January 27, 2000 | Read Time: 1 minute
Grantmaking Basics: a Field Guide for Funders
By Barbara D. Kibbe, Fred Setterberg, and Colburn S. Wilbur
The task of giving away money can intimidate even a veteran program officer, write the authors. They offer this guide to help grant makers at foundations and corporate-giving programs stay focused.
Everyone wants something from the grant maker, they write, and trying to please everyone can prove to be exhausting. In addition, the authors warn against “power poisoning,” an illness caused by proximity to large sums of money and fawning grant seekers.
Mr. Setterberg is co-author of two other books about non-profit organizations. Ms. Kibbe is director of organizational effectiveness and philanthropy at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and Mr. Wilbur is the former president of the foundation, which financed this book.
They explain how to review grant proposals and note eight qualities they say make a grant request shine. Other chapters cover interviewing grant seekers about proposed projects and conducting on-site visits, scrutinizing the finances of non-profit organizations, and keeping board members informed.
Publisher: Council on Foundations, 1828 L Street, N.W., Washington 20036; (202) 466-6512 or (888) 239-5221; fax (202) 785-3926; http://www.cof.org; 121 pages; $35 for members, $55 for non-members.
