Funding for Libraries

The Foundation Center offers several tools that you can use if you are searching for financial support for your library:

If you are focused on conservation and preservation projects, browse our new guide, Foundation Grants for Preservation in Libraries, Archives, and Museums, published in collaboration with the Library of Congress. The volume is available for download in PDF format at the Library of Congress web site.

If you require a more general publication that contains grants for a wider range of library services and initiatives, stop by our library or cooperating collections and have a look at Grants for Libraries & Information Services. The volume, updated annually, is part of our series of Grant Guides.

Our library visitors who prefer databases can use Foundation Directory Online to create targeted keyword searches to find funders that support library programs.

One last tip: Visit the Philanthropy News Digest web site to look for library-related requests for proposals (RFPs) from foundations.

For articles and books on fundraising for libraries, click here to search our Catalog of Nonprofit Literature.

Decision Making for Nonprofit Managers

Business investors and nonprofit managers may have more in common than you think, especially when they are making difficult choices. West Chester University professor Roberta Snow and consultant Paul Phillips note in their new book, Making Critical Decisions (Jossey-Bass) that both groups need to evaluate costs, benefits, risks, and other issues. The authors have taken the decision matrix tool and due diligence processes used by businesses and have adapted them for nonprofit managers.

Phillip and Snow provide sample matrices and grids that contain key assessment criteria, such as strategic alignment, expertise, personnel, practicality, impact, and other factors. Sections of the book focus on relevant questions at various stages of due diligence: feasibility, pilot, implementation, and cutback. A chapter explores how board members, executives, funders, and managers can use matrices in different ways.

For other articles and books on decision making, click here to search our Catalog of Nonprofit Literature.

Foundation Management: Overcoming Barriers to Success

Readers of Joel J. Orosz’s popular Insider’s Guide to Grantmaking will be pleased to hear that a companion volume has just been released. In this new publication, the former program director at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation provides recommendations for addressing the key challenges and dilemmas facing grantmakers today. Some of the areas that Orosz explores include:

-developing an organizational culture
-taking measured risks
-determining appropriate overhead costs
-choosing a general or specialized approach to grantmaking
-weighing advice from experts and community representatives

Tips and advice for tackling these and other issues are supported with examples, anecdotes, and relevant data.

Learn more about Effective Foundation Management: 14 Challenges of Philanthropic Leadership- And How to Fox Them at the AltaMira Press web site.

Direct Mail Fundraising: More Pictures, More Money?

Let's look at this scenario: Your charity is planning another direct-mail fundraising campaign and you have been put in charge of the project. To get the attention of potential donors, you intend to add a full-color picture on the envelope.

Not so fast, according to a recent study on fundraising letters that was published in the International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing.

The researchers sent nearly 90,000 letters to prior donors of a religious charity in the Netherlands and found that mailings with a color picture on the envelope resulted in a lower response rate and smaller donations. They note, "We interpret this finding from donor aversion against high fundraising costs."

What do the researchers suggest? Play it safe by starting with a simple package. If you are still considering the option of attractively designed envelopes, try it out with a small random sample and see how it goes.

Here is the full citation to the article:
Bekkers, Rene and Olaf Crutzen. "Just Keep It Simple: A Field Experiment on Fundraising Letters." International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing. vol. 12 (November 2007): p. 371-8.

Search our Catalog of Nonprofit Literature to find more articles from this journal, or to look for other readings on direct-mail fundraising.

Nonprofit Communications: What's Your Message?

When nonprofits try to reach out to supporters through e-mails, newsletters, web sites, and other channels, the volume of information can be overwhelming and, at times, counterproductive. How can nonprofits be more effective and efficient in their communications?

According to consultant Rebecca K. Leet, the solution involves crafting a "strategic message," which she defines as "a set of statements that prompts targeted audiences to take a desired action." Strategic messages are successful because they:

-Seize the attention of your target listener

-Concentrate on the wants and desires shared by the listener and your organization

-Achieve a mutual goal

Keep in mind that you will develop a core message, but would also create related "subset messages" for different groups, including your funders, volunteers, and the people you serve. Rebecca Leet outlines five steps for developing your strategic message:

1) Determine the desired outcome
2) Identify your target listener
3) Understand the desires of your audience
4) Recognize commonalities
5) Determine the best way to convey the message

Learn more in Leet's new book, Message Matters: Succeeding at the Crossroads of Mission and Market, published by the Fieldstone Alliance.

For other articles and books on nonprofit communications, click here to search our Catalog of Nonprofit Literature.

Research on Nonprofit Advocacy and Lobbying

To better understand how nonprofits engage in public policy, OMB Watch, Tufts University, and the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest embarked on the Strengthening Nonprofit Advocacy Project (SNAP) in 2000. Based on a national survey of 1,738 nonprofits, interviews with 45 survey respondents, and 17 focus groups, the researchers found that:

-About 75% of respondents have participated in public policy activity

-Frequency of policy participation, however, is "inconsistent and generally low"

-Nonprofits have a negative view toward the word "lobbying" and prefer "educating" policymakers

-Barriers to policy work include financial resources, tax laws, and staff expertise

-Foundation funding for advocacy and is often "limited and inconsistent"

Detailed results from the multi-year research project, including recommendations for the sector, can be found in the Aspen Institute's publication:

Seen But Not Heard: Strengthening Nonprofit Advocacy (2007)
Authors: Gary D. Bass, David F. Arons, Kay Guinane, Matthew F. Carter and Susan Rees.

The Strategic Philanthropist

When you are contacted by a charity to support their programs, you may respond by making a donation to the organization. Now let's think for a moment. Is your giving mainly based on a reactive approach to short-term needs or are your donations part of a proactive long-term plan to address the root causes of the problem?

In order to change the world, author Tracy Gray suggests that your philanthropy is most effective when you reflect on your passions and develop a carefully thought-out program for giving. Her book, Inspired Philanthropy: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Giving Plan and Leaving a Legacy (John-Wiley & Sons, Inc.) helps you shift your focus from "obligatory giving" to giving that is more strategic and transformational. You will find exercises and worksheets in the volume to get you started (Chapter 5 helps you decide how much to give). The new third edition contains additional information on giving circles and supporting the next generation of philanthropists.