A partnership suggests that there is parity in power between the two parties. But many foundations continue to take a traditional approach, failing to recognize that the way in which they carry out their core business of grantmaking — including how the grants are structured and how program officers interact with grantees — has a huge impact on the adaptive capacity of the organizations they fund, either positive or negative. Anne Sherman, "Everyday Leaders: Building the Adaptive Capacity of Nonprofit Organizations," TCC Perspectives, Winter 2005, p. 2. The program officer at an evocative grantmaker has a very different type of interaction with the grantee and, indeed, a very different purpose. We connect new and established donors, their trustees and staff to each other, to their communities and to emerging and relevant issues in the field. "She did something that no other funder had done: she asked hard questions," says Watson. 1310 L Street NW, Suite 650, Washington, DC 20005. to make faster progress on the issues you care about most.
: Harvard Business Press, 2002; and Henry Mintzberg, Tracking Strategies: Toward a General Theory, New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
However, once a trusting relationship has been established, the conversation becomes free-flowing in each direction. Rather than viewing a grant as an award or a payment for an agreed-upon body of work, an evocative grantmaker treats each grant as an opportunity to increase the effectiveness and impact of the funded organization. This guide will allow grantmakers to quickly access the resources that are needed to address organizational culture. That said, evocative program officers gain more latitude to express more of their thoughts as their relationships with grantees become stronger and more open. She was there with us as we deepened our analysis and explored different ideas for programs and strategies.
Linked grantmaking offers nonprofit organizations the opportunity to improve their programming through experience. As a result, GEO drives grantmakers’ progress for more effective change. Flexible grantmaking that supports thinking and learning can help grantees take full advantage of this opportunity. The program officer's role is to listen, to ask probing questions, to offer perspective and occasionally advice, to promote critical analysis, and to encourage the organization to act upon what it learns. Kendra Allen, program associate with the foundation, breaks down the activities and elements they use in their approach toward racial equity. The basic dynamics of philanthropy may remain the same — the grantmaker is a benefactor and the grantee is a beneficiary — but the nature of the funder-grantee relationship changes in ways that cause the benefits to flow in both directions.
The overarching purpose of an evocative program officer is to support nonprofit organizations in adapting their programs and their strategy so that they become more effective in achieving their mission. These conversations are designed to stimulate more powerful work, not to find fault or pass judgment. The following links will provide information on various organizations geared toward helping nonprofits find funds.
The foundation needs to have program officers with the required competencies as well as a hospitable organizational infrastructure, including a culture that supports learning and adaptation. Is Philanthropy Ready for Evocative Grantmaking? The Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation employs virtually all the practices that GEO recommends for nonprofit capacity building, including multiyear grants, funding of operating expenses, leadership development programming, consultation for organizational development, and peer networking among grantees. Elected officials and residents are imagining and developing new economic enterprises in agriculture, forestry, tourism, and energy efficiency. With each new application, the foundation asks the grantee to include data and reflections on program delivery and outcomes, successes, disappointments, surprises, shifts in the environment within which the organization operates, and current thinking on how the strategy and programming need to adapt. Working together, we’ve cut through the noise to identify the core smarter grantmaking approaches that enable transformational change. And it will need to be prepared for the foundation's image and reputation to evolve into something very different from how the foundation has been viewed. The second feature is rare in philanthropy but not impossible. The Babcock Foundation's program officers invite grantees to provide their perspective on how well the foundation's strategy is working, what needs to change, and how various groups (including grantees) can be brought in as effective partners. A rigid approach might work in instances where the grantee is operating a well-established program with predictable outcomes in a stable environment. 14 Allison Metz and Douglas Easterling, "Using Implementation Science to Translate Strategy into Practice at the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust," The Foundation Review, vol. The program officer can also focus attention on critical questions that the grantee organization is deferring or ignoring because they are too big or too uncomfortable to confront. 15 Allison Metz and Bianca Albers, "What Does It Take? When a funded organization meets the objectives of its program, the foundation gains confidence that the organization is a good prospect for another grant. Find all the ways you can tap into the power of the GEO community. Carl Sussman, "Building Adaptive Capacity: The Quest for Improved Organizational Performance," 2004.
While evocative grantmaking is designed primarily to build the adaptive capacity of nonprofit organizations, it also has the reciprocal benefit of enhancing the foundation's own adaptive capacity. How Federal Initiatives Can Support the Implementation of Evidence-Based Programs to Improve Outcomes for Adolescents," Journal of Adolescent Health, vol. Even with this support, not all program officers have succeeded at becoming evocative program officers. Program officers are looking for organizations that are committed to improving the health of the community, have promising ideas, and are open to learning and working in partnership with others. Better results. In some foundations the board of trustees decides which applicants will receive a grant; in other foundations the program officer has the authority to enter into at least some grant agreements without board approval.
To the extent that the creators of new foundations bring their adaptive leadership skills and inquisitive mind-set with them, evocative grantmaking will find receptive homes and philanthropy will come closer to reaching its potential. This occurred within The Colorado Trust's Violence Prevention Initiative, which was framed around the concept of a "learning laboratory."