Foundation Center
Celebrating the Past While Planning for the Future
In 1956 The Foundation Center, a nonprofit focused on advancing knowledge of American philanthropy, was incorporated in New York City by a small group of foundation leaders to provide greater transparency in the foundations sector. Since that time, the Center, which operates on a mix of both earned and contributed income, has become a leader and a source of vital information in the nonprofit and philanthropy fields. It maintains a database on American grantmakers and their grants, runs a popular website, as well as library/learning centers where visitors can access free resources. The Center has been able to remain one of the nation's leading authorities on grantmaking by constantly assessing its place and performance in the ever-changing philanthropic environment.
The Foundation Center first hired TCC Group in 2002 to conduct a strategic planning process that outlined a roadmap for the organization for the ensuing three years. By 2006, with the organization's 50th anniversary approaching, the Foundation Center worked with TCC again to create a new strategy for the future.
"We realized two years into our 2003 plan that our 50th anniversary was occurring in 2006," explained Sara Engelhart, President of the Foundation Center. "We didn't want our strategic plan to end with our anniversary; we wanted it to begin there."
A Change in Perception
In the new strategic plan, initiatives were developed to equip the Center with the means for a successful capital campaign. The Center was interested in enhancing its information resources, building regional capacity, providing information and opportunities for grantmakers, and facilitating dialogue between grantseekers and grantmakers. The decision to focus on these goals came after extensive research by TCC's nonprofit consulting staff. Through individual interviews, discussion groups, and an online survey of grantees, TCC consultants were able to develop the new 2006-2008 strategic plan as well as an implementation grid, which built upon elements of the previous planning process, while also addressing board and staff leadership development.
"TCC stands between an organization and its public, and sees the organization with more of an outside eye," said Englehart. The frank and candid feedback from an objective outsider raised what Engelhart described as a "very useful set of issues," and with the implementation of a communication strategy, "TCC helped organizations understand us: who we are and what we do."
The discussion groups, interviews, and surveys also allowed the Foundation Center to gauge their clients" perceptions of their work in the field. TCC's surveys and interviews pointed to a missing element in the Foundation Center's governance, and its board saw the necessity of a Senior Vice President of Research. In hiring one, as part of their new strategic plan, they have been able to do a great deal more collaborative work.
Implementation of the strategic plan caused a change in the field's perception of the Center, and Engelhart noted, "now organizations are turning to the Foundation Center for all sorts of things that they wouldn't have before, for not just data, but research and results."
