February 12, 1998 | Read Time: 6 minutes
European Grants Index
Edited by Elan Garonzik and Miles Heggadon
This book is the initial offering in what its compilers hope will be a regular series that sheds light on grant makers’ priorities in Europe.
The European Foundation Centre in Brussels has culled information on 1,750 grants made primarily in 1996 by 78 foundations and corporations. Those grant makers — composing about half of the center’s membership — hailed from 24 countries in Europe as well as Japan and the United States.
The foundations and corporations are listed alphabetically, and each entry lists between 20 and 30 sample grants and their purposes. The grants listed total approximately $170-million; the amounts have been converted from local currencies to the common European currency, the ECU.
Indexes break down giving by subject, population served, type of support, geographic region and country, recipient by country, and grant maker by country. An appendix includes a bibliography and a list of philanthropic organizations that collaborate with the center.
For a summary of the giving trends and statistical analyses put forth in the Index‘s introduction, see story on Page 15.
Publisher: European Foundation Centre, 51 rue de la Concorde, B-1050 Brussels; (011) 32-2-512-8938, fax (011) 32-2-512-3265; e-mail efc@efc.be; World-Wide Web http://www.efc.be; 187 pages; $55; I.S.B.N. 2-930107-05-7.
Foundation Center 1997/1998 Grant Guides
The guides in this series are designed for fund raisers who are seeking grants in any of 32 specific fields.
Each guide spotlights foundations that have made grants of $10,000 or more. For example, Grants for Arts, Culture, and the Humanities lists 13,473 grants totaling more than $1.3-billion that were made in 1995 and 1996 by 896 foundations. Other fields covered include alcohol and substance abuse, children and youths, environmental protection and animal welfare, higher education, hospitals and medical research, religion, and social services.
The grants are enumerated under their respective foundations, which are in turn listed alphabetically by state. Each foundation listing contains the amount of the grants made, their purposes, and a summary of the grant maker’s giving limitations.
Tables in each guide list the total amount and number of grants awarded by each foundation and analyze giving by recipient type, population served, and other factors. Each guide also includes rankings of the 25 foundations that awarded the most during the period covered and the 15 largest grants made in each field.
Each guide provides indexes that arrange foundations by recipient, subject, and geographic region, as well as an appendix that provides contact information for all foundations appearing in the guide.
New to the Grant Guides series this year are directories that list grants made for human and civil rights and for program evaluation.
Publisher: The Foundation Center, Department NR11, 79 Fifth Avenue, New York 10003-3076; (212) 807-3690 in New York State or (800) 424-9836 elsewhere; fax (212) 807-3677; World-Wide Web http://fdncenter.org; $75 each, plus $4.50 postage and handling.
Successful Fund Raisingfor Higher Education: The Advancement of Learning
Edited by Frank H. T. Rhodes
This book contains fund-raising case studies from 10 higher-education institutions and one boarding school.
The contributors, a mix of presidents and development officials, share the tactics employed in their respective campaigns and also define the responsibilities of a fund drive’s overseers.
Each essay focuses on fund-raising efforts at a different type of institution, such as a large public university with a foundation (the University of California at Los Angeles), a private liberal-arts college (Pomona College), a historically black university (Hampton University), and a private school (Deerfield Academy).
The roster of fund-raising experiences ranges from Cornell University, which successfully completed a $1.5-billion campaign in 1995, to Northampton County Area Community College in Bethlehem, Pa., which is currently in the final year of a five-year drive for $3.5-million.
Mr. Rhodes is president emeritus of Cornell. The book was sponsored by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
Publisher: Oryx Press, P.O. Box 33889, Phoenix 85067-3889; (602) 265-2651 or (800) 279-6799; fax (602) 265-6250 or (800) 279-4663; World-Wide Web http://www.oryxpress.com; 182 pages; $34.95; I.S.B.N. 1-57356-072-3.
The Universal Benefits of Volunteering: A Practical Workbook for Nonprofit Organizations, Volunteers, and Corporations
By Walter P. Pidgeon, Jr.
The best way to attract dedicated volunteers is to promote the benefits that they might personally reap from their commitments, writes the author of this book.
Mr. Pidgeon, president of the management-services company Trans-American Associates, defines those benefits as “return value” — direct rewards, such as leadership skills or professional contacts, that a volunteer might receive.
While he stresses that helping others is and should remain the primary motivation for volunteers, Mr. Pidgeon argues that people increasingly are looking for other inducements.
In a section geared toward individuals, he explains how to choose the organization best suited to one’s time, and he elaborates on the personal and public gains to be had; in another section, he advises non-profit organizations on how to assess their needs and recruit and train volunteers accordingly. A third section coaches businesses on how to establish ties to non-profit groups and link employee volunteerism to the company’s bottom line.
A final section outlines how a coordinated effort from those three constituencies and government can raise the overall rate of volunteering.
The book includes an I.B.M.-compatible disk — for use with both Microsoft Word for Windows Version 2.0 and ASCII text format — that contains checklists, worksheets, and sample documents.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, 605 Third Avenue, New York 10158-0012; (800) 879-4539; fax (212) 850-6135; 319 pages; $39.95; I.S.B.N. 0-471-18505-1.
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Evaluating Welfare Reform: A Guide for Scholars & Practitioners, by Douglas J. Besharov, Peter Germanis, and Peter H