Coaching and Philanthropy: An Action Guide for Grantmakers

Describes the emerging practice of one-on-one coaching for nonprofit leadership development; its purposes, benefits, and challenges; and practical guidance for grantmakers in supporting and advancing it. Includes case summaries and recommendations

Good Intentions Are Not Enough: Making Evaluations More Useful for Foundation Strategy and Practice

In 2019, the Evaluation Roundtable for the first time broke with historic practice and invited evaluation consultants to join a gathering that had previously been exclusive to foundation evaluation staff. As part of the meeting, the facilitators asked all participants to write down what they most wished the other would do differently. The number one request of foundation evaluation staff? Ask harder questions. The number one request by external evaluators? Let us ask harder questions.If we both want the same things (harder questions addressed) for the same reason (equitable progress toward the ambitious, inspirational missions that foundations aspire to), why aren't we doing better?Clearly, good intentions are not good enough.This paper presents six cross-cutting areas for focus and change along with specific actions that can be taken by external evaluators and foundation evaluation staff to help accelerate the meaningful use of evaluation for foundation strategy and practice

More Than Listening: Harnessing the Power of Feedback to Drive Collaborative Learning

Foundations can and should do a better job of gathering feedback from and learning with both grantees and the communities they seek to serve. This type of collaborative learning has the potential to inform and strengthen foundation strategy, grantmaking practices, evaluation, and communications. Gathering meaningful input is difficult, however, given power dynamics between foundations and those they support. Even when authentic input has been gathered, it can be difficult to apply insights to ongoing work. What does it look like for a foundation to get feedback from its grantee and community stakeholders? Much of the feedback discussions taking place in the sector center on the role of nonprofit organizations. This article explores how foundations can harness the power of feedback to improve philanthropic practice, using the experiences of the James Irvine Foundation as a case example. It provides information about the foundation and its commitment to constituent feedback, presents two cases from its own experience gathering feedback from community stakeholders and grantee partners, and then lays out a series of culminating lessons and insights based on this work. Overall, Irvine believes that collaborative learning requires more than just listening. To truly harness the power of feedback, foundations must act on what they are hearing, share how they are responding with those who provided feedback, and open up this learning to others who can benefit. To do this effectively, foundations must evolve their internal organizational practices to better incorporate external perspectives

Effective Consulting Partnerships to Philanthropy

This article explores the realm of partnerships among consultants who are supporting philanthropy, surfaces the forms those philanthropy-consulting partnerships take, and describes their benefits and inherent challenges. It also describes what foundations most need to know about initiating and supporting philanthropy-consulting partnerships. Types of consulting partnerships are a function of the needs they address and the contexts in which they were initiated. A useful way of looking at consulting partnerships is according to their structure – whether the relationship with the client is primarily horizontal or vertical in nature. In a vertical structure, a client hires a consultant, who in turn subcontracts to one or more other consultants. Horizontal consulting partnerships occur when two or more consultants partner on a client project. Through the sharing of both good and difficult experiences with these partnerships, foundations will be better equipped to consider how they can or cannot help them further their mission-related work

Coaching and Philanthropy: An Action Guide for Coaches

Explores the skills and core competencies required of an effective coach in the nonprofit sector and questions to consider from the coaches' perspective, including how to assess the best approach for each nonprofit leader

Diving Deep on Equity and Power: Exploring Shifts in Philanthropic Practice With the Iceberg Model

Lessons from the events of this historic time — from a national reckoning with systemic racism to a global pandemic and its economic and social fallout — have deep implications for philanthropy that go beyond grantmaking and include fundamental questions about the sector’s role, power, and influence in advancing equity and social change. Confronting those questions requires a look inward at the practices, policies, structures, mindsets, and cultural norms that govern how foundations operate. The experience of The California Endowment and The James Irvine Foundation shows what can be learned from this period of crisis and disruption. Through specific examples from both funders, this article illustrates how the iconic iceberg model can be used as a tool to move beyond surface-level responses to explore eight tangible, equity-focused shifts in the way they practice philanthropy. This article also shares reflections on what it really takes to shift norms, structures, and power in ways that lead to equitable outcomes and embed equity throughout an organization — and what gets in the way

