Community Foundation Atlas Now Available

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:
Cheryl Loe Communications Project Manager Foundation Center (888) 356-0354 ext. 701 communications@ foundationcenter.org	Jenny Hodgson Executive Director Global Fund for Community Foundations +27 11 447 4396 jenny@globalfundcf.org
Community Foundation Atlas Now Available Most Comprehensive Dataset About Community Foundations Just Published New York, NY — October 20, 2014. Today at the 2014 Fall Conference for Community Foundations, an international research collaboration unveiled the "Community Foundation Atlas," the most comprehensive directory of the world's community foundation movement that has ever been published. The online platform, available at CommunityFoundationAtlas.org, maps the identities, locations, assets, roles and achievements of place-based philanthropies around the world. Among the key findings: The global community foundation movement is gaining momentum. Embracing an inclusive definition of "community philanthropy" field, the Atlas has identified 1,827 place-based foundations in 67 countries. While the movement began 100 years ago, the last three decades have seen explosive growth. In just the past 14 years, the number of known community foundations and community philanthropies nearly doubled, growing from approximately 1,000 in 2000 to more than 1,800 in 2014. "Place-based philanthropy is on the rise globally in no small part because community foundations have resoundingly demonstrated to the world their ability to bring local people and resources to the table to address local needs," concludes an analysis of the data gathered from the Atlas's unprecedented survey of the global field and secondary research. The international research effort was spearheaded by the Cleveland Foundation — the world's first community foundation — located in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A. Research partners were the New York City-based Foundation Center, the Global Fund for Community Foundations (Johannesburg, South Africa), WINGS, the Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support (São Paulo, Brazil), and CENTRIS, the Centre for Research and Innovation in Social Policy and Practice (Newcastle, United Kingdom). The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, a private American philanthropy headquartered in Flint, Michigan, and longstanding supporter of community foundations worldwide, funded the project. Other key findings: Defining characteristics: Grantmaking and accountability to local residents were almost universally reported by survey respondents as central to the mission of community foundations. Collective impact: Combined grantmaking from community foundations in the last fiscal year totaled more than $4.9 billion worldwide. Education the most commonly cited program area: Foundations most commonly reported extensive programmatic engagement in education, followed closely by human and social services, arts and culture, and health. Strengthening civil society also a priority: In addition to grantmaking, nearly half of foundations surveyed actively foster collaboration between grantees or provide training and capacity-building services to local organizations. Populations served: Almost 30 percent of respondents work at least to some extent in a neighborhood-based service area. Forty percent report having a "local" orientation, while the service area of nearly one in four includes a regional focus. A very small percentage work at a national or international level. The Community Foundation Atlas offers a variety of entry points to further understand the reach and influence of community foundations, including: Organization directory: This alphabetical listing is the portal to profile pages for 1,827 community foundations and community philanthropies. Visitors to the site can select individual organizations to review or filter by geographic region or country of particular interest. A built-in editing function enables foundations to easily update their profiles. Data snapshots: A series of quick facts, deeper-dive infographics and a comprehensive, downloadable analysis present the Atlas's baseline data in accessible form. The infographics are programmed to change in real time as organizational profiles are updated. First-person accounts: Foundations describe in their own words the "most meaningful change" brought about in recent years as a result of their support or initiative. Considered in their entirety, these unrehearsed accounts show how place-based foundations are helping to advance their communities' aspirations, large and small. Stories of struggle and success: From the prosperous cities of Canada to the culturally rich matriarchal villages of rural India come 50 narratives chosen to convey the wide-ranging influence of the global community foundation movement. "Adding to Knowledge," "Encouraging Innovation" and "Stimulating Policy and Systems Reform" are among the highlighted arenas of endeavor. The Atlas provides a long-needed and detailed baseline of information upon which the field can build to facilitate wider exchange of best practices and high-impact collaborations aimed at addressing tough problems that span geographical boundaries. Post-launch planning for updated content, additional research and data analysis, and enhanced functionality for the Atlas will be spearheaded by the Global Fund for Community Foundations and Foundation Center, the platform's host. For more information about the Community Foundation Atlas, visit: CommunityFoundationAtlas.org. Learn about the project partners. About Foundation Center Established in 1956, Foundation Center is the leading source of information about philanthropy worldwide. Through data, analysis, and training, it connects people who want to change the world to the resources they need to succeed. Foundation Center maintains the most comprehensive database on U.S. and, increasingly, global grantmakers and their grants — a robust, accessible knowledge bank for the sector. It also operates research, education, and training programs designed to advance knowledge of philanthropy at every level. Thousands of people visit Foundation Center's website each day and are served in its five regional library/learning centers and its network of more than 470 funding information centers located in public libraries, community foundations, and educational institutions nationwide and around the world. For more information, please visit foundationcenter.org or call (212) 620-4230. View Press Releases Foundation Center • 79 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10003 • (212) 620-4230

