Resource Center

Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Bill would simplify foundation taxes

Saturday, May 17, 2008
Reflections on The Endowment for Health and Its Evolution in Public Policy

The Endowment for Health has built and evolved an ever-more sophisticated public policy strategy since its inception. The foundation quickly defined its role, found its voice and established its credibility in the public policy arena. Significant inroads have been made on the Endowment’s policy strategies to date and there have been valuable lessons learned from this journey. The following document tells the story of how the Endowment’s public policy strategy was built from the ground up and the types of projects and initiatives that have comprised our public policy work to date.

Tuesday, May 01, 2007
The Endowment for Health: Six Years of Service and Counting

The last six years have witnessed a major shift in the priorities of organizations such as the Endowment for Health. Federal and state budgets are becoming increasingly strained. If left unchecked, health care spending will represent nearly 20 cents out of every dollar Americans spend by year 2016, far outstripping the growth of the U.S. economy. This mounting pressure on the system is forcing foundations to use their resources for support of public policies. Endowment for Health President James W. Squires examines the Endowment's first years, its evolution and where it is headed in the future.

Monday, October 06, 2008
Planning for Sustainability

Sustaining health initiatives requires smart planning from the beginning to ensure that they can survive and thrive after the initial funding, champions, and implementers have moved on. This presentation provides a framework for thinking about the range of resources necessary to sustain your work, and introduces tools for developing sustainability plans. Self-assessment tools are discussed as well as examples of effective sustainability strategies to move from initial plans and seed grants into long-term implementation.

Enhancing Program Performance With Logic Models

This course introduces a holistic approach to planning and evaluating education and outreach programs. Module 1 helps program practitioners use and apply logic models. Module 2 applies logic modeling to a national effort to evaluate community nutrition education.

Evaluation Resources

To support a learning organization and to ensure the wise investment of resources, evaluation is critical. Written evaluation plans are developed as part of the program planning process. In recent years, the organization has moved to an outcome-based planning and reporting system with evaluation playing a critical role in learning, program improvement and accountability.

Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Endowment for Health Grantee Perception Report 2008

The Endowment for Health periodically gathers feedback from grantees through focus groups and surveys to better understand how we're doing. In 2007 we engaged the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) to conduct a survey of our grantees on their experiences with and perceptions of the Endowment. Seventy-one percent of our grantees completed this confidential survey. We conducted a similar survey in 2004. The information collected provides helpful feedback about our performance as a foundation. CEP compared our survey results with those of 123 other foundations, including a cohort of 15 health conversion foundations. This analysis provides us with information about how we compare to other foundations and enables us to benchmark against them. A summary of the survey findings is presented in this document.

Saturday, March 01, 2008
Drowning in Paperwork, Distracted from Purpose

Project Streamline is a collaborative initiative of the Grants Managers Network, in partnership with the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Association of Small Foundations, the Council on Foundations, the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, the Foundation Center, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, and the National Council of Nonprofit Associations.

Our sector faces an effectiveness paradox. Funders, striving to be strategic and diligent, adopt what seem like sensible application and reporting requirements. But these practices—multiplied by thousands of grantmakers—place a heavy burden on organizations seeking funding, hampering their ability to be efficient with their time and effective in their missions. Project Streamline, a collaboration of eight prominent organizations representing grantmakers and grantseekers, will engage grantmakers and grantseekers over the next year in a conversation about improving grant information gathering for a stronger, more effective sector.

The study found ten ways that the current system of grant application and reporting creates significant burdens on the time, energy, and ultimate effectiveness of nonprofit practitioners.