Foundations and Public Policy Grantmaking

An Irvine-commissioned white paper explores the range of ways private foundations can engage in public policy. The paper, by independent consultant Julia Coffman, who has worked with numerous foundations, proposes a framework for public policy grantmaking. The paper suggests specific lessons that foundations should keep in mind when considering policy-related grantmaking, and highlights four case studies illustrating the variety of approaches foundations should consider. Irvine is increasingly engaged in the public policy arena, so we commissioned the paper to deepen our understanding of policy-related grantmaking.

Download (March 2008) (PDF, 575 KB)

Tools to Help Community Foundations Advance Their Visibility

New tools developed and tested through Irvine's Community Foundations Initiative II are available for application by community foundations everywhere. An individual assessment and an individual action plan help board members take stock of, and enhance, their readiness to act as ambassadors promoting the value of their community foundation to local stakeholders. A sample legacy brochure helps board members introduce the concept of endowment giving to their personal contacts.

Downloads: (October 2007)
Individual Assessment (PDF, 31 KB)
Individual Action Plan (PDF, 35 KB)
Sample Legacy Brochure (PDF, 502 KB)

Growing Smarter: Achieving Sustainability in Emerging Community Foundations

It’s a striking paradox: As community foundations grow their assets, their sustainability is often threatened. This report, written by FSG Social Impact Advisors, offers guidance for how community foundations of virtually any size can achieve growth and sustainability, based on the experiences of 24 community foundations in California and around the United States. The report includes new data, case studies and a comparison of economic models. An Executive Summary and Discussion Guide, included in the paper, are also available as separate files for easy distribution. A Board Presentation introduces core concepts of the report.

Downloads: (October 2007)
Full Report (PDF, 2 MB)
Executive Summary (PDF, 175 KB)
Discussion Guide (PDF, 37 KB)
Board Presentation (PPT, 5.6 MB)

Deeper Capacity Building for Greater Impact: Designing a Long-Term Initiative to Strengthen a Set of Nonprofit Organizations

This briefing paper, prepared by TCC Group with funding from Irvine, offers guidance for funders about how to plan, implement, and evaluate long-term, capacity-building initiatives. These initiatives – defined as sustained efforts to help a select group of nonprofit grantees reach a new level of effectiveness – offer grantmakers an opportunity to increase their impact beyond project-based support. But they can also introduce much greater complexity into the grantmaking process because of the need for a longer time horizon, multiple sites, and issues of confidentiality. This paper helps funders navigate these complexities.

Download (April 2007) (PDF, 2 MB)

Foundation Giving in California: A Snapshot of Overall Giving, Asset Distribution and Regional Disparities among Private and Community Foundations

This report, commissioned by the Irvine Foundation and prepared by Putnam Community Investment Consulting, provides a comprehensive picture of private philanthropy in California. The report shows that many California counties are underserved by foundations, particularly in the rapidly growing Inland Empire and Central Valley. Many counties in these regions received less than $10 per capita in annual foundation giving compared with $102 per capita statewide. It also shows that community foundations are playing an important role in the state, providing more than 15 percent of the combined giving from community and private foundations.

Download (November 2006) (PDF, 3.3 MB)

Developing a Community Foundation Affiliate: A Case Study Comparing Efforts in Three Regions of Sonoma County: Healdsburg, West County, and Petaluma

From 1995 to 2003, Irvine worked with community foundations in seven California communities to accelerate their growth and build their capacity, dedicating $11.7 million to this effort. One of these community foundations, the Community Foundation Sonoma County, began an outreach effort to engage donors and community members in several areas of the county where the community foundation had historically had less presence. The result was three affiliate funds focused on Healdsburg, Petaluma, and West County. This case study documents the community foundation’s efforts and lessons learned.

Go to publication request. (2006)

Communications Toolkit — A Guide to Navigating Communications for the Nonprofit World

Following up on the success of Cause Communications' earlier Why Bad Ads Happen to Good Causes, this comprehensive guide offers practical information in virtually every area of communications — from how to develop a communications plan and budget to what tools you need to help raise awareness and funds. The book, based on national qualitative and quantitative audits of what nonprofits need in the area of communications, offers an overview of all the possible tools used to develop smart communications.

Go to publication request. (2005)

What California Donors Want: In Their Own Voices

This report, an initiative of the National Center for Family Philanthropy, provides an in-depth study of the goals, motivations, and challenges of leading California donors. The report is a tool for community and public foundations, regional associations of grantmakers, lawyers, financial advisors, and others who support independent, philanthropic donors.

