Community-Driven Philanthropy

5 Tips for Grantee-Centered, Values-Aligned Indirect Cost Policy

Many grantmakers looking to help their grantees escape the “nonprofit starvation cycle”…

• Perspectives Piece

Supporting Our Communities: Key Strategies for Navigating Federal Funding Threats

GEO is deeply troubled by the new administration’s attempt to pause all…

Staying Steadfast: Philanthropy's Path Forward in 2025

Dear Colleagues, As we begin 2025, we at GEO already find ourselves…

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Building a Better Cookout

Throughout my time in philanthropy, I’ve developed coping mechanisms. Connecting back to…

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Mental Health & Giving: A Lifelong Journey of Care and Becoming 

In 2020, a philanthropic family I had come to know started a…

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How Strategic Learning Can Be a Value for Grantmakers in the Migrant Justice Space

For many organizations within the philanthropic space, the traditional funding process may…

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Centering Humanity in Philanthropy

"Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service…

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Learning Together: The Value in Community Convening

In philanthropy, transformational change does not happen in a vacuum. There’s inherent…

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Harmonizing AI and Philanthropy: Running To or Running From a Brave New World

In the ever-evolving landscape of technological advancement, Artificial Intelligence (AI) stands out…

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Reimagining Philanthropy with Humanity at the Core

Reflections from the 2024 GEO Conference

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Taking COVID Lessons Forward

How can the lessons from COVID guide us in forging a future…

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Reimagining Philanthropy: How Funders Can Advance the Movement for Social Justice

“Reevaluating Practice: Reimagining Philanthropy” captures recommendations of our grantees. They have taught…

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Why Funders Should Invest in Flexible Cash Assistance

Funders have an opportunity to significantly invest in and advocate for one…

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Living Into Shared Ways of Being that Advance Equity

Share GEO’s ways of being with the broader GEO community to highlight…

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GEO’s New Strategic Direction

GEO is thrilled to be sharing our new strategic direction as we…

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Bridging Differences to Advance Equity: Three Lessons Community Foundations Are Learning About Engaging Donors and Community

An exciting evolution is happening among community foundations in the United States.

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Important Update on #GEO2024 National Conference Date and Location

We’re writing today with an important update regarding GEO’s 2024 National Conferences…

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Crosspost: Lessons learned: Using demographic data to move from intention to action

At a recent webinar hosted by Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, Jennifer Chheang…

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Keeping the Faith in Democracy: Why America’s Faith Communities Can’t be Overlooked

The following is adapted from a guide for funders on investing in…

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A Funder’s Demographic Data Journey

GEO and Candid are partnering to bring you this conversation with two…

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Crosspost: Centering lived experience: Unlocking the preconditions for equity-rooted evaluation

Kresge Strategic Learning and Evaluation Officer Arturo Garcia moderated a session at…

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What makes collaboration effective? And what doesn’t?

CLIPF is a supportive community where grantmakers can identify best practices and…

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Connecting Internal Culture and Practice Shifts to External Organizational Impact

GEO created the Change Leaders in Philanthropy Fellowship (CLIPF) to provide senior…

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Using Organizational Strategy to Inform Philanthropic Effectiveness

Over the last 25 years, the GEO community has led the field…

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No More Excuses: Child and Youth Participation is the Future of Philanthropy

How can philanthropy and civil society build the future world we want…

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Philanthropy is a Leverage Point in the Systems We Seek to Shift

Philanthropy is beginning to understand that in order to get different results,…

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Celebrating 25 Years of Exploring Effective Grantmaking Practices

Over the past 25 years, contributors to the GEO community have remained…

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Together, We Can Co-Create a Meaningful Set of Possibilities for 2023

GEO's CEO and President Marcus Walton contemplates a meaningful set of possibilities…

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GEO 2023 Learning Conference: Session Proposal Frequently Asked Questions

GEO is seeking session proposals for our 2023 Learning Conference: Courageous Unlearning,…

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To Sustain Movements, Grantmakers Must Invest in Leadership

Leaders on the front lines need continued investment to continue the long-term…

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Exploring GEO’s Approach to Equitable Conference Planning

GEO's Allison Beck and Allison Punch-Turner share insights and lessons learned on…

