On the Brink of New Promise THE FUTURE OF COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS IN CANADA AND THE US Adapted with...

On the Brink of New PromiseTHE FUTURE OF COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS IN CANADA AND THE US

Adapted with permission by Community Foundations of Canada 2009 Content provided by Blueprint Research & Design, Inc. and the Monitor Institute

A presentation for the

[Your Organization Name Here]

Adapted with permission by Community Foundations of Canada 2009© Blueprint Research & Design, Inc. and Monitor Company Group, LLP

A New Era of Community Philanthropy is Emerging

The next generation is likely to create surprises as important as the entrance of commercial charitable gift funds into the field in the past generation.

Community foundations are a prominent feature in the picture of community philanthropy, but they are by no means alone.


Today’s Landscape for Community Philanthropy

Community foundations today operate in a more complex and crowded environment


A Snapshot of Today’s Crowded Environment

Community Foundations

Alternative and Community-Based

Foundations

Identity-Based Focus Funds

Giving Federations

United WaysLocally-Focused

Private Foundations

Commercial CharitableGift Funds

HealthcareFoundations

Hometown Associationsand Remittance Giving

Locally-BasedCorporate Giving


Today’s Competitive Environment for Community Foundations

CommunityPhilanthropy

(including community foundations)

Nonprofits

SubstituteProducts and Services

1

Suppliers,Distributors,

Vendors

Commercial Players

Not only is the arena of community philanthropy more crowded, a range of other competitive forces are also affecting the field.

Improved connectivity can allow donors to link directly with nonprofits

Competition from low-cost/ high volume providers like banks, as well as high-end wealth management advisors

Innovations like Donor Managed Investment Funds may create new alternatives

Professional service firms and technology providers are beginning to offer services that overlap with community foundation services


Community philanthropy has long been connected to several allied industries, such as accounting, tax law, estate planning, investment advising, and financial management. As each of these industries innovate, merge, and develop new services, they will force philanthropy to respond.

Philanthropy in the next generation will operate under increased regulatory and public scrutiny. The field will also be affected by regulatory changes in other sectors, including tax law, environmental law, and intellectual property law.

In the next generation, Canada will grow bigger, older, and more diverse. The changing face of the population will fundamentally alter the composition and social dynamics of communities, as well as the services they require.

With the global economic decline of 2008 and the shift, over the past 30 years, from an industrial economy to an information-based one, corporate consolidation, globalization, and outsourcing are likely to rearrange local economies as corporations become increasingly mobile.

Forces Shaping the New Era

• Economic decline and changing market pressures

• Demographic changes

• Changing expectations for regulation and accountability

• The commercial sector as innovator

• Changing relationships between sectors and new expectations for public problem solving

Ongoing structural shifts in government services and corporate responsibility will require philanthropy to continuously assess these relationships as it defines its role.The combination of these forces is inescapably changing much

of what now feels familiar.


The forces and circumstances of today aren’t just a blip in time, unrelated to what has come before or after.

Learning from the Past

The same forces have shaped each of the major historical periods of evolution of community philanthropy in Canada and the United States.


Early North American Community Philanthropy

Early North American community philanthropy was characterized by informal practices of “taking care of one’s own” that were integrated into the daily life of every demographic group.


The Institutionalization of Community Philanthropy

This period witnessed the formalization of early giving practices and the creation of many of today’s key institutional structures, such as community foundations, giving federations, and United Ways.

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The Democratization of Community Philanthropy

After the Great Depression and World War II, organized community philanthropy spread and diversified into new communities and populations.

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The Age of Commercial Charity

This period included the explosive growth of community philanthropy organizations in the 1990s and the entrance of commercial charitable gift funds into the philanthropic arena.


Community Philanthropy in Canada

Milestones: 1921 - The Winnipeg Foundation,

Canada's first community foundation is established.

1945 - Vancouver Foundation is established.

1954 – Hamilton, Ontario and Fredericton, NB, join the community foundation movement.

1955 - The Calgary Foundation becomes the first community foundation in Alberta.

1969 - Regina establishes the South Saskatchewan Community Foundation.

1992 - Community Foundations of Canada (CFC) is officially founded to provide a national network for the growing movement (28 members in 1992).

