DETERMINING AN OVERALL CO GRANTMAKING STRATEGY

Funders interested in making CO a grantmaking priority face an enormous array of choices. How other funders have proceeded can help funders that are new to CO think concretely about what might be the most critical goals, objectives and criteria of their CO grants programs. Case studies and other examples presented in this Toolbox provide some guidance. However, there is no substitute for funders conducting considerable outreach and investigation on their own, testing their ideas with leaders of CO groups and developing their plans accordingly.

Where to Begin. Before initiating any new CO grants program, funders will have to gain a good grasp of the landscape within the targeted geographic area - such as the groups, leaders, organizers, issues, objectives, strategies, actual accomplishments, potential accomplishments and multiple dynamics.

Many funders approach CO grantmaking through the prism of issue areas that their institutions prioritize - jobs, health, environmental justice and so on. Their decisions are based on CO work in those issue areas and how it relates and contributes to the funders' objectives. Others funders approach CO grantmaking from the standpoint of strengthening CO work and improving its chances for results. They may use a broad category, such as leadership development or civic participation, to provide focus, or simply fund worthy CO groups that otherwise meet their funding criteria.

As in the development of any new grantmaking program, funders investing in CO for the first time will want to find the best match between a foundation's needs and resources and the needs of CO groups and efforts they might fund. The case of the California-based James Irvine Foundation illustrates how one foundation, starting with its own decision to target a region of the state that it believed was underserved by philanthropy, devised a CO initiative that fit its objectives and those of CO groups in the region. The foundation placed significant value on CO, maintaining a long-term partnership between the foundation and its grantees, and establishing a continuing and open community-foundation dialogue to inform and "ground" the foundation's decisions. Specifically, the Foundation worked with area organizations to form the Central Valley Partnership for Citizenship - a "learning collaborative" with a common purpose: to build throughout the Central Valley voluntary, self-perpetuating capacity for naturalization and full civic participation.

All of these aspects of the foundation's CO work can be used as meaningful criteria for effective CO grantmaking by other funders. For more information on the Irvine Foundation, go to www.irvine.org.