MARCH 2017
 

We are thrilled to announce two steering committee leadership changes at NNCG:
Starting April 1, Mary Phillips will serve as NNCG Chair, and Stephanie Clohesy will serve as Vice Chair. Thank you to Kris Putnam Walkerly and Lee Draper who have served in these roles, and who have agreed to continue to provide leadership by remaining on the steering committee.
 
Mary Phillips
Mary Phillips will Serve as NNCG Chair
Mary is a founding partner and President of GMA Foundations , a firm with a history of helping foundations and philanthropists create greater impact through effective philanthropy. Mary co-authored The Family Foundation Life Cycle and the Role of Consultants .
 
Mary is succeeding Kris Putnam-Walkerly , a top speaker, writer, trainer, and consultant to philanthropy who in her time as Chair helped to increase the NNCG membership by over 50%, and helped to lead the committee that jointly edited The Foundation Review issue on philanthropy consulting
 
Stephanie Clohesy will Serve as NNCG Vice Chair
Stephanie Clohesy
Stephanie is a nationally-recognized independent consultant to philanthropy with her firm Clohesy Consulting . Stephanie was integral in helping to facilitate the NNCG strategic plan, and her leadership experience includes serving as the Chair of the Board of Tides .
 
Stephanie is succeeding Lee Draper of Draper Consulting Group , a founder and driving force behind NNCG. Lee helped to envision a national organization that would lift the importance of quality, ethical consulting to create transformative philanthropy for community impact.
 
Hilda Polanco
Hilda Polanco will Continue to Serve as NNCG Treasurer
Hilda is Founder and CEO of FMA , a nationally-recognized nonprofit financial management firm. Hilda has provided expert insight as Treasurer and we're thrilled that she will continue in this role.
 
Please join me in thanking Hilda, Kris, Lee, Mary, and Stephanie for their invaluable volunteerism and leadership.
 
Watch for additions to the steering committee coming soon! 
 
Terry Horton
NNCG Project Director
NNCG Webinar Series


At some point, foundation board and staff members will ask the question - are we making a difference?  This webinar is aimed at the needs of small to medium-sized foundations who want to learn more about the impact they and their grant partners are having - but who don't have the resources for evaluation staff or high-cost evaluation initiatives.

Evaluation efforts to learn about the impact a funder is having can strengthen grantmaking and improve grantee performance.

We'll outline what evaluation is and isn't, stress the importance of why funders need to be explicit about what they want to achieve in their grantmaking, and why evaluation is "mission critical" to achieving success for foundations and grantees alike.

The webinar will explore a set of low-cost, high-value tools for evaluation that can be useful to fine-tune proposal review, grantmaking and reporting that incorporates learning, and better engages grant recipients in the process.   The discussion will also offer "rules of the road" to guide how funders can use evaluation most productively.  Throughout the webinar, we'll look at examples from actual foundation evaluation efforts using these low-cost, high-value tools.
Register Today!   April 11, 2017 - 12:00-1:00 PM Eastern


NNCG Members:  FREE
Non-Members: $55.00
2-webinar package*:  $100.00
3-webinar package*:  $135.00
*Purchase of a 2 or 3 webinar package allows the buyer to attend this plus additional NNCG webinar(s) for up to 1 year from purchase date.  Please email lori.jane@nncg.org with your additional selections.

Next up:
Philanthropy Advising/Consulting 101: Options for a sustainable business model for a one-person practice
May 18, 2017 - 12:00-1:00 PM Eastern

NNCG Member Benefit Spotlight - Partner Discounts

We have added some additional discount offers to our Members Only pages!  Log In today for complete details on how to take advantage of these great offers.

Exponent Philanthropy

Exponent Philanthropy recently released the latest benchmarking data on foundations that operate with few or no staff, the 2017 Foundations Operations and Management Report. This publication is the most comprehensive study of foundations in the field, and the only one that captures benchmarking for these leanly staffed foundations.  NNCG members receive a 20% discount on this valuable report.


 

Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers

For a discounted price of $39.95, NNCG members can subscribe to Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR), whose mission is to advance, educate, and inspire the field of social innovation by seeking out, cultivating, and disseminating the best in research- and practice-based knowledge.


Welcome New and Renewing Network Members!
NNCG Members in Action
NNCG highlights members' thought leadership - articles, presentations, innovations and other activities that advance philanthropic practice. Follow the links for more information.

Brian Sooy contributed "The Marketing Matrix: Six Elements of a Nonprofit Marketing Plan" to Nonprofit Information, a source of insights and articles from experts in the field who have extensive experience in such operations as starting a nonprofit, choosing a board, retaining volunteers and fundraising.

On April 18thAdvocacy & Communication Solutions, LLC (ACS) will present messaging tools and tips to early childhood stakeholders from five cities that are part of the National League of Cities (NLC)'s Cities Supporting the Early Childhood Workforce initiative. By using effective messaging about the early childhood workforce, cities can increase support and resources, and ultimately ensure children receive high-quality early learning experiences. 

At the March annual conference of JUST FOOD, in New York City, Barbara R Greenberg of The Philanthropic Group  was one of three food funders presenting in the workshop "Radical Philanthropy".

Learning for Action has released the Environmental Education Better Results Toolkit, a practice-based toolkit designed to lead an organization through the process of defining its theory of change, developing an evaluation plan, and using data to strengthen its programs. While the examples in the toolkit are geared toward environmental education programs, the tools and processes are applicable to any organization looking to strengthen its programs and improve outcomes through internal evaluation and learning.

Kris Putnam-Walkerly, recently presented findings from her recent field scan, "The Road to Achieving Equity," conducted on behalf of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The session, held at Philanthropy New York and included leaders from The Ford Foundation, Surdna Foundation,The Schott Foundation.  They shared how their institutions are making operational changes in order to incorporate equity in ways that encourage staff, better support grantees and partners, and achieve their missions.
About NNCG
 
The National Network of Consultants to Grantmakers is dedicated to elevating, expanding and improving philanthropy. It's the only organization that brings together high-quality consultants to support the work of grantmakers while advancing quality and ethical standards in the practice of philanthropy consulting. NNCG's distinguished and diverse membership represents experienced and carefully vetted practitioners and thought leaders in the philanthropic field.
 
Learn more at NNCG.org.
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