HOW CO GRANTMAKING FITS WITH OTHER FUNDING PRIORITIES

Nearly every funder supporting CO also makes grants for a range of other programs and strategies. Funders vary in what the relationship between CO and funding in other program areas is, the importance of the relationship and the ways it is incorporated into their grantmaking.

A number of funders strategically link CO to some or all of their institutions' other grantmaking priorities. Often, these funders place their CO program within a broader funding area, such as poverty alleviation, democratic renewal or community revitalization. Or, they are making grants to address needs of particular neighborhoods and feature CO as one of the strategies they are supporting in those places. These funders ask CO groups to show them how their work meets the goals of the broader funding area, and how they are seeking to connect their efforts to those of other organizations and funder strategies.

At the other end of the spectrum, many funders fund CO groups as part of one or more of their grantmaking priorities, but place no particular emphasis on the relationship between CO and other groups or strategies they are also funding. For many grantmakers new to CO, simply getting their feet wet by funding one or more CO groups in this fashion may be the best approach.

However, CO grantmaking is often seen initially as "risky" by funders not having a long history with the strategy. Determining whether and how CO can contribute to strengthening the funder's overall grantmaking or a particular program priority and developing plans accordingly may be a critical factor in attaining needed internal support for CO.

One Approach: The French American Charitable Trust (FACT). The French American Charitable Trust (FACT) is a relatively new California-based family foundation. The information presented here illustrates how CO contributes to the Trust's overall goals and objectives for its grantmaking, and how considerations around CO influenced the content and direction of the Trust's overall program. The study also underscores how extensive outreach and strategic thinking can inform funding decisions.

When FACT - a moderate-size family foundation - opened its doors in San Francisco in November 1994, it hadn't yet settled on specific grantmaking priorities. FACT's principals were clear that they wanted the Trust - a national funder in the U.S. (with a grantmaking program also in France) - to address fundamental inequalities and injustices in society. They were convinced that today's critical societal problems are complex and require integrated, long-term work to achieve solutions. But they weren't sure what issues, strategies or groups to prioritize with (what is now) its annual $3.5 million in grants.

FACT decided to listen and learn from others before making any grants. After spending a month clarifying its own mission and designing a structural framework for its grantmaking, FACT's staff took to the road to identify and get to know groups and leaders who were making a real difference in working for change. They decided to focus especially on organizations taking a multi-issue approach and actively involving their constituents in determining and carrying-out strategies of change.

FACT's outreach proved to be extremely valuable for its decision-making - so valuable that FACT staff today probably spends more time in the field than any other national funder. (FACT chooses not to take unsolicited proposals and makes no grants without first doing on-site investigation.) FACT's first-year grants list featured a number of the nation's best CO groups that FACT staff had identified, were excited by and invited to apply for support.

Eight of the CO groups that FACT funded in its first two years of operation are now FACT "anchor groups" - on-going grantees that FACT has committed to funding for a decade or longer. The anchor groups (there are a total of ten, including two national organizations providing technical assistance, training and other support for CO groups and strategies) take roles with FACT in developing and implementing programs and strategies to strengthen CO and other efforts across the country. The director of one of the anchor groups serves on an on-going basis as a principal advisor to FACT's board of directors.

In its initial field work, FACT sought to build relationships with groups and other funders so that, as much as possible, it could act collaboratively with them in grantmaking strategies. FACT was prepared to experiment and take risks in its grantmaking, and looked for opportunities to fund organizations with active constituencies that were making breakthroughs in critical issue areas. These are now important operational objectives in FACT's approach to grantmaking.

FACT's outreach to and interactions with groups in the field contributed directly to its decisions on an overall grantmaking strategy. For example, FACT now prioritizes issues of low-wage worker organizing in general, and contingent work (or non-standard employment) in particular. Contingent jobs are those that are part-time, temporary or contracted out; contingent workers earn less, have fewer benefits and have no job security compared to standard full-time workers.

FACT organizes its grantmaking around two primary goals: strengthening organizations that are developing the leadership and analytical capacities of a broad membership through active involvement in issue work, and strengthening the organizations that are capable of influencing the development of progressive public policies that have wide impact.

FACT's giving program "centers on funding organizations that activate, organize and empower the grassroots." FACT is interested in projects that "focus on individuals and communities that traditionally have been ignored or denied power" - and will not support organizations that do for others, but, rather, groups that help people recognize what they can do for themselves.

By engaging with other foundations, community leaders and community organizations across the country, FACT has found that many CO groups and efforts embody its values and beliefs, are taking on the tough issues, and are exceedingly effective. It has placed its grantmaking investments accordingly. Since its inception in 1994, FACT has become one of the most important national funders of CO, funding more than 80 organizations, many of them CO groups. FACT is proud of their, and its, track record.⁶⁶