RESOURCE GENERATION | giving resources: creating a giving plan

Social Change Philanthropy | Creating a Giving Plan | Young People in Philanthropy | Family Philanthropy | Philanthropy Statistics

Publications

Collins, Chuck and Pam Rogers with Joan P. Garner. 2001. Robin Hood Was Right, A Guide to Giving Your Money for Social Change. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

Gary, Tracy and Melissa Kohner. 2002. Inspired Philanthropy: Your Step-By-Step Guide To Creating a Giving Plan, Second Edition. San Francisco: Josey Bass.

Places to find social justice groups to support:

Community-based social change foundations are a great place to start. Review their annual reports and dockets to find grantee groups or support the social change funds directly. In addition, you can talk with program officers and grantmaking committee members at these funds to learn more. To find these organizations, contact:

- The Funding Exchange (http://www.fex.org, 212-529-5356)
- Changemakers Fund (http://www.changemakers.org, 415-551-2363)
- National Network of Grantmakers (http://www.nng.org, 718-923-1400)

To learn more about Community-based foundations, see the recent report by National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy:
- Cohen, Rick. 2004. Community Based Public Foundations: Small Beacons for Big Ideas. National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy. (http://www.ncrp.org)

Community foundations are another resource. Search on the Community Foundation Locator (http://www.communityfoundationlocator.org).

Community based nonprofits are a local resource. Check out web sites (see http://www.idealist.org or www.guidestar.org for very large databases of organizations), read annual reports, meet with staff and other people involved in organizations and ask them to refer you to other people who they know and work with. There are countless activist and nonprofit communities that hold meetings and conferences in which you can connect with people about all the issues you fund.

Affinity groups are groups of funders (and sometimes nonprofits too) that are focused on the same issue or constituency. The Council on Foundations website has a large list of grantmaker affinity groups (http://www.cof.org).

Giving communities and circles Sometimes an easy way to start giving is in community with others. Giving communities can vary quite a bit, but generally include a group of people who are pooling resources and have an interest in a common issue. Below are some of the ones we know about that include donor education components:

- Full Circle Fund (http://www.fullcirclefund.org, 415-561-3398)
- Global Giving Circles, Clarence Foundation (http://www.clarencefoundation.org, 510-558-7188)
- Global Environmental Health & Justice Funding Circle and the Phoenix - - Fund for Labor & Communities Giving Circle, New World Foundation (http://www.newwf.org, 212-249-1023)
- Resourceful Women (http://www.rw.org, 415-561-6520)
- Social Venture Partners (http://www.svpintl.org, 206-728-7872)
- Threshold Foundation (http://www.thresholdfoundation.org)
- Womens Donor Network (http://www.womendonors.org, 415-561-6513)