Doug Stamm's Blog

As we begin a new fiscal year at Meyer Memorial Trust, we want to give you another update on our foundation's response to continued economic challenges. As promised, we're continuing to look for ways to provide useful support to the nonprofit organizations we serve during a time of continuing economic difficulties. At this point, we want to provide you with additional information about how we will approach two important areas of grantmaking  – Core Support (general operating support) and Capacity Building – over the coming year.

The following information is intended to provide guidance to prospective applicants and respond to questions and feedback we have been receiving from the nonprofit community over the past few months. We hope you’ll find it helpful.

General Operating Support

We understand the value of core support. In fact, we know that -- now more than ever -- many organizations are financially challenged to maintain their core work. It’s true that many foundations historically preferred to fund new projects rather than core operations, and we continue to invite proposals that are project-based. But we also recognize that given the current economic climate, this may not be the time to launch new programs.

While our recently announced 2009 Operating Fund program has received enthusiastic interest, it is intended for a specific and limited group of nonprofits. We know it does not meet the broader needs of the nonprofit community. In fact, when launching that program in March 2009, we indicated that nonprofits not meeting the Fund’s eligibility criteria could apply for core support through MMT’s Responsive Grants and Grassroots Grants programs. We have heard a lot of questions about this and want to offer some guidance.

Over the next year, organizations displaying the following characteristics will likely be best positioned for core support through our Responsive and Grassroots Grants programs.

The organization is:

• well-established in its community
• plays key roles in and provides important services for its community
• has a demonstrated history of well-managed organizational development (e.g. board development, strategic planning, strong fiscal management)
• has established clear and reasonable organizational goals for the coming year
• has been thoughtful in its approach to the economic downturn
• is requesting support of an amount and for a duration that aligns with MMT’s current grantmaking approach (for example, in the Responsive Grant program, generally a total of $30,000 - $100,000 over one to two years; more sizable requests may be considered in special circumstances)

We should also note that we anticipate receiving many more requests for core support through these programs than we can fund.

Support for Capacity Building

MMT remains fully committed to building the capacity of nonprofits in our region and we recognize the importance of continuing this work in this economy. Because nonprofit organizations' ability to create and sustain new development programs will be limited and MMT grant awards need to be more limited in size and duration, we will be taking a more targeted approach to capacity building over the coming year.

While we will continue to consider traditional capacity building requests (e.g. multi-year projects that include hiring new development staff), we anticipate that most MMT capacity building grants will be awarded for more modest, yet meaningful, projects to strengthen nonprofits and lay the groundwork for further work when the economy recovers. We have identified some example projects here. Projects that strengthen boards will be a priority.

In assessing requests, MMT will consider questions such as the following:

• Does the board want to get involved in fundraising? What level of commitment are they prepared to make? What skills do they have and what skills do they need?
• What has the organization done to educate itself about fundraising? Has it contacted organizations similar to itself, but with robust development programs to understand required commitments and challenges? Has it researched current issues affecting funding sources and realistic levels of giving (foundations, corporations, individuals)?
• Can multiple people within the organization relate the same message regarding what they are doing and what makes them different?
• Why take on capacity building now?
• What skills and qualifications do consultants bring? What vetting process was used?

We will also continue to look at the concrete outcomes and deliverables (i.e, “before and after” scenarios) expected from the project. Additional information on what we look for can be found here.

We don't pretend to be able to be all things to all nonprofit organizations. During a time of economic challenge that is unprecedented for many of us, MMT's resources are too limited to solve the many fiscal difficulties all our communities are facing. But we plan to keep challenging ourselves to find ways to do more. So while we won't be able to provide grant support to all organizations that need it, we continue to look for ways to help where we can and to be more clear about what we aim to do and how we do it.

Please continue to let us know what you think -- that's the only way we can make certain our Responsive Grants program is indeed responsive. We welcome your comments below.

Doug

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Doug Stamm

CEO, Meyer Memorial Trust