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Community Foundation Atlas Now Available

Community Foundation Atlas Now Available Most Comprehensive Dataset About Community Foundations Just Published New York, NY — October 20, 2014. Today at the 2014 Fall Conference for Community Foundations, an international research collaboration unveiled the "Community Foundation Atlas," the most comprehensive directory of the world's community foundation movement that has ever been published. The online platform, available at CommunityFoundationAtlas.org, maps the identities, locations, assets, roles and achievements of place-based philanthropies around the world. Among the key findings: The global community foundation movement is gaining momentum. Embracing an inclusive definition of "community philanthropy" field, the Atlas has identified 1,827 place-based foundations in 67 countries. While the movement began 100 years ago, the last three decades have seen explosive growth. In just the past 14 years, the number of known community foundations and community philanthropies nearly doubled, growing from approximately 1,000 in 2000 to more than 1,800 in 2014. "Place-based philanthropy is on the rise globally in no small part because community foundations have resoundingly demonstrated to the world their ability to bring local people and resources to the table to address local needs," concludes an analysis of the data gathered from the Atlas's unprecedented survey of the global field and secondary research. The international research effort was spearheaded by the Cleveland Foundation — the world's first community foundation — located in Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A. Research partners were the New York City-based Foundation Center, the Global Fund for Community Foundations (Johannesburg, South Africa), WINGS, the Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support (São Paulo, Brazil), and CENTRIS, the Centre for Research and Innovation in Social Policy and Practice (Newcastle, United Kingdom). The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, a private American philanthropy headquartered in Flint, Michigan, and longstanding supporter of community foundations worldwide, funded the project. Other key findings: Defining characteristics: Grantmaking and accountability to local residents were almost universally reported by survey respondents as central to the mission of community foundations. Collective impact: Combined grantmaking from community foundations in the last fiscal year totaled more than $4.9 billion worldwide. Education the most commonly cited program area: Foundations most commonly reported extensive programmatic engagement in education, followed closely by human and social services, arts and culture, and health. Strengthening civil society also a priority: In addition to grantmaking, nearly half of foundations surveyed actively foster collaboration between grantees or provide training and capacity-building services to local organizations. Populations served: Almost 30 percent of respondents work at least to some extent in a neighborhood-based service area. Forty percent report having a "local" orientation, while the service area of nearly one in four includes a regional focus. A very small percentage work at a national or international level. The Community Foundation Atlas offers a variety of entry points to further understand the reach and influence of community foundations, including: Organization directory: This alphabetical listing is the portal to profile pages for 1,827 community foundations and community philanthropies. Visitors to the site can select individual organizations to review or filter by geographic region or country of particular interest. A built-in editing function enables foundations to easily update their profiles. Data snapshots: A series of quick facts, deeper-dive infographics and a comprehensive, downloadable analysis present the Atlas's baseline data in accessible form. The infographics are programmed to change in real time as organizational profiles are updated. First-person accounts: Foundations describe in their own words the "most meaningful change" brought about in recent years as a result of their support or initiative. Considered in their entirety, these unrehearsed accounts show how place-based foundations are helping to advance their communities' aspirations, large and small. Stories of struggle and success: From the prosperous cities of Canada to the culturally rich matriarchal villages of rural India come 50 narratives chosen to convey the wide-ranging influence of the global community foundation movement. "Adding to Knowledge," "Encouraging Innovation" and "Stimulating Policy and Systems Reform" are among the highlighted arenas of endeavor. The Atlas provides a long-needed and detailed baseline of information upon which the field can build to facilitate wider exchange of best practices and high-impact collaborations aimed at addressing tough problems that span geographical boundaries. Post-launch planning for updated content, additional research and data analysis, and enhanced functionality for the Atlas will be spearheaded by the Global Fund for Community Foundations and Foundation Center, the platform's host. For more information about the Community Foundation Atlas, visit:CommunityFoundationAtlas.org. Learn about the project partners. About Foundation Center Established in 1956, Foundation Center is the leading source of information about philanthropy worldwide. Through data, analysis, and training, it connects people who want to change the world to the resources they need to succeed. Foundation Center maintains the most comprehensive database on U.S. and, increasingly, global grantmakers and their grants — a robust, accessible knowledge bank for the sector. It also operates research, education, and training programs designed to advance knowledge of philanthropy at every level. Thousands of people visit Foundation Center's website each day and are served in its five regional library/learning centers and its network of more than 470 funding information centers located in public libraries, community foundations, and educational institutions nationwide and around the world. For more information, please visit foundationcenter.org or call (212) 620-4230. View Press Releases Foundation Center • 79 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10003 • (212) 620-4230