Interaction of Population-based Approaches for Tobacco Control

This paper looks at program effectiveness results from data collected in 1996 and 1997 during Wave 1 of the Independent Evaluation of California\u27s Tobacco Control, Prevention, and Education Program (IEC, 1998). The issues discussed in this paper are based on certain assumptions about the tobacco-control atmosphere in California. These assumptions are 1) that tobacco control programs and activities do not occur in isolation; 2) that adults and youths throughout California were exposed to more than one tobacco control program or activity; and 3) that the California tobacco con- trol program delivers a consistent anti-tobacco message. Given these assumptions, the issue to be explored is whether exposure to multiple tobacco-control programs and activities will produce stronger anti-tobacco attitudes and beliefs than the effect of exposure to only one program or activity

Attitudes Toward Anti-tobacco Policy Among California Youth: Associations with Smoking Status, Psychosocial Variables and Advocacy Actions

To prevent smoking and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, California has implemented anti-tobacco policies, including laws restricting youth access to tobacco, and smoking bans in workplaces, schools, restaurants and bars. Although studies have examined adults\u27 attitudes toward anti-tobacco policies, little is known about adolescents\u27 awareness of and support for these policies. This study examined attitudes toward anti-tobacco policies in a sample of 6887 10th grade California adolescents. Awareness of anti-tobacco policies was highest among current smokers and lowest among susceptible never-smokers. Support for anti-tobacco policies was highest among non-susceptible never-smokers and lowest among current smokers. Policy awareness and support were significantly associated with psychosocial tobacco-related variables (e.g. perceived consequences of smoking, friends\u27 smoking, perceived access to cigarettes, prevalence estimates of smoking among peers, cigarette offers and cigarette refusal self-efficacy). Policy awareness and support were associated with the probability of performing advocacy actions against tobacco use. Although these results cannot prove a causal association, they suggest that adolescents\u27 attitudes toward anti-tobacco policies may play a role in their decisions about smoking. Tobacco control and education programs should include information about existing anti-tobacco policies, and should educate youth about the importance and benefits of anti-tobacco policies

Independent Evaluation of the California Tobacco Control Program: Relationships Between Program Exposure and Outcomes, 1996–1998

Objectives. This study sought to determine the effects of the California Tobacco Control Program on tobacco-related attitudes and behaviors. Methods. In 1996 and 1998, a telephone survey was conducted among adults in randomly selected households in 18 California counties. Tenth-grade youths in 84 randomly selected high schools completed a written survey. In analyses conducted at the county level, differences in outcomes were regressed on an index of program exposure. Results. Among adults, program exposure was associated with decreased smoking prevalence rates, increased no-smoking policies in homes, and decreased violations of workplace no-smoking policies. Among youths, there was no effect of program exposure on outcomes. Conclusions. These results suggest that the California Tobacco Control Program may have reduced adult smoking prevalence rates and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke. (Am J Public Health. 2002;92:975–983

Ethnic Variation in Peer Influences on Adolescent Smoking

Previous research has indicated that the influence of peers on adolescent smoking may differ across ethnic groups. Although many studies have focused on African Americans, Hispanics, and Whites, few studies have included Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, and multi-ethnic adolescents as distinct groups. Using data from a statewide sample of 5870 eighth-grade adolescents in California, this study examined ethnic differences in the association between peer influence variables and smoking behavior and susceptibility. Informational peer influence (best friends\u27 smoking behavior) and normative peer influence (prevalence estimates of peer smoking) were investigated. We hypothesized that informational peer influences would be stronger among Whites (whose families originate primarily from the individualistic cultures of the USA and Western Europe) than among Asian Americans, Pacific Islanders, Hispanics, and African Americans (whose families originate primarily from collectivist cultures). Conversely, we hypothesized that normative peer influences would be stronger among ethnic minority adolescents from collectivist cultural backgrounds than among Whites. Consistent with previous studies, friends\u27 smoking and prevalence estimates of peer smoking were risk factors for past 30-day smoking and susceptibility to smoking across ethnic groups. The influence of friends\u27 smoking behavior was stronger among Whites than among several other groups: Pacific Islanders, African Americans, and Hispanic/Latinos. The influence of prevalence estimates of peer smoking was stronger among Whites than among multiethnic adolescents. Results indicate that cultural factors may play a role in peer influences on smoking initiation. Smoking prevention interventions for adolescents should address the differences in peer influences across ethnic groups