1. Growing Your Foundation
Presentation to Australian philanthropic community – April 30, 2014
Been CEO of VF – 8 yrs; Vice President of a univeristy -2 yrs; CEO of a very successful Children’s Hospital Foundation for 13 years
Chaired CFC (191) and Imagine Canada (80k charities) BUT
I have not worked in a start up CF; neither have I been on the board of a start up CF.
I have however worked with many newly formed CF’s and I have seen what has worked for those CF’s who have successfully grown to have a major impact in their community…and I have grown our own foundation significantly to a place where VF is now seen as the go to organization for community knowledge, for getting things done and for impacting the quality of life for our residents…and oh by the way- raised signficant funds along the way.
We are not $950 million when I left in December; 1500 funds; putting $50-60 back into the community annually
But when I came in to VF in I was faced with having to turn a 65 year old institution around…because this is what I found….
Faye Wightman
Vancouver, Canada 1

2. North American Community Foundation’s
An institution of the community for the community in which a wide range of residents work together to create long- term strategies and solutions for developing vibrant, sustainable communities- and they use local resources gathered from a diverse donor base to do it.
Story of the 3 women sitting by the river- rescuing babies

3. 100 years Cleveland- 1914 1750 CF’s worldwide 15 countries
Seen one CF…seen one CF
Similar belief: philanthropy can & should play a role in the health & well being of our communities
Starting with a single CF in Cleveland, Ohio in 1914, the CF world has exploded during the past 100 years, reaching some 1750 in number worldwide today.
You know there is an old adage that if you’ve seen one community foundation you have seen one community foundation. And it is very true --whether you are in Canada, NZ or Australia, each Community Foundation is unique….but there is one thing that we all have in common- regardless of our geography. And that is a profound belief that philanthropy can and should play a role in the health and well being of our communities

4. Vancouver Foundation- 2006
Board of 12
10 men: 2 women
All Caucasian; all over 60
Little turnover (5 Chairs in 65 years)
No history of board giving
No growth in unrestricted revenue
Few options for fund holders
Little public awareness
No strategic plan

5. Reputation… Limited sharing on granting process
Donations “locked in” once given to VF
Little/no contact with fund holders
“Foundation for the wealthy”
“Safe”/conservative granting
Little collaboration with other funders
And yet in spite of all this- we did have $600 million dollars in assets - so they had been “successful” if you measure success by your asset size. Which more and more CF’s are reallizing is NOT the way to measure success.

6. Questions needing answering..
Who are we: what are our values?
Who knows us; what do they know; what does our brand say about us?
The money questions; how big is enough; is it all about the money; is all money “good” money?
Who are our key stakeholders; what’s our relationship with them?
Do we actually know our community- it’s strengths and challenges?
If I were asked to come in and work with fledgling (how do you define fledgling- money, longevity, stagnant?) CF these are the questions I would be asking. Which is what I did when I went in to VF- who in spite of 65 years and being the largest in Canada… needed attention because it was not growing.
Go through questions

7. …questions needing answering
Are the right people involved- board & staff?
Are we clear on our direction and how to get there?
Who are our partners? Who should we be networking with?
What are the “easy wins” we could make?
Where can we turn to for help?
So taking these 10 points I’ll am share with you what we did over the past 8 years with the hope that you might relate to some of the actions we took and decide they might be applicable in your own CF.
I am not saying that you should do what we did- but rather just sharing what worked for us….
But before I address these 10 points- is there others that you would have expected up there?
Pause…

8. Defining ourselves & our role
Core values and beliefs (guiding principles and behavior)
Are we a foundation for all or just the wealthy?
Who does determine the issues?
If we value diversity, does our board reflect our community?
What’s the difference between us & other philanthropic entities?
What role do we play in our community?
If you don’t know who you are- what you stand for- …it is difficult to decide how you want to move forward.
Our beliefs and values articulate the essence of what we stand for/believe in/live by as an organization. We took along time to discuss both the core values and core beliefs because there was not universal agreement on them by either the board or the staff.
We debated which ones were important to us- because we knew they would reflect what is truly core to who and what we were, serve as cultural cornerstones – guiding everything we did and how we did it.
The question of what is the difference between us and other philanthropic organizations was a vey tough question….Distinctive value defines why people should do business with us versus other organizations. We were able to articulates six essential points of difference that we believe are meaningful to our donors and other key constituents…..after discussion and 4 focus groups with external input… next PP
 Beliefs- guiding principles
Collaboration: Working together to leverage our collective knowledge, expertise and resources will ensure the best results.
Community Self Direction: Communities have the right and responsibility to identify and address their priority needs.
Focus: Targeting our efforts and resources will maximize our effectiveness.
Impact: Our work needs to make measurable and sustainable impacts in the communities we serve.
Power of Giving: Philanthropy plays a powerful and integral role in strengthening communities.
Systemic Approach: We address root causes of issues, focusing both on issues today and prevention of issues in the future.
Innovation: Our core role is a funder: however, we will incubate programs/services when required.
VALUES (Our Guiding Behaviours)
Effective: We are exemplary stewards of the resources and the funds entrusted to our care. We deliver on our commitments. Our work is focused and efficient, and provides value for money.
Excellent: We strive for excellence. We are passionate and committed to being the best in everything we do.
Fair: We treat everyone respectfully and fairly. Any actions we take are proportionate and reasonable. We behave in an open, honest and transparent way. We take account of and value the diversity inherent in our communities.
Innovative: We adapt and change, and try new ways of doing things. We are imaginative and flexible. We proactively identify and apply new approaches to achieve meaningful results.
Responsive: We listen to the perspectives and needs of donors, agencies and communities, and respond in a way that is supportive and enabling.

9. Our distinctive value Comprehensive Community Knowledge Convening
Expert-based Grant Making
Significant Scale & Scope
Simplicity & Ease of Giving
Trusted Reputation
This is what we came up with after talking to our donors and fund holders about why they donate to us…what makes us different? Try this with your board, your donors to see why they think you are different than other entities…and if you can’t see any difference then you need to step back and say why are we here???
Comprehensive Community Knowledge: We possess unparalleled knowledge of broad community needs and issues necessary to effectively inform philanthropy and action.
Convening: We take a leadership role in bringing parties together to move ideas from concept to on-the-ground solutions – turning possibility into practice.
Expert-based Grant Making: Using the knowledge of our staff and expert advisory committees, we are industry leaders in grant making.
Significant Scale & Scope: Our significant scale of assets and scope of operations enables us to offer multiple benefits to our constituents
Simplicity & Ease of Giving: We offer flexible donor options and opportunities for donor engagement
Trusted Reputation: We are the largest and one of the oldest community foundations in Canada. We have been a trusted fiduciary for over half a century. We are an independent and impartial not-for-profit leader.

10. Financial Stewardship
Community
Investment
-Grantmaking
-Mission- based
Investing
Philanthropy
-Donor Stewardship
-Gift Planning
-Legacy Giving
-Strategic fundraising
Community Leadership
-Community Research
-Convening/facilitating
-Program incubation
-Public education
Financial Stewardship
-Investing Management
& Reporting
What roles do you play or want to play in your foundation? These were the four roles that in 2007 we said we were going to play
If there is time or perhaps at lunch time I will share with you a very good exercise you could do with your board and donors to see what your core roles are : your aspirational roles: and what you want to stop doing?

11. Public Awareness Benchmark survey on awareness in 2006
Provincial tour (16 communities)
Bi-annual magazine highlighting impact of grants and donors. Partnership with print media
Website & social media presence
New branding and look for VF- Infinity sign- open, modern, approachable
Numerous videos highlighting grants
Public speaking (35/year)
Survey in omnibus survey so it didn’t cost much…
2% unaided awareness….24% aided…
Went out and talked to people about what they wanted..what they thought about VF
Magazine telling stories of philanthropy

12. BC awareness
31%
24%
32%
Now for some of you, you may not think this is much of a change- but to increase by 8 percentage points in awareness in 6 years is I am told pretty remarkable. But it also told us we couldn’t let up and that we had along way to go….
2006
2009
2012

13. The $$...it will come…
Created new funds to allow donors more options (Pay Down, Transferrable, IMP, Start-up)
Created Legacy program for planned giving donors
Partnered with Government for building the arts sector with gov’t matching endowments for arts
Giving Well- giving circle for women
Partnership with local credit union- an investment program for social enterprises
Matching Gift program (from an estate gift)
Board chair mandate for me- get us to a Billion Dollars.
WHY? What kind of money is good money? What is the foundation trying to do- because if it is just about getting big then the answer is go after any and all money- the bottom line is the goal
But if you are about making granting decision then you want to have more unrestricted or FOI funds that you can work with.
However if you are about serving donors, then your focus may be on DAF and serving their needs
So it imporatnt that you have a sense of what your own mandate is and who your key customer is- is it the donors, the grantees or the community at large.?
$10k or $50k funds? Are you a fndn for the wealthy or to serve all donors? If a donor has $10k to give –doesn’t he deserve to have named fund? Can you build on the relatonship to get to $50k as he/she sees the impact of their granting?

