Resources Pathways to Grow Impact: Philanthropy’s Role in the Journey This briefing paper is the result of a collaborative project with Ashoka, Social Impact Exchange, Taproot Foundation, and TCC Group that sought to answer the question: How can grantmakers best support high-performing nonprofits in their efforts to grow their impact? “Pathways to Grow Impact” is for any grantmaker who wants…
Resources Coordinated Funding: Lessons from a Place-Based Grantmaking Collaborative In the Fall of 2010, five grantmakers serving Washtenaw County, Michigan, launched a “Coordinated Funding” model which they hoped would streamline grantmaking efforts, build partnerships, and increase effectiveness of the local health and human services sector. These funders, including the United Way of Washtenaw County, the Ann Arbor Area Community…
Resources Designing Effective Foundation Program Strategy Strong grantmaking programs reflect a foundation’s values, balance internal capacities with the external environment, and address constituents’ needs. This briefing paper shares the five essential steps to creating programs with impact.
Resources Success by Design: How R&D Activates Program Innovation and Improvement in the Nonprofit Sector It’s time to bring a staple of the for-profit sector into the nonprofit community: Research and Development. An R&D approach to measurement requires adherence to distinct principles, enabling an organization to translate information into immediate action and program improvement.
Resources Driving Strategy for Social Impact TCC Group offers frameworks and advice to guide nonprofits and funders through a rigorous strategy process. An effective strategy provides social sector leaders with criteria for making important decisions and increasing the overall quality of their work.
Resources The Best of the Humanistic and Technocratic: Why the Most Effective Work in Philanthropy Requires a Balance This Foundation Review article highlights the need for a blended strategy and ways funders can be more effective, including: As a more technocratic approach to philanthropy has emerged over the past 15 years, it has been seen as the opposite of humanistic philanthropy. Rather than a dichotomy, these approaches are…
Resources What Makes an Effective Coalition? Evidence-Based Indicators of Success What are the crucial ingredients for an effective coalition or network, and how can they be cultivated and evaluated? Based on a literature review and TCC Group’s own knowledge and experience, this briefing paper shares research on best practices with regard to effective advocacy coalitions. This work was commissioned by…
Resources Fortifying L.A.’s Nonprofit Organizations: Capacity-Building Needs and Services in Los Angeles County What resources do Los Angeles nonprofits need to grow, thrive, and accomplish their missions? How readily can they currently access needed resources? And how can those who are concerned about the management, leadership, and governance of Los Angeles nonprofits assure that capacity-building resources are sufficient? This report presents the findings…
Resources The Sustainability Formula How Nonprofit Organizations Can Thrive in the Emerging Economy The size of a nonprofit’s operating budget is not necessarily the best metric for determining its sustainability. This couldn’t be more apparent in the current economic climate where many nonprofits have to make tough decisions about cutting programs and staff or…
Resources What Makes an Effective Advocacy Organization? A Framework for Determining Advocacy Capacity In an effort to develop frameworks and methodologies to be able to meaningfully evaluate policy change efforts, TCC Group conducted an evaluation of a cohort of advocacy organizations who were receiving general support from The California Endowment. This resulting paper draws on a variety of sources, looking at the context…
Resources Empowering Communities for TB Advocacy: The TAG-ICW Model Over eight years, TCC provided formative data to Treatment Action Group (TAG) to help them understand the impact of their global work in TB and HIV. As part of that, TCC Group evaluated the quality and impact of their Advocacy Workshops, developed case profiles of individual activists, interviewed global stakeholders,…
Resources Change Management: Strategies to Help Nonprofit Leaders Make the Most of Uncertain Times TCC Group offers guidance to help organizations manage change—be it transitions in leadership, organizational structure, or programmatic focus. We identify ideas, strategies, and examples that can help nonprofit executives and their boards successfully navigate the change process.
Resources Strategic Philanthropy: Maximizing Family Engagement and Social Impact Many family foundations start out giving to causes based on trustees’ personal interests. As they grow, more family members with more interests become involved, making the giving more diffuse. Many assume that a scattered approach is the cost of involving family members—that in order to establish and maintain participation, family…
Resources When Things Fall Apart: Building Organizational Strength of Humanitarian Aid Organizations Humanitarian aid organizations (HAOs) constantly balance competing demands: developmental change with emergency relief; visible and immediate impact with long-term sustainability; and donor and media demands with the needs of the population. HAOs are usually the first on the scene in the wake of a disaster, and as more organizations enter…
Resources Maximizing Foundation Effectiveness: Aligning Program Strategy, Organizational Capacity, Strategic Planning, and Performance Assessment to Achieve Success Funders are increasingly being held to higher standards—by regulators and the general public. This paper is for funders interested in concrete strategies for developing effective grantmaking programs.