As a longtime leader ready to hand over the reins, you may worry that too much of your foundation’s success depends on you—or that stepping away could create disruption or uncertainty. With the right guidance, a leadership transition can strengthen your foundation and set it up for even greater impact.
As a new CEO of a well-established foundation, you may find it is time to update the strategy and vision into the modern context of rapid change and growing inequities, all while having to continue the business of grantmaking at the same time. A trusted advisor can help.
A trusted philanthropy expert can be an objective advisor and serve as your personal guide and confidential sounding board to discuss anything related to your charitable giving, answer questions, provide guidance on decisions and strategies, and ultimately help you increase the clarity, speed, impact, and joy of your giving.
Develop a comprehensive online toolkit for funders that includes a framing document, a series of case studies high- lighting a variety of successful foundation investments, and videos that bring the work to life. Then create a national social media push to generate interest.
Engage in an intensive evaluation process that gets beyond the numbers and into the on-the-ground perspectives that illustrate program impact.
Develop and manage a new RFP process that reaches into new nonprofit networks. Create a system of virtual site visits for 20 finalists. Share lessons learned from this new process.
Instead of waiting years until the work is done, create a case study, produce videos, and build buzz early in the game to show the work in process, highlight the contributions of partners, and showcase the lessons you’re learning along the way.
Design new program, including its Theory of Change. Provide implementation guidance and on-the-ground support. Dive deep into results and lessons learned to inform decisions about the initiative’s future.