GMN gets its 501(c)(3) Status - The Grants Managers Network has officially received its 501(c)(3) tax determination letter from the IRS. As of January 1, 2007 we will be treated as a public charity under Section 509(a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code.  Contributions can now be made payable to the Grants Managers Network. 

Best Practices Manual - GMN is about to sign a contract with the Council on Foundation's to create a 2nd edition of Best Practices in Grants Management – a “must read” for new and emerging grantmaking foundations.  This perennial COF best seller will also have a link to a new online resource in development.  Stay tuned for more information, and please contact Heather Craig at heather.craig@mosescone.com if you want to be a part of the team that updates this important manual.

Member News

Joe Behaylo from the Open Society Institute sends some photos of his brand new daughter, Frances Audrey.  She was born Tuesday, January 30 at 7:20 a.m. at Brooklyn Lutheran Hospital, weighing 7 lb 9 oz, 20 inches long.  His son, Walter, is also in one of the pictures.  Walter will be four in March and he's handling the change pretty well.

Chindaly Griffith of the Steans Family Foundation gave birth to a son on Nov. 2, 2006 and his name is Shae Phet Griffith. He was a big boy at 8 lbs and 15 ounces and 21 1/2 inches. He came a week earlier than expected. He has grown to be a bundle of energy already at only 3 months, weighing almost 13 pounds. Chindaly now gets to spend more time with him as she will be working four days a week!

Brenda Goins from the Salem Health & Wellness Foundation and her husband Oscar welcomed the arrival of their first grandchild, Kaitlyn Elizabeth McMullen, who was born on April 10, 2006.  Their eldest daughter, Erica, and her husband Jason are the proud parents.

The Goins family was honored to open their home to a full-time Air Force Reservist who was stationed at McGuire Air Force Base (New Jersey) during September and October.  Justin Bittinger, from Portsmouth, Ohio, visited their family on the weekends to relax and partake of home cooked meals.  He is currently stationed at Incirlik Air Force Base in Turkey.  They look forward to many more visits in the future.

Sonia Gordon, Grants Manager at the Irene Diamond Fund in New York City, celebrated her 40th  wedding anniversary on September 19, 2006.

DON’T BE SHY - SEND YOUR NEWS AND UPDATES TO PEG BUTLER AT pbutler@saintlukesfoundation.org.  WE WILL CONTINUE TO UPDATE THIS SECTION OF THE WEB AS NEWS IS RECEIVED.

Articles

STUDY GIVES TIPS FOR DISASTER RELIEF PHILANTHROPY

A new study released by Georgetown University provides key recommendations to improve philanthropic giving for natural disaster and humanitarian emergency relief around the globe. The report, Philanthropic Grantmaking for Disaster Management: Trend Analysis and Recommended Improvements, stresses that grantmakers should provide critical support for capacity-building activities such as needs assessment, information sharing and strategic planning and encourage collaboration among organizations involved in philanthropic giving for disaster relief.

 Overhead Isn’t Everything: Alana Conner Snibbe, The Stanford Social Innovation Review, Fall of 2006.
An insight into how donors should think about nonprofit efficiency. http://www.ssireview.org/pdf/2006FA_upfront_overhead.pdf

Foundations, Grantees and Operating Support
What are current foundation practices in providing operating support? And how do program and operating support affect grantees? The Center for Effective Philanthropy posed these and other questions in a survey of 20,000 nonprofits and 160 larger foundations and reports the findings in In Search of Impact: Practices and Perceptions in Foundations' Provision of Program and Operating Grants to Nonprofits.
Read more...

Stanford Social Innovation review (SSIR) has generously offered to provide us with links to articles that are of interest to the Grants Managers Network.
We are sure that some of your foundations currently subscribe to the SSIR and now we are proud to be able to provide selected articles to our general membership.

Crisis Mentality
Why sudden emergencies attract more funds than do chronic conditions, and how nonprofits can change that

15 Minutes - Melissa Berman - Advising old foundations & new donors

What We Really Need – Eight reforms to make nonprofits more accountable and effective.

SSIR is published by the Stanford Graduate School of Business with a mission "to share substantive insights and practical experiences that will help those who do the important work of improving society do it even better." As stated on their website, "We seek to strike a balance between the pragmatic and the intellectual, to embrace no predefined political ideology, and to champion the interests of no single constituency. Instead we will broker conversations, ask hard questions, disseminate the fruits of rigorous research, and present real-life case studies."