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Community Foundation 2014 Listening Learning: Collective Impact

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Community Foundation 2014 Listening LearningCollective Impact When Thursday November 13, 2014 from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM EST Add to Calendar Where The Space@GreenStar 700 W. Buffalo Street Ithaca, NY 14850 Driving Directionsions Link) Your Community Foundation invites residents, donors, agency staff, governmental leaders and members of the business community to attend the 2014 Listening Learning session. This session will feature participants from a recent collective impact summit to help gather information and respond to questions in order to guide future Foundation grants. Come for an informal conversation and explore with Community Foundation staff and board members what makes for great COLLECTIVE IMPACT.   Come prepared to address questions such as: What role should the Community Foundation have to advance collective impact in Tompkins County?  What resources are necessary for collective impact to have powerful local results?  What groups or sectors or communities need better engagement with collective impact?  Is there one issue or concern in our community that has sufficient urgency to advance collective impact as a new way of solving it?  What concerns do you have that you want to see change but that the current approach has not resulted in the desired outcomes? Your input will be invaluable in assisting the Community Foundation in shaping future grant cycles including the Fall 2015 Grant Cycle. Registration is encouraged and appreciated but not required. You can register yourself as well as associates by clicking the link below. Register Now! I can't make it Thank you.  We look forward to learning from your valuable experience.  If you cannot make this session, we encourage you to provide your comments by email to gferrari@cftompkins.org. Thank you. Sincerely, George Ferrari Community Foundation of Tompkins County gferrari@cftompkins.org 607-272-9333

A Month of Giving Thanks

		November 2014 A Month of Giving Thanks  There's always a lot of talk about how our culture has lost sight of the true meaning of the holidays. With one of our favorite, Thanksgiving, approaching fast, we wanted to take the opportunity to list some of the things we're thankful for. Of course that list includes all the donors and funders that pump life into the sector. But we know firsthand that nonprofit work can be hectic and tiring, and rarely glamorous. We get to spend our days helping nonprofits achieve their goals, reach their constituents, and make the world a better place--as a result, we get to see up close all the work that each of you does, and to be inspired by it.  So, to each of you who has chosen to work for a nonprofit, who has plugged names into a database, stayed late to post event photos to your organization's Facebook page, or spent hours crafting an email that perfectly encapsulated your mission, thank you. Thanks for all the work you do. And we're especially thankful for every chance we get to help you with that work... back to top Upcoming Trainings FREE! Five Data Don'ts for Nonprofits November 13, 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm Eastern.Program data can be very useful--from being able to prove the effectiveness of your programs to providing information to funders. However, there are a few missteps it is important to avoid. In this free class, we will go over five data don'ts that will help you make the most of your information while avoiding common pitfalls. Read more or register >> Visualizing Your Data Through Dashboards November 20, 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm Eastern. $40.00  Your senior staff and board of directors can benefit from the ability to view high level metrics for your organization, but it’s not obvious how to easily pull such a thing together. We'll outline what has worked for other organizations to define the metrics that should be tracked, strategies for compiling data from different systems, and then possibilities for putting it all together into a visual dashboard. Read more or register >> Digging Into Program DataWednesdays, December 3 - 17, 1:00 - 2:30pmEastern. $95.00 In our increasingly data-driven world, nonprofits need to be able to measure and monitor the effectiveness of their programs more than ever. It’s difficult to improve program services or reach without first understanding what's working and what isn't. Gathering the right data is key.  From how many meals served at your soup kitchen or the number of students in a mentoring program who graduate high school to the percent of your target population without access to affordable housing, being able to track such numbers can help you identify the improvement or impact of your programs or organization. Read more or register >> You received this email because you signed up for Idealware updates. If you are no longer interested in hearing from us, click here to unsubscribe. Idealware | One Pleasant Street, Suite 4E | Portland ME | 04101			SUBSCRIBE If you have received this email second-hand, you can subscribe on the Idealware website. Subscribe Now » DONATE TO IDEALWARE Have Idealware reports and articles saved you time? Money? Allowed you to make better decisions? If so, please donate what they are worth to you and help keep these resources coming. Donate Now » CONNECT WITH US Follow us on Facebook or Twitter to get more software resources, links, and news about Idealware.

Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers and Foundation Center Form Strategic Alliance

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:
Cheryl Loe Communications Project Manager Foundation Center (888) 356-0354 ext. 701 communications@ foundationcenter.org	Dan Brady Communications Manager Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers (888) 391-3235 dbrady@givingforum.org
Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers and Foundation Center Form Strategic Alliance Nationwide Partnership Will Expand Access to Data on Philanthropy, Improve Foundation Effectiveness New York, NY — October 6, 2014. Washington, DC-based Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers and New York-based Foundation Center have announced a new partnership to improve the quality and effectiveness of grantmaking through the strategic collection and sharing of data on philanthropy. The Forum is a national network of 34 geographically organized philanthropic associations that together have a membership of more than 5,500 participating organizations, making it the largest network in American philanthropy. Foundation Center is an independent nonprofit that is known as the leading source of information about philanthropy worldwide. "The philanthropic sector talks increasingly about such things as field alignment, strategic collaboration, and leveraging core competencies," said Bradford K. Smith, president of Foundation Center. "This partnership is a golden opportunity to put those principles into action." The Forum's mission is to leverage the collective knowledge of its association members so that each can be the highest quality provider of philanthropic support services in their regions, while a Foundation Center priority is to empower donors with the knowledge tools they need to be strategic. The partnership will tap the unique strengths of each organization in order to achieve shared goals. "The Forum Network has both deep regional roots and a broad national reach, and our regional associations' members are key to strengthening connections and knowledge sharing across the giving sector. However, at present, only a handful of our associations has access to up-to-date grantmaking data on their membership, and none have sophisticated online tools that allow the data to be queried and explored in real time," said Michael Litz, president and CEO of the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers. "Opening these new resources to the Forum Network will be a game-changer for those striving to be more strategic and impactful in their philanthropy." The partnership will entail establishing platforms and systems for collecting data contributed by Forum members and translating it into knowledge services that will benefit not only the Forum membership, but the broader philanthropic sector. Specific plans include the following: Philanthropy Data: To support a vibrant and effective philanthropic sector, the partnership will launch a "donor data campaign" to encourage members of regional associations to centralize and standardize giving data at Foundation Center. This current data will be accessible to all members through an interactive mapping platform helping to inform funding decisions and track trends in each region. Philanthropy Research: Templates for research reports will be created so that information about regional giving can be more easily and efficiently published and shared, providing regionally focused funders with critical information about funding patterns in their communities. Philanthropy Tools: Data visualization, benchmarking, and knowledge management tools will provide regional associations with continuous access to comprehensive data on the work of their member foundations and empower users to draw actionable conclusions from the information. In recent years, Foundation Center and individual Forum member associations have partnered on a wide variety of projects, including more than 40 research reports and fact sheets, and Forum members have participated in Foundation Center's Funding Information Network. This partnership is a natural evolution of those preceding collaborations, all of which have in common the goal of spreading knowledge to strengthen philanthropy and the good it can achieve. The national scope of the partnership, however, will introduce efficiencies and broaden its impact. "Recent advances in information technology have put us in a position to collect and share knowledge far more efficiently than ever before," said Lisa Philp, vice president for strategic philanthropy at Foundation Center. "When this system for data gathering, sharing, and visualization is applied across an entire network of grantmakers, the opportunities for donors to collaborate and achieve their visions of a better world will multiply exponentially." ### Share on Twitter: Strategic alliance btwn @givingforum and @fdncenter will improve quality and effectiveness of grantmaking. bit.ly/FCforum14 About Foundation Center Established in 1956, Foundation Center is the leading source of information about philanthropy worldwide. Through data, analysis, and training, it connects people who want to change the world to the resources they need to succeed. Foundation Center maintains the most comprehensive database on U.S. and, increasingly, global grantmakers and their grants — a robust, accessible knowledge bank for the sector. It also operates research, education, and training programs designed to advance knowledge of philanthropy at every level. Thousands of people visit Foundation Center's website each day and are served in its five regional library/learning centers and its network of more than 470 funding information centers located in public libraries, community foundations, and educational institutions nationwide and around the world. For more information, please visit foundationcenter.org or call(212) 620-4230. About the Forum of Regional Association of Grantmakers Established in 1998, the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers is a national philanthropic leader and network of 34 regional associations of grantmakers with a combined membership of more than 5,500 participating organizations. The Forum facilitates effective philanthropy by fueling connections and knowledge sharing across the giving sector, delivering efficiencies and cost savings for our 34 member associations, and providing tools and resources to advance policy change. For more information, please visit givingforum.org or call (888) 391-3235. View Press Releases Foundation Center • 79 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10003 • (212) 620-4230