A01: Helping Grantees Build Fundraising Capacity

Monday, May 2, 2016 at 2:15 PM–3:30 PM CDT

Greenway Ballroom A/J (Second Floor)

Track

Supporting Nonprofit Resilience

Session Designer

Rachel Baker, Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund

Session Description

Despite best intentions, foundations have not made much progress in building grantee fundraising capacity; fundraising therefore remains a chronic, daunting challenge for most nonprofits. Among small- to mid-size organizations, a strong individual donor program is the exception rather than the rule. UnderDeveloped, a 2013 report, documented many of these problems. If we want to promote sustainability and help nonprofits raise the resources they need to achieve their goals, grantmakers need new tools to help grantees strengthen fundraising capacity. In this session, you will learn about new research that profiles organizations with strong individual donor programs and hear from two funder colleagues who are experimenting with new approaches to build fundraising capacity. Later, speakers and participants will break into small groups to discuss these ideas.

Session Designers

Rachel Baker, The Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund

Speakers

Linda Wood, Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund

Biography

Linda Wood built the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund’s Leadership Initiatives from the ground up, drawing on extensive management consulting experience and experience in the private and nonprofit sectors. Previously, she advised senior leaders on strategy, organizational performance and change management at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young. The Haas, Jr. Fund has invested over $20 million in strengthening the leadership of grantees in immigrant rights, education equity, and gay and lesbian rights. Linda has become a leading voice on the topic of leadership in the nonprofit sector. An MBA graduate from U.C. Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, she is raising two adolescents.

Rick Moyers, The Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation

Biography

As vice president for programs and communications, Rick Moyers leads the Meyer Foundation’s grantmaking and communications. Rick joined the foundation in 2003 as program officer for its capacity-building work. Earlier, he was executive director of the Ohio Association of Nonprofit Organizations and held senior management positions at BoardSource. Rick is a co-author of the Daring to Lead, a national study of nonprofit executives, produced in collaboration with CompassPoint, and the author of “Against the Grain,” a popular Chronicle of Philanthropy blog about nonprofit boards. Rick is a graduate of Washington Adventist University and holds a master’s from the University of Baltimore.

Jeanne Bell, CompassPoint Nonprofit Services

Biography

Jeanne Bell, is the CEO of CompassPoint Nonprofit Services---a national, nonprofit leadership and strategy practice headquartered in Oakland, CA. She is the co-author of three nonprofit management books including most recently, The Sustainability Mindset: Using the Matrix Map to Make Strategic Decisions (Jossey-Bass). In addition to frequent speaking and consulting on nonprofit strategy and finance, Jeanne has conducted research projects on nonprofit executive leadership, including UnderDeveloped: A National Study of the Challenges Facing Nonprofit Fundraising and Daring to Lead 2011: A National Study of Nonprofit Executive Leadership.