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Community in Philanthropy: What it is, why we need it, and how we can build it

Dr. Albertina Lopez explores why community matters in philanthropy and explains how…

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Meeting the Future with a New Approach to Readiness: Part II

The unpredictability of the future and overt inequities unmasked during the past…

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Centering Equity through Flexible, Reliable Funding: Resourcing BIPOC Leaders

GEO’s new publication, Centering Equity through Flexible, Reliable Funding provides grantmakers with…

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Change Leaders in Philanthropy: A Conversation with Rebecca Cisek of Bainum Family Foundation

GEO’s Change Leaders in Philanthropy Fellowship (CLIPF) launched in 2016 to offer…

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Funding Movement Building is Critical to Criminal Justice Reform

A broad ecosystem of nonprofits, coalitions and leaders of color are working…

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Conferences as Collective Capacity Building

Felisa Gonzales of The Colorado Trust, Laura Patterson of Metropolitan State University…

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Facing a World without Roe: How Effective Grantmaking Combats Inequity

Here at GEO, we envision and are co-creating a community of courageous…

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Change Leaders in Philanthropy: A Conversation with Marisa Magallenez of Albuquerque Community Foundation

GEO’s Change Leaders in Philanthropy Fellowship (CLIPF) launched in 2016 to offer…

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Meeting the Future with a New Approach to Readiness

Today’s changing world requires an overhaul in how we think of readiness.…

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GEO Welcomes Kristina Wertz as Vice President of External Affairs

We are excited to welcome Kristina Wertz to the team as GEO’s…

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Change Leaders in Philanthropy: A Conversation with Sabrina Slade of John Rex Endowment

GEO’s Change Leaders in Philanthropy Fellowship (CLIPF) launched in 2016 to offer…

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Meet the Newest Members of the GEO Team

For the last couple of years, Covid-19 has made social separation a…

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Crosspost: In the Test Kitchen: Grantmaking Insights to Chew On

As a spend down foundation, how the Stupski Foundation shows up is…

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Language is a Key to Reducing Health Disparities

Language is powerful. Using clear and direct language to describe the populations…

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Humility, Listening and Connectedness: How to Build Partner Relationships Rooted in Equity

In this second, follow-up piece of Humility, Listening and Connectedness: Building Partner…

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Creating a Race Equity Culture™ Together

Rebekah Gowler and Jaser Alsharhan explain that a crucial part of doing…

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Equity in Event Planning: Lessons Learned in Creating an Access-Centered Virtual Environment

Allison Punch-Turner and Cassie Maxwell reflect on lessons they learned in creating…

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Is Philanthropy Ready? End of Year Reflections from GEO President & CEO, Marcus Walton

GEO President & CEO Marcus Walton reflects on the past year and…

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Philanthropy’s Next Stage Imperative: Meaningfully Moving Foundation Assets for the Common Good

Henry A. J. Ramos explores how grantmakers can meet the moment of…

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New GEO Publication Examines Culture, Systems and Power in Capacity Building Practices

Strengthening nonprofit organizations is not just a nice-to-have but an essential part…

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Five Principles to Advance Equity and Justice in Philanthropic Strategy

Anand Dholakia explores five principles that help grantmakers ensure their strategies and…

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Seeing Philanthropy in a New Light

How might philanthropy change over the next ten years? The new Monitor…

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In Search of the Unattainable – Why Setting Impossible Goals Isn’t Always a Bad Thing for Philanthropy

Strategies set out what we’ll achieve and how; if we’re not realistic,…

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Giving While Learning: How Regrantors Enable Every Funder to Advance Racial Equity…Starting Now

In response to the converging social and public health pandemics last year,…

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Humility, Listening and Connectedness: Building Partner Relationships that Drive Equitable Practice

Maria Azuri unpacks how humility, listening and connectedness are central to building…

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Community-Centered Leadership: Values, Boundaries and Rituals

GEO program manager, Jaser Alsharhan, explains how principles of community-centered leadership can…

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Transforming Funder and Evaluator Relationships for a More Equitable and Effective Field: A Field Conversation

This summer, the Funder and Evaluator Network (FEAN) partnered with GEO to…

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Request for Proposals: Website Design and Development with Content and Customer Relationship Management System Integration

