Last week I received this email from a foundation CEO:
âI do have your book and itâs just fabulous. You are really one of the best sources for meaningful information in the foundation world â Thank you!â
Iâm not sharing this to toot my own horn. Iâm sharing it to emphasize the critical importance of investing in our own personal and professional development.
Eight years ago I truly believed that no one cared what I had to say, and that I had nothing to share with the field of philanthropy. I honestly thought I had maybe 1-2 articles of content to share â total, ever! Then I took the last of my savings and invested in a consultant training program that completely changed my life and my consulting practice. Every year since, Iâve invested time and money in coaching, training, and peer networks, so that I can continuously improve my life and better serve my clients.
Four Simple Steps to Shift From Planning to Doing From:
You can quickly shift from planning to doing by following these four easy steps.
Philanthropy focuses a lot of time and brainpower on the how-to of strategic planning and very little on practical implementation. And yet, if not implemented effectively all your planning will waste time and resources. Change is hard work. So, while this may sound obvious,
the biggest risk when implementing your new strategy is continuing to do everything the way you did it before. Instead, here are four simple steps to jump-start your new direction.
Step 1: Identify Your Top Priorities
Long before the pandemic hit, it was clear philanthropy needed an overhaul. But the health and economic crisis, combined with a national racial reckoning, forced grant makersâ hands. Foundations largely rose to the challenge by speeding up their grant making, increasing flexibility, and reducing funding restrictions.
But now it appears those changes may be short lived. In the most recent of its Foundations Respond to Crisis reports, the Center for Effective Philanthropy found that âmost foundations do not plan to undertake these new practices in the future to the degree they are doing so now.â
How can that be during a time when people in and outside of philanthropy are speaking up every day about the need for such changes? Why wouldnât foundations lean into this progress?
Four Lessons Motherhood and Having Twins Taught Me About Philanthropy From:
Just about every aspiring mom (and dad) has big plans and preconceived ideas about what pregnancy and parenthood will be like. You picture the way your life might change, you plan out a nursery, order a crib â itâs pretty straightforward stuff. Straightforward, that is, until you discover youâre having twins! Suddenly, all those plans and preconceptions go out the window, and you have to rethink everything. The basic premise is still the same â youâre bringing new life into the world and want to raise it well â but now the reality in which youâll operate is vastly different than expected.
8 Questions to Maintain Your New âBest Practicesâ From:
Donât slide back to your old ways.
If youâre like many funders, the changes you made in 2020 were swift and dramatic. You dropped tightly held practices like hot potatoes: loosening funding restrictions, eliminating burdensome policies, offering general operating support, collaborating with new partners, increasing grant payout, and dramatically expanding support for racial justice.
As I wrote in my op-ed in the Chronicle of Philanthropy last week, now is the time for philanthropists to lean into this progress and permanently embrace the important changes we made during a year of upheaval and crisis.