Mitchell Kapor Foundation Weblog

This evening I saw a woman out for a run wearing a tshirt that said “I {heart} People Who Vote.” I couldn’t see the logo (and was too rubber-legged from an hour of salsa dancing to run after her) , but the slogan made me happy! I {heart} these people too!

On that note, looks like we’re getting some traction and momentum around voter registration modernization (formerly known as “universal registration”).  Supportive editorials are raining from the sky: the New York Times, Washington Post, U.S. News and World Report,  Kentucky Courier-Journal,  National Journal, Indianapolis Star, and of course, Huffington Post have all run columns in the past month about the virtues of “automatic” registration. Let’s hope that – amidst the health care flares, confirmation consternation, and Gates-gate – the electorate is hearing the messages.

Thanks to Wendy Weiser, Director of the Voting Rights and Elections Project at the Brennan Center, for compiling these articles. The good folks at Brennan Center have also published a ton of terrific work on voting rights! Check ‘em out!

Over the past four weeks, my nephew, Michael, has been visiting from North Carolina.  During this first of hopefully many visits to California, he has been a volunteer here at the Mitchell Kapor Foundation learning about the work we do and helping us get some important things done as we move into the next fiscal year.  I’m really proud of the work he has accomplished during this short visit.  He even had an opportunity to volunteer at Glide Memorial to serve lunch along with other colleagues here in our offices.  Hopefully, we send him home with new skills, knowledge, and perspective.  Here is what Michael had to say about his stay here:

“Volunteering at the Mitchell Kapor Foundation has been a very exciting experience. I never really understood the real world and how it’s so fast moving and doesn’t wait for anybody. It’s always on the go, and you have to be ready to move with it, or you’ll get left behind. I didn’t think it would be hard to work in an office job, but little did I know what I was getting myself into. The first couple of days I got to get a feel for the working environment, but soon after that I was put to work. I had to do papers and documents and more papers and documents. It was really hard, but I started getting into the flow of things, and that really helped me get a system and a plan to complete all the things I needed to accomplish. I have had fun meeting the new people at the Mitchell Kapor Foundation. I had a wonderful boss (Cedric Brown) that taught me some real key concepts to help me not just in the office but in the real world as well. I met a wonderful lady (Carmen ) that made me laugh from the first time I met her. She always has a positive attitude and kept a smile on my face all the time. But last but not least, there’s my Aunt (Tiffany Price) who gave me this wonderful opportunity to come down here and spend some time with her and get to see what it is like to live on your on and have to take trains and buses to work. While it’s a lot to do, I finally got the hang of it, and I can say that this will be an experience that I’ll never forget!!”

Thanks, Michael!!!

With this daunting economic crisis and an ever-growing desire within the foundation world to increase foundation impact, I’m seeing more and more articles about improving the effectiveness of philanthropic dollars.  At the Kapor Foundation, positive impact towards social change is at the heart of our discussions about our work, and we’re working really hard right now to make sure our grantmaking and other strategies make a difference in our communities.

The Spring 2009 issue of The Nonprofit Quarterly has an article entitled, Measuring Grantmaking Excellence: How Good Are Your Foundation Donors? The article mentioned The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy’s (NCRP) report, Criteria for Philanthropy at Its Best, which gives four criteria for excellent grantmaking.  I’ve listed those four criteria below and will be delving into the NCRP report later to find out more about the organization’s methodology for coming up with these criteria since foundations come in all shapes and sizes.

• Values: engages all communities; provides at least 50% of grant dollars to marginalized groups; gives at least 25% of grant dollars to advocacy, organizing, and civic engagement,
• Effectiveness: invests in the health, growth, and effectiveness of nonprofit partners; provides at least 50% of grant dollars as general operating support and as multi-year grants; and has application and reporting requirements commensurate with grant size,
• Ethics: demonstrates accountability and transparency to constituents; has an engaged, volunteer board of at least 5 people from diverse perspectives; has ethical policies and practices; discloses information freely,
• Commitment: spends most of its assets toward its mission; pays out at least 6% of assets in grants per year; invests at least 25% of assets to support its mission.

It’s nice to read an article that’s written from the nonprofit perspective as opposed to the funder perspective. It challenges me to remember to ask grantee organizations what their most pressing needs are as opposed to foundations placing funder goals at the center of discussions around grantmaking.  I see it as a partnership between a funder and grantee to marry their goals and resources in order to achieve a mutual benefit, hopefully with larger social change at the core.

I’m happy to work for an organization that has a mission to focus on low-income communities and communities of color, that is always looking for new ways to help support the nonprofits that we partner with, and challenges itself and others to be less risk-averse and to think more strategically and innovatively.  Have a great weekend, and if you see any other good articles on this topic, let me know!

(Photo from: www.power-of-giving.com)

Today, I read Rosetta Thurman’s blog, “Perspectives From the Pipeline,” that resonated with a lot of the conversations that Cedric, Carmen, and I have been having about how the Kapor Foundation can work to help the nonprofits we support to do their work better.  Given that my job’s purpose is to do just that, I was excited to learn about the focus of the blog: a recent report by the Nonprofit Quarterly:  The Nonprofit Quarterly’s Study on (U.S.) Nonprofit and Philanthropic Infrastructure.  This report examines the strengths and weaknesses of the network of supports that exists within the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors.

Rosetta mentioned that  a broad definition of nonprofit infrastructure is organizations that provide capacity building, technical assistance, consulting, workshops, training, conferences, advocacy and research for the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors.  Some examples include Independent Sector, Council of Nonprofits, Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN), Guidestar, Council on Foundations, Association of Fundraising Professionals, Hispanics in Philanthropy and many others.  The main finding from the paper is that small to midsized nonprofits are often under-represented when it comes to building nonprofit infrastructure.  I’m still reading through the paper, but so far, I find the discussion very interesting and timely.

I’m trying really hard to think of strategies and partners and ideas to make sure that here at the Kapor Foundation, we help strengthen the organizations that we work with who most need it in spite of tough economic times.  I’m looking forward to talking with foundations and nonprofits alike regarding how best to help strengthen both sectors and address the social justice issues we’re striving to alleviate.  I welcome your thoughts!!