GEO is planning a major website redesign with content and customer relationship…

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Changing the Face of Philanthropy

Denise Herrera, in her former role as Senior Capacity Building Officer at…

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Addition by Subtraction: Part Two

In part two of his blog, Neel Hajra shares examples of how…

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Addition by Subtraction: Part One

In part one of his blog, Neel Hajra reflects on adding through…

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Great News for the GEO Community

GEO is thrilled to share we has been selected as one of…

• News Alert

Reflections on GEO’s 2021 Learning Conference

Nadege Souvenir reflects on GEO's 2021 Learning Conference, asking if philanthropy is…

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Shifting Power through Co-Creation: Reflections from Empowerment Economics to Spark Dialogue

Jessica Santos, PhD reflects on the importance of shifting power in our…

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Shifting Evaluation and Learning to Center Equity in Philanthropic Practice

Kara Carlisle and Anita Patel, co-chairs of GEO's 2021 Learning Conference, write…

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Reinventing The Wheel No More: Actions every philanthropic professional can take to increase the impact of evaluation and learning

The Funder Evaluator Affinity Network (FEAN) shares actions grantmakers can take to…

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Investing in Resilience: Continuous Quality Improvement for Adaptation in Uncertainty

When grantmakers invest in service quality and continuous improvement practices, it builds…

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Toward More Useful Evaluations: Strategies and Examples from the Kansas Health Foundation

Nadine Long and LaShawn Glasgow unpack strategies from the Kansas Health Foundation…

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Staff Reflections: Growing a Movement for Trans Liberation

Nicole Fernandes of Funders for LGBTQ Issues shares three takeaways on how…

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GEO Sabbatical: Two Months of Open Space

On the blog, Kyle Rinne-Meyers reflects on his sabbatical experience and how…

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Don’t Be A Stranger: Tips for Philanthropy on Distancing vs. Building Solidarity

Isabel Sousa-Rodriguez of the Edward W. Hazen Foundation shares important insights into…

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Two Steps Forward

Suprotik Stotz-Ghosh reflects on how grantmakers can generate meaningful results in response…

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Making the Case for the Equitable Evaluation Framework™

Funders Together, GEO, PEAK, and SCG are excited to co-host and launch…

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Challenges and Strategies for Building Community-Driven Philanthropy

Jaser Alsharhan unpacks the challenges and strategies for building community-drive philanthropy from…

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The Imperative of Foundation Board Diversity

Phil Buchanan, president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy, unpacks the imperative…

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GEO Statement on the Violence at the U.S. Capitol: Threats to Democracy Demand an Emphatic Philanthropic Response

This week, American democracy came under siege in full public view leaving…

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Change Leaders in Philanthropy Fellowship: Transformative Leadership in Service of Thriving Communities

Having real conversations about where we want philanthropy to go is crucial…

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What Next? Gearing Up for the Long Fight for an Inclusive, Equitable Democracy

2020 underscores what many of us in the social change field have…

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Unmuted: What Works (and Doesn’t) When Working Together Online

Andy Goodman unpacks the challenges of working remotely, asking what works, what…

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Cross-post: Learning from Two Decades of Grantee Relationships

Decision-makers such as elected officials and institutional funders have historically ignored and…

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Cross-post: How to Discuss Merger Exploration with Grantees

In the COVID-19 world, funders may increasingly find themselves in discussions with…

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Cross-post: Rethinking Outcomes in a Crisis Context

In this critical time, and with a sense of urgency, many philanthropic…

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Philanthropy’s Racial Funding Gap is an Urgent Crisis

The demand for racial justice erupting across a nation ravaged by a…

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New Survey: How Online Work is Impacting Us All

Andy Goodman, director and co-founder of the Goodman Center, is launching a…

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Cross-post: We Need to End Structural Racism and Inequities. How can Data and Evidence Help?

