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6 Ways to Engage Your Stakeholders: Let the Key Players Improve Your...
Key stakeholders have much to contribute to the decision-making process, and their involvement can dramatically improve the success of any funding program. We’ve identified six ways to engage...
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10 Tips for Successful RFP Management
The Request for Proposals (RFP) is essential to the way many organizations make grants – so improvements in the RFP process can have a profound impact on grantmaking success. Over the years, my...
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How Can You Stand Out From the Crowd?
Dropping my twins off at preschool yesterday, I slowed down (along with all the other cars on a 6 lane road) to stop and watch a small gaggle of geese walk slowly across the road. After explaining...
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Turn “Thank You” into Ongoing Growth and Development
We all know how great it feels to be recognized and applauded for a job well done, and you can shine a spotlight on emerging leaders and key issues by creating a leadership recognition program. But...
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5 Questions That Will Improve Your Grantmaking
Giving money away is a complicated business, but a few simple questions can bring a lot of clarity to the process. The questions are straightforward, but they lead to deep issues that can impact your...
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12 Strategies for Spreading Your Small Grant Further
Do you want to make a big splash with grant dollars, but you can only make a small gift? Not a problem! Some of the most effective change starts with a small grant. Follow a few simple strategies to...
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6 Ways to Find Funding Partners
One of the best ways to increase the impact of your grantmaking is to leverage the funding and expertise of other foundations by developing funding partnerships. The trouble, of course, is that it’s...
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Keep It Simple
We often devise complex solutions to problems, when the best solution is usually the simplest. For example, many economically struggling urban cities desperately try to devise strategies to create...
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Purge, Plan, Reward: Your 3-Step Process for Getting Anything Done Quickly
For once I would like to enter autumn feeling on top of things: my client work mapped out for the year, a clear understanding of how to meet my remaining annual goals in these next four months, and my...
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Clarity Trumps Strategy
I’m a highly organized person, and can spend endless hours creating strategies, with corresponding tactics, timelines and to-do lists. But in my experience, one thing trumps strategy: clarity. You can...
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The “Perfect Storm” for Leadership Development
Last year, the Putnam Consulting team had the privilege of working with Blue Shield of California Foundation (BSCF) on a case study documenting the Foundation’s work to build cadres of leadership in...
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3 Reasons Your New Funding Initiative Will Falter
I love developing new grant initiatives for foundations and individual philanthropists. There is nothing more exciting that identifying a problem where you have the potential to make a difference and...
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5 Back-to-School Lessons for Philanthropists
It’s back-to-school time across most of the country, and my colleagues and I have all been trading stories of the build up to that first big day. Whether it’s pre-K or high school, there’s always...
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Head-Scratching, or Head-Nodding? 5 Tips for Communicating the Complex
The other day, my five-year-old twins were explaining a playground game to me. They were confident, they were patient with me, and they went into great detail, but there was no question that the rules...
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Want Feedback? Give It A Minute
My colleague was lamenting the other day about how difficult it often is to get more than a one-word answer from her 9-year-old son when he comes home from school. “How was your day?” she’ll ask....
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13 Questions To Learn From Your Grantmaking
Most philanthropies seek to be strategic and have an impact. Yet few build their own internal capacity to be strategic grantmakers. In particular, most funders forget to intentionally learn from their...
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Let’s Bring Sanity Back to Grantmaking
Too Hard, Too Soft, or Just Right? Remember the story of Goldilocks and the three bears? At every turn, the blond-haired trespasser was confronted with choices, and in every case she picked the middle...
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5 Ways Foundation CEOs Stress Their Program Executives (and How to Fix It)
Foundation CEOs carry a huge responsibility. They are charged with achieving mission, but doing so in a way that is as cost-effective as possible. Naturally, they depend heavily on their senior program...
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5 Ridiculous Things Said About Philanthropy
Over the years, I’ve heard a lot of things said about philanthropy. Many were spot on. Some were downright brilliant. A few were head scratchers. And then there are the ones that are so ridiculous they...
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3 Trends I’m Watching in 2016
It’s a new year filled with new opportunities for philanthropy. Now if we could all just get a handle on what they are and how to take advantage of them! There are many things unfolding in our world...
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