Downloads (April 2004)
Executive Summary (PDF, 110 KB)
Full Report (PDF, 1.4 MB)

Overarching Assessment of the Community Foundations Initiative

The Overarching Assessment of the Community Foundations Initiative (CFI) is the final report prepared by Public Policy Associates in a series of assessments of CFI. The report describes the specific evaluation findings in 2002-03 and offers a cumulative look at accomplishments throughout the initiative from 1995 to 2003.

Download (October 2003) (PDF, 150 KB)

Eyes Wide Open: Deciding When to Launch a Community Initiative

Eyes Wide Open presents a helpful guideline for community foundations to use in the important due diligence that should come before giving any initiative the green light. The third in a series, the paper comes from the experience and evaluation of The James Irvine Foundation's Community Foundations Initiative (CFI). A seven-year effort begun in 1995, CFI supported seven California community foundations seeking to accelerate growth, build capacities, and generally become more effective philanthropies. Each of these foundations has engaged in community initiatives, and many have developed tools for assessing such opportunities. This report reflects what they learned along the way.

Download (July 2003) (PDF, 388 KB)

Community Catalyst: How Community Foundations Are Acting as Agents for Local Change

This paper presents the experiences, successes, failures, and lessons learned from the work of several community foundations. It uses case studies, interviews, and evaluation analysis to identify specific considerations and approaches for doing, as well as supporting, community foundation catalyst work.

Download (January 2003) (PDF, 465 KB)

What Does It Take? Attributes of Community Foundation Chief Executives

This paper outlines the unique challenges involved in leading a community foundation, and suggests the personal characteristics, professional skills, and prior experience that boards can consider when hiring a new chief executive.

Download (January 2003) (PDF, 245 KB)

CFI Partnership Assessment

Prepared by Public Policy Associates as part of their midstream assessment of Irvine's Community Foundations Initiative (CFI), the assessment examines aspects of the partnership between The James Irvine Foundation and participating community foundations and the degree to which they were valued and realized in practice as part of the CFI. The assessment includes a survey of staff from both the community foundations and the Irvine Foundation. Both the survey instrument and results are included.

Download (2002) (PDF, 18 KB)

CFI Communications Project Report

In 2001, the Foundation initiated a project to increase the capacity of individual community foundations participating in its Community Foundations Initiatives (CFI) to accomplish their broad purposes via communications. Irvine contracted the Williams Group to assist in the first phase of the project, which involved assessing the communication resources and needs of the CFI community foundations. This report details their findings.

Download (December 2001) (PDF, 463 KB)

Affiliate Funds: A Rising Practice in Community Philanthropy

The community foundations participating in Irvine's Community Foundations Initiative (CFI) experimented with new approaches to encouraging philanthropy in their communities. One promising approach is the use of affiliates funds, a growing phenomenon not just among the CFI cohort, but across the country. Instead of creating new, freestanding community foundations in unserved areas, affiliate funds are endowments that are usually geographically-focused and that take advantage of the organizational infrastructure and services of an already established community foundation. This report describes the experiences of several CFI foundations that have used affiliate funds, coupled with the recent research in the field. Please call 415.777.2244 to request a hard copy.

Download (November 2001) (PDF, 443 KB)

Creating a Culture of Inquiry: Changing Methods—and Minds—On The Use Of Evaluation In Nonprofit Organizations

This report describes the results of the Working on Workforce Development (WOW) Project, a two-year experiment supported by The James Irvine Foundation to help nonprofit organizations use the tool of evaluation. The results contain valuable lessons for funders, evaluators, consultants and others interested in organizational development and capacity-building. Written by consultants Georgiana Hernández and Mary G. Visher, the report describes the project's design, implementation and outcomes. While the project experience reinforced the importance of good measurement, the project's success had less to do with whether measurement systems were developed and more to do with whether the organizations were able to create a culture that valued the process of self-evaluation itself. The agencies needed a new mindset that embraced data as an essential tool for improvement rather than as mere paperwork required for funding. The report reflects on these lessons and makes recommendations for how others embarking on this path might achieve the best results. Please call 415.777.2244 to request a hard copy.

Download (July 2001) (PDF, 236 KB)

Beyond Collaboration: Strategic Restructuring for Nonprofit Organizations

Strategic restructuring—including mergers, back-office consolidations, and joint ventures—is an increasingly popular option for nonprofit organizations facing stiff competition, rising community needs, and decreasing federal funds. Recognizing the potential role funders might play as nonprofits grapple with fundamental changes in the way they operate, the Foundation commissioned this study to develop an approach through which foundations might assist nonprofits in strategic restructuring. First published in April 1997, and jointly distributed by the Irvine Foundation and BoardSource (formerly the National Center for Nonprofit Boards), the report is now in its second edition.

Download (November 1998) (PDF, 109 KB)