Localization Part 1: Ensuring Readiness of Your Organization for Localizing Data Design, Collection and Use September 20, 2022 By Judy Ney Localization is a hot topic today amongst philanthropic and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), particularly those engaged in international work or in cross-cultural communities within the U.S. (which, let’s face it, are most communities). This conversation is happening as the field continues to reflect on the history and evolution of philanthropy, and explore the reasons why large … Continued
Ten Steps Toward Meaningful Convenings September 8, 2022 By Judy Ney Convenings have long served as an essential strategy for advancing social change. Their potential for meaningful shared exchange and powerful outcomes is significant, yet without thoughtful design, may be uneven. At TCC Group, our approach to convenings begins by posing critical questions: How do we identify the most meaningful outcomes and how do we know … Continued
Convening Effectiveness Matters August 29, 2022 By Judy Ney The following article was originally published in Stanford Social Innovation Review. To read the article in its entirety visit SSIR with your subscription information or download a PDF. Large in-person events have been canceled around the world because of COVID-19 restrictions. Have you missed them? In retrospect, how valuable were those meetings? During the pandemic … Continued
Realizing Readiness: Takeaways from Two Foundation Leaders July 6, 2022 By Judy Ney TCC’s Director of Nonprofit Effectiveness Julie Simpson teamed up with Senior Program Officers Annie Martinie of the Danville Regional Foundation and Andrea Kellum of the Healthcare Georgia Foundation to present “Radical Readiness: Who Decides Who’s Ready to Solve Complex Problems?” Co-designed by TCC Director of Evaluation and Learning Jared Raynor, the session explored how funders … Continued
Spotlight on TCC Group Changemakers: Jennifer Stephens July 6, 2022 By Judy Ney We’re checking in with some of our featured team members to hear how their work has evolved over the past year and what they’ve learned along the way. Tell us about yourself! I’m an expert in public health and a researcher. I love doing qualitative data collection and bringing that back to people in an … Continued
Meeting the Future with a New Approach to Readiness: Part II June 29, 2022 By Judy Ney The unpredictability and overt inequity unmasked during the past two years are only the most recent impetus for TCC Group to articulate how we see the concept of “readiness” evolving in ways that can generate new solutions and ensure equitable outcomes. To help advance this transition from static notions of preparedness to a dynamic process … Continued
Our Culture of Continuous Learning: Retooling our Evaluation Tools June 22, 2022 By Judy Ney At TCC Group, we believe in building the evaluation & learning capacity of our clients from across the nonprofit, philanthropic, and corporate sectors to allow them to respond to the shifting normal. This practice was put to the test for many of our clients, and TCC itself, in 2020. In this blog, we profile a … Continued
Relational Capacity: Why Does Working Together Feel So Damn Hard? June 16, 2022 By Claire Schultz Discover the eight capacity areas nonprofits need to effectively build and leverage relationships with peers, constituents, funders, and businesses in their communities.
Meeting the Future with a New Approach to Readiness May 4, 2022 By Judy Ney Historically, readiness was considered a state, a set of conditions one could reach, at which point an organization would be deemed fit to work successfully for a predictable period of time. Such an approach to readiness wasn’t without problems, including significant equity issues. But in today’s world, this approach has been rejected, wrestled with, and … Continued
At the Social Sector Crossroads: A Different, More Enlightened Path April 6, 2022 By Judy Ney What must we do when the walls of our communal house crumble, revealing the weakness of its foundations and infrastructure? The need for repair and renovation becomes urgent. We at TCC Group show up with our values and our skills, ready to re-examine the status quo, orchestrate consensus, and catalyze change. As habitual processes camouflage … Continued
Nesting to Achieve Impact: Lessons for Family Funders from the Annie E. Casey Foundation October 27, 2021 By Hillary (Published by the National Center for Family Philanthropy) Family funders are regularly seeking opportunities to amplify their impact in the communities in which they live, work, and serve. Although they may not always have the scale or scope of larger national foundations, all family funders can still draw many lessons from larger funders about how … Continued
How Can We Be Better Funders? Let’s Do the Homework May 26, 2021 By Claire Schultz TCC Group Senior Philanthropy Consultant Maritza Guzmán shares tips for how funders can do their part to minimize the financial burden on the nonprofits they seek to work with.
Webinar Explores the Casey Foundation’s Strategic Coinvestor Approach to Community Change March 28, 2021 By Claire Schultz View a webinar recording about the Casey Foundation’s strategic coinvestor grantmaking approach to support local partnerships in three high-poverty neighborhoods as they developed a more integrated set of services to help parents and children succeed together in what is known as a two-generation approach.
Will foundations’ next crisis response be déjà vu all over again? March 25, 2021 By Claire Schultz In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and national movement against police brutality and racism, the philanthropy sector appears motivated to embrace new approaches to transformational change—and yet is also moving cautiously and at times hesitantly toward undertaking the types of fundamental institutional realignment approaches that will deliver real systemic equity and justice.
The Evaluator as Facilitator: Considerations for Good Facilitation Practice February 10, 2021 By Claire Schultz TCC Group Evaluation Consultant Ijeoma Ezeofor shares a list of best practices and resources for evaluators looking to improve their facilitation skills.