In this cross-post, Project Evident discusses how data and evidence can help…

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Hope is Not a Strategy for Change

Hear from GEO CEO, Marcus Walton, as he reflects on how hope…

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Cross-post: To turn a corner, trust social entrepreneurs

In this cross-post Ashoka argues the case for funding social entrepreneur-led organizations…

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Four Upstream Questions to Support Next Steps

For the last two months, grantmaking organizations have focused on triage as…

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Scaffolding and Support: How Senior Leaders Are Setting the Stage for Change

Like many other grantmakers, the CLIPF community mobilized quickly to support grantees…

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The Obstacle is the Path

Hear from GEO CEO, Marcus Walton, as he reflects on the impact…

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Adapting Capacity Building During COVID-19

GEO’s Capacity Building Champions, a community of GEO members who are passionate…

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Smarter Grantmaking Practices During—and Beyond—COVID-19

As a community of grantmakers advocating for philanthropy to put nonprofits and…

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Joint Statement Calling for Increased Giving In This Time of Crisis

Unprecedented times call for unprecedented actions. The challenges that we are collectively…

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A New Role for Funders in Field Building Toward Social Change: Moving from Driving the Car to Filling the Tank

The Bridgespan Group shares key findings from their new report that examines…

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Trust-Based Philanthropy is Trending. What Will It Take to Sustain It?

Last week, over 200 foundations signed a pledge calling upon philanthropy to…

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A Note from GEO CEO, Marcus Walton, on COVID-19

The global COVID-19 outbreak being felt here and across the world is…

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See the Forest and the Trees: 11 Trends in Philanthropy for 2020

In this post from the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy, Tory…

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Learning What Works: Practitioners Leading with Equity

Charles E. Carter of Project Evident shared reflections from his experience at…

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Cross-post: An eye towards the future: Trust-based funding

In this cross-post from the inaugural fellow at The Patterson Foundation, Hannah…

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Cross-post: Evaluation in the Hot Seat: Taking on Current Criticisms

At the GEO Learning Conference this year a group of 5 evaluators…

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Cross-post: How Grantmakers Can Better See What's Coming

In this post, which originally appeared in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Bess…

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Making Organizational Culture More Intentional to Drive Community Change

As more grantmakers are considering how they can advance change through their…

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Racial Equity and the Role of Foundations

The Consumer Health Foundation has long embedded racial equity in its programs,…

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Five Foundations Advance Ways to End the Starvation Cycle

Five major foundations, all GEO members, have agreed to do more to…

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Revolutionary Love — Our Secret Sauce

What if the philanthropic sector placed as much value on love and…

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Cross-post: Reflections on Un-Learning

The Associations Advancing Equitable Evaluation Practices (AAEEP) came together earlier this year…

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Cross-post: Two Years into Our Journey - Lessons in listening and humility

What started out two years ago as a simple “strategic plan refresh”…

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My Journey to GEO

Throughout my career, I have committed myself to service. First, as a…

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Cross-post: How Do We Measure Success?

This is a cross-post of an article written by Scott Heimlich of…

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Cross-post: Are Search Firms Doing Their Best to Practice Racially-Equitable Nonprofit Searches?

This post originally appeared on Fund the People's website and discusses white…

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Cross-post: Candid Announces Inaugural #OpenForGood Award Winners

As part of the Grantmakers for Effective Organizations Learning Conference 2019, Candid…

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Lessons Learned from a Multilevel Capacity-Building Approach to Center Race in Health Equity Advocacy in Colorado

The Colorado Trust recently released a learning paper on their cohort model…

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Relationships Are Our Work: 3 Culture Building Practices to Engage Employees

To retain employees long-term, we need to create cultures where people feel…

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Transition as an Opportunity for Transformational Change

Interim CEO J McCray shares an update on GEO's leadership transition and…

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Cross-post: The Audacity of Building Capacity

Healthcare Georgia Foundation supports and funds capacity building. Learn more about how…

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Cross-post: Engaging Boards and Trustees in Strategic Learning

"Engaging Boards and Trustees in Strategic Learning," a toolkit from FSG and…

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Lessons from a Foundation’s Culture-Change Journey

Helios Foundation for Education shares their lessons learned from a cultural change…

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A Farewell from Outgoing CEO Kathleen Enright

After 17 years with GEO, President and CEO Kathleen Enright is transitioning…

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Cross-post: Crafting Capacity-Building Support that Counts

When grantmakers consider providing capacity-building support for the first time or refining…

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Findings from GEO’s Language Survey

In 2018 and 2019, GEO is developing a publication, workshop and conference…

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Perspective Matters

After three years of working to expand the bench of evaluators, the…

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Cross-post: Are Nonprofits Getting the Support They Really Need?

