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Established in 2003, GRANDFamilies improves the quality of life for grandparents raising grandchildren. It is the only center in Chicago and the State of Illinois solely devoted to providing grandparent resources and support. There are approximately 41,000 children in Chicago under age 18 being raised by their grandparents.
When GRANDFamilies approached the Foundation for an organizational capacity building grant, it was only a year old. It had been operating with modest donations from individuals and had a small, founding board. GRANDFamilies' founder and director, a community activist and grandparent caregiver, recognized that the organization needed to develop governance, planning, and operational capacities if it were to grow and sustain its services for the future. She said, "in order to survive as a transparent, accountable and sufficient organization, the board/staff needed to focus on building a strong foundation."
Over a three-year period, RRF provided two organizational capacity building grants, totaling $93,358. The first grant was for one year. Based on significant progress, GRANDFamilies received a second two-year grant. The funds supported a portion of the salary of the Executive Director and a bookkeeper and enabled GRANDFamilies to retain a fundraising consultant. The Executive Director also worked with a coach, paid for by the Foundation over and above the grant.
GRANDFamilies began by focusing on board development. After a board assessment, a series of steps were taken to carefully identify members of the community with valuable skills and experience. The board expanded to include 12 members, elected a dynamic board president (a grandparent caregiver herself) and a new, highly skilled treasurer. Over the course of the grant, the board participated in facilitated retreats, restructured, engaged in strategic planning and training on board responsibilities. GRANDFamilies was able to secure pro bono legal services to assist in rewriting the bylaws and developing a conflict of interest policy and statement.
GRANDFamilies also engaged in evaluation of each of its program components to determine areas that should be retained and strengthened and others that should be eliminated. As a result, GRANDFamilies entered into cooperative relations with two organizations to develop a self-help and empowerment program for grandparent caregivers and to provide housing information and assistance. It also established a Retired Senior and Volunteer Program and created an interactive and informative website.
During the grant period, GRANDFamilies focused on financial management and resource development. Its director completed Lumity's training program in financial management. With the assistance of the new bookkeeper, GRANDFamilies established appropriate accounting systems, policies and procedures. It also put cost-reduction strategies in place, including reducing its space costs. GRANDFamilies developed a fundraising plan that focuses on diversifying sources of support. While its budget had grown by 50%, GRANDFamilies recognized that it was becoming too dependent on public funding. It has begun to have success in attracting other foundation support, beginning with a $10,000 grant from a local philanthropy. The OCB grant has helped this young organization grow more thoughtfully and, hopefully, in a way that will sustain its services in the future.
The Meals on Wheels Foundation of Cook County (MOWF) was founded in 2001 to increase public awareness of the services and raise philanthropic support for its parent organization, the Community Nutrition Network and Senior Services Association, and especially to build support for the Network's home delivered meals program for seniors.
In 2005 (at the time of application for a grant), The Community Nutrition Network was supplying 2,500 meals a day at suburban Cook County congregate sites, at adult day care centers, and in the homes of seniors. Slightly more than half the meals were going to the homes of frail, homebound seniors. Federal funds for the meals program had become flat. At the same time, the numbers of older adults, especially those in the oldest category, were increasing and the need for service was growing. MOWF recognized it needed to build its capacity to get the message out into the community about the value and the need for the meals program and attract more support for it.
In 2005, MOWF received a two-year, $75,000 organizational capacity building grant to improve its fundraising capacity. The funds were to be used to retain a consultant to focus on board development and to hire MOWF's first development director.
MOWF recognized that it needed to develop a board that would be committed to fundraising. The original MOWF board served more in an advisory capacity. When it was established, MOWF and its parent, the Community Nutrition Network, shared board members and staff. With assistance from a consultant, MOWF went through a board and organizational assessment; engaged in strategic planning; clarified board roles; developed and gained acceptance of a board giving policy; wrote new bylaws; restructured the board; identified, recruited and oriented new board members; and engaged in board training, particularly around fundraising. The board expanded from four to eight members.
MOWF had set a goal of raising $165,000 in new funds by the end of the grant period. It exceeded its projections by raising $440,000. It increased the number of donors from 9,000 to 13,000. The number of meals MOWF was able to directly support grew from 8,000 to about 34,000, representing a 325% increase since the start of the grant. MOWF developed a strategic fundraising plan and implemented several strategies to achieve its goals. They included a more aggressive direct mail program; better targeting and solicitation of corporations and foundations; identification and targeting of potential major donors; and website enhancements to create online giving opportunities. MOWF also purchased Raisers Edge software to help track donor giving and establish a more efficient donor acknowledgement system.
MOWF recognized that its fundraising strategies needed to be integrated with its public relations efforts. MOWF began producing a newsletter three times a year. Each issue provides an opportunity to educate readers about ways to give. It also developed a new set of brochures to tell its compelling story. As the grant was ending, MOWF planned to do an audit of its communications program to evaluate its effectiveness in conveying its message to key audiences.
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