continue to award grants directly as we make some refinements to our approach. (More on the changes to NCF.)

Throughout this process, we have been guided by the strong belief that it is important to retain an open, competitive process that would allow smaller, community-based organizations, particularly those in our priority regions of the Inland Empire and San Joaquin Valley, to apply for Irvine funding. We also want to be able to offer complementary technical assistance and capacity building support to our grantees, and we will permit organizations to apply for renewal support from these funds, even though this may somewhat reduce the number of organizations new to Irvine.

Improving this program has been an important activity for us over the past several months because it reflects our commitment not only to invite honest, constructive feedback from grantee organizations, but also to act on it by making refinements that will ultimately enhance the work of our partners. In the end, it is this collaborative process that will help us to better succeed in our mission of expanding opportunity for the people of California.

As always, I welcome your questions, comments or suggestions.

Sincerely,

James E. Canales
President and CEO

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