The Center for Effective Philanthropy conducted a study to discover what support…

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Get on the Balcony

In September 2018, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations released "Get on the Balcony:…

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Complex Problems Require Collaborative Solutions

After 17 successful years of inspiring and nurturing people with innovative, grassroots…

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Introducing The Sprout Fund Field Guide for Philanthropy & Civic Action

After 17 successful years of inspiring and nurturing people with innovative, grassroots…

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Centering Our Website on Relationships, Accessibility and Transparency

The Maddox Charitable Fund's original website bespoke a transactional as opposed to…

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Cross-post: The Case for General Operating Support

The Claniel Foundation has shifted to providing 100 percent of its grants…

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Cross-post: Finding—and Using—the Right Tool for the Job

Organizational assessment tools can be used to gauge an organization’s strategic focus,…

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Strengthening Relationships Language Poll

Help GEO decide on language to use when we talk about increasing…

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Returning Learning to the System

The more frequently members of a system communicate with each other about…

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Philanthropy's Debt to our Country's Biggest Region

The southeastern U.S. is heavy with history and layered with nuanced culture…

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Listening to Beneficiary Needs and Respecting Grantees

Philanthropy and the nonprofit sector have seen several evolutionary changes over the…

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Strengthening the Field of Philanthropic Evaluation: A Call to Action

One year ago, Engage R+D and Equal Measure launched an exploratory dialogue…

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To Move Forward, Look Back

The longstanding saying tells us to stop and smell the roses. But…

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Cross-post: Advancing Equity by Undoing Nonprofit Power Dynamics

If we want our sector to be more effective in addressing the…

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Reflections from the 2018 National Conference

We were so excited to welcome so many thought leaders to GEO’s…

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Systems Change and Equity Go Hand-in-Hand

Complex, systemic challenges require sophisticated, long-term strategies to address them. The same…

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Leaning Into Discomfort: A Reflection on GEO's 2018 National Conference

In this post-2018 National Conference reflection, Ellen Solowey, program officer at Virginia…

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Is This 21st Century Philanthropy's Defining Moment?

This year, GEO welcomed back Nell Edgington, president of Social Velocity, to…

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Social Velocity's 2018 National Conference Recap: Day 3

Welcome to the recap of Day 3 of GEO's 2018 National Conference!…

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Social Velocity's 2018 National Conference Recap: Day 2

Welcome to the recap of Day 2 of GEO's 2018 National Conference!…

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Social Velocity's 2018 National Conference Recap: Day 1

Welcome to the recap of Day 1 of GEO's 2018 National Conference!…

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Reflecting on 20 Years of Progress at GEO's 2018 National Conference

At the beginning of the year, we kicked off our first post…

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Reflections on GEO's 2018 National Conference: Matthew Henkes

As GEO's national conference approaches, our members share their hopes for our…

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Philanthropy in Troubled Times - Blogging at the 2018 GEO Conference

This year, GEO welcomes back Nell Edgington, president of Social Velocity, to…

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Dancing with Philathro-friends: Reflections on GEO's 2018 National Conference by Amarilis Pullen

As GEO’s national conference approaches, our members share their hopes for our…

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What Would It Take to Align Foundation Mission and Evaluation Practice?

Equitable evaluation has created a critical space for reflective practice. As evaluators…

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Knowledge Sharing to Strengthen Grantmaking

When foundations share knowledge generated through evaluation, strategy development and thought leadership,…

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A New Guide from Philanthropy's Reflective Practices

Philanthropy's Reflective Practices released a guide exploring four reflective practices. Read more…

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Reframing our Purpose to Be More Transformative for People and Families

As Root Cause began to question its purpose, it was critical that…

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Revised Reporting: Are We Fooling Ourselves?

While there is a nearly universal belief that grant reports are necessary,…

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Rapid Response Grantmaking: Responding to Concerns About Community Wellbeing

Post-presidential election, the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund noticed the increasing amount…

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Improving Maternal and Infant Health Through Collaboration and Engagement

bi3 provided $3.2 million to launch StartStrong, a maternal and infant health…

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Rapid Response Grantmaking: Standing with Immigrant and Refugee Neighbors

Solidarity MN is a coalition of Minnesota foundations inspired to act by…

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Looking Forward and Looking Back: 20 Years of Community

This year, the GEO community celebrates 20 years of making meaningful progress…

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Rapid Response Grantmaking: From Day 1 to 100, We Made it 100 Days of US

The Sprout Fund designs grassroots grantmaking programs that tap the ingenuity of…

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Thank You for Influencing Our Future Direction

Thank you for engaging with us throughout 2017 and sharing your wisdom…

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Cross-post: 5 Concrete Steps Foundations Can Take to Advance Racial Equity

In December 2017, Lori Bartczak and Starsky Wilson co-authored an op ed…

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The Story of the Blue Line Coalition

Beginning in 2012, Nexus and the Phillips Foundation partnered to fund and…

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Cross-post: What Does it Take to Build Strong Relationships?

On November 21, 2017, the Center for Effective Philanthropy posted this blog…

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Look at Social Impact Projects for What They Are: Investment

When funding social impact projects, grantmakers have historically not provided contingency funds…

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Increase Your Impact: Invest in Nonprofit Staff

In September, Fund the People announced the release of Fund the People…

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Cross-post: The Search

After the 2017 Unity Summit, AAPIP (Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy) invited…

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We Are In This Together: A Letter to Philanthropy

Hear directly from 9 nonprofit leaders what you can be doing to…

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Using Intermediaries for Social Change

On September 11, GEO hosted a member call to discuss the role…

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A Statement of Values to Guide Philanthropic Collaboration

For the past two years, a number of the leading organizations supporting…

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Capacity building, now more than ever

At this moment, many nonprofits are facing greater fiscal uncertainty than ever…

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Investing in Collaborative Systems Change in Turbulent Times

Philanthropic funders have a unique role to play when leading in complexity…

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From unrest to collaboration

The biggest win for us in going through these dialogues in and…

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What we know for sure

Often unprecedented circumstances seem to necessitate bigger or radically different strategies. But…

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Effective Engagement Starts and Ends with Respect

Even when we don’t mean to — and even when it runs…

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Change Incubator Lessons Learned

Here are five key lessons learned from our pilot Change Incubator program,…

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How can I bring a DEI lens to my organization?

The Race Matters Toolkit provides a comprehensive look at how race and…

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Focus and Hope

Now is the opportunity for foundations to gain a clarity that has…

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Grantmaking with a racial equity lens

A racial equity lens focuses on how race and ethnicity impact experiences…

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Recognize privilege and confront it to do philanthropy well

We all have blind spots. Our blind spots may cause us to…

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What is diversity, equity and inclusion?

The D5 coalition has created a series of tools to help grantmakers…

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Protecting Progress in the Trump Era

What will the Trump Administration mean for the nonprofit organizations who serve…

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Privilege is a blind spot that we need to recognize and confront to do philanthropy well

We all have blind spots. They impair our judgment in meaningful ways.…

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Putting Grantees at the Center of Philanthropy

This series, produced in partnership with Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, tells the…

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A Watershed Moment for Philanthropy Infrastructure

For far too long, the relationships between infrastructure organizations have been fraught…

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Funders and nonprofit leaders need to get on the same side of the table…and share a beverage

Many trustees, program officers and nonprofit leaders are pretty terrible at having…

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Embracing Discomfort

We need to face the structural and systemic causes of racial disparity…

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Community thoughts from the 2016 National Conference

A number of 2016 National Conference participants have shared their thoughts about…

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Placing big bets with the Change Incubator

When GEO launched the Change Incubator last year, we were making three…

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A Positive Culture Only Happens With Intentionality

We know that as a field, we need to do more to…

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The CIA Made Me Do It

I recently ran across a historical document that surprisingly holds many parallels…

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Change Incubator — What are we learning so far?

Teams from four pioneering GEO member organizations joined us in the first…

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The First Step: Understanding the Origins of Culture

More and more people in philanthropy are realizing just how critical attending…

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A Compelling Case to Make Advocacy a Part of Board Culture

Neither we nor the organizations we support can afford to leave any…

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