14. Continuum of funds . Unrestricted Field of Interest Donor Advised
You need to decide what funds you want to focus on ….most of us would agree that totally unrestricted giving is best…leaving it to the foundation to decide where is the best place in the community to put the funds. But right across Canada and the USA that is not happening…donors want choice…they want to be involved in the decision making about their giving. So as a new foundation…how can you allow for donor input but still “push” or market unrestricted giving? Or will you focus on getting agencies to put their discretionary funds with you because that builds your asset base and allows for more leverage in investmetn fees and helps pay the bills? But does it cost more to service them?
What I wish I could have changed…scaled fees!!
Designated/Agency Funds
No Fndn influence
Fndn driven

15. It’s about relationships..
Collaboration with other funders (United Way)
Government partnerships- city and province
Program for Donor Advised Fund holders-Book of Opportunities; Report on Philanthropy
Agency seminars & training opportunities
Forum for professional advisors
Task forces for broader community input
What are your stakeholders? Who’s support do you need to make your job easier/better? Who can make your work more difficult?
Who needs to know what you are doing?
Who are your competitors and why are they competitors? What if you saw them as collaborators?
GNPI- partnership with 7 provincial ministries and social service sector

16. Community Knowledge Grantee perception survey
Vital Signs & Youth Vital Signs
Conducted interviews with key community leaders
Phone survey of 3k residents to determine community priorities/issues
Published reports
Youth Homelessness Survey
How do you know that your community? Are there surveys out there that you can tap into?
Could you form an external advisory committee or task force that you meet with 4 times a year to get their input?
Is there a univesity that is doing work in urban planning that can feed you reports?
Are you connecting with city council to get reports?
How can you “test” with your community what they think is key for you to do?- I did 100 interviews over 2 months…best investment of my time. Corporations, media, university presidents, think tank leaders, police chief,politicians, philanthopists, non profit leaders
Omni bus surveys- tack onto other surveys

17. Right people on the bus…
Hired the right staff!
Developed a board matrix & targeted recruitment
Recruited directors that represented the community
Board orientation/training mandatory
Honorary Governors’ Council to expand involvement
Focused on key stakeholders
Hire staff even in the early stages
You can teach the skills..but you can’t teach the values….
Getting rid of the wrong people
Terms
Teach the volunteers about CF’s
People are flatterred to be asked…

18. Knowing the direction
4 year Strategic Plan developed& used (Operational plan & Individual work plans)
Implemented feedback from Grantee & Donor Perception surveys
Board retreats focused on generative discussions
Revised Board meetings/board reporting to ensure we were staying focused on priorities & maximizing expertise of directors

19. Networks/partnerships
Who else is out there that we need to connect with? CAGP- Gift Planners?; Council on Foundations, CFC
Created a Professional Advisors group
Created a local funders forum to share resources/training
Partnered with government
Partnered with Social Ventures Partners

20. Easy wins
Held donor events at agencies to introduce them to beneficiaries (eg Yo-Yo Vancouver Symphony)
Invited donors to granting meetings
My Philanthropy”- on line access
Held “Community Cause” lunch and learn sessions
Directors phoned to thanks donors
Annual meetings with key fund holders
Attended multitude of events in the community!

21. External Resources Council on Foundations
Community Foundations of Canada
Community Foundation Leadership Team
The Monitor Institute
Board Source
The James Irvine Foundation
Board members
Each other

22. 4 Building Blocks
Create multiple ways for people to engage & contribute
Communicate
Often & in many
ways
Build the
Foundations for
Long-term work
Build Trust
And
Capacity
So if I had to sum it all up…I think these are the 4 building blocks for success…whether you are a newly formed foundaiton in NZ or a 72 year old one in Canada.

23. What do you need to succeed?
Questions/comments
Thank you !