- Source: Community Foundations of Canada

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5

10

15

20

25

30

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

Number of Community Foundations Established Per Year since 1992


North American Community Foundations

Source: Sample of 337 Community Foundations; Foundation Centre Data, Monitor Institute Analysis

Canadian data from Community Foundations of Canada

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5

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15

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1905

1910

1915

1920

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1930

1935

1940

1945

1950

1955

1960

1965

1970

1975

1980

1985

1990

1995

2000

2005

Number of Community Foundations Added Per Year

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Canadian

Before 1900: Early

community phlanthropy

1900-1929: The institutionalization of community philanthropy

Great Depression and

World War II

1950-1990:The democratization of community

philanthropy

1991-2005: The age of

commercial charity

2005-?: The next era

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Canada's Community Foundation Milestones:


The Next Era

What will the next era look like?


A large provider of data management services for foundations begins to use its enormous database to directly connect donors to nonprofits, effectively “disintermediating” community foundations?

What if…A national partnership between community foundations and back-office technology providers allows community foundations to work together as a seamless network of connected community offices?

Changes in tax regulations and giving patterns force the consolidation of community foundations, United Ways, and other funds as a way to streamline overhead costs?

Community philanthropy organizations began to cross traditional borders and boundaries to work together on a pressing regional or national issue?

Lessons from the Future:

What Could the New Era Bring?


Strategic Implications for Community Foundations

The best efforts of previous generations have left us with an incredible legacy to build upon, and the community philanthropy that we know today will not disappear.

But many of the original assumptions that guided the early community foundations no longer necessarily fit today’s operating environment.

The mindset that guided the field to this point will need to be replaced with a new set of principles and priorities.


Community foundations must move beyond the important emphasis on operational efficiency of the last decade to a second order of change.

Every service and product community foundations offer is now available from other sources, or soon will be.

More than ever before, community foundations will need to use your community knowledge, relationships, and leadership to “walk the talk” of community benefit.

Principles for a New Era of Community Philanthropy

• A shift in focus from the institution to the community

• A shift from managing financial assets to long-term leadership

• A shift from competitive independence to coordinated impactBuilding an endowment is one important part of helping communities, but it is not the only measure of success. The endowment is a means to service, not the end in itself.

Just as important is permanence—the assurance of a strong, enduring commitment that will allow donors to feel secure that gifts given today will continue to serve the community for the long term.

Community foundations can now do this by choosing from a wide range of strategic roles in your communities. These roles are the “building blocks” of community philanthropy strategy in the future.

Success on the ground in communities and successful competition for donors will require a fundamental shift from a mindset of independent value to one of coordinated impact.

In many cases you will need to structure yourselves to work in real partnership with other community philanthropy organizations and to piggyback, rather than fight, commercial innovation.

In other cases, mergers and consolidation may be necessary to reduce operational expenses.


What this means in [Your community name]

• [Your content here]



Rapid and Significant

Slow andIncremental

Degree of change in our community over the next decade?

Assessment Scales

• What types of changes do we expect?

• How well positioned are we to respond to these changes?

• What implications do the changes have for our organization and the services we provide?


How well do our people and programs reflect our changing community?

Assessment Scales

• How well do our staff and board reflect our community?

• How well do our programs address the varied needs of different parts of our community?

• What level of cultural competence does our organization have for working with various population groups in our area?

Not as well as they should

Very well

Prettywell


Rarely Often

How often does our foundation take leadership on local issues?

Assessment Scales

• What are the issues where we have been a successful community leader?

• What was it that made those efforts successful?

• Are there issues where we act as a complementary partner or “follower” of others?


What type of capital does our foundation provide to the community?

Assessment Scales

• What types of non-financial assets (skills, capacities, influence) do we bring to bear on local issues?

• How do others in the community view our contributions?

• How do we finance our leadership activities?

Social capital and leadership as important as money

Entirelyfinancial


Degree of collaboration

Assessment Scales

• What are examples of the collaborative work that we have done?

• What characterized our successful collaborations?

• What types of organizations have we partnered with? How was power shared?

Nearly always work with other organizations

Primarilywork

alone


Are we providing distinctive value to our community?

Assessment Scales

• How are we distinctive?

• How do we know?

• What would others say? For example, the head of the local United Way? Local politicians? Community members?

No YesSometimes


Very little A fair amount A lot

How much does our community foundation need to change in the next 10 years?

Appetite for Change

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 100



Questions for Discussion

• What should we hold on to?

• What do we need to let go of?

• What do we need to learn?

For more information, visit:

www.communityphilanthropy.org

www.cfc-fcc.ca

http://www.communityphilanthropy.org/

http://www.cfc-fcc.ca/

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On the Brink of New Promise THE FUTURE OF COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS IN CANADA AND THE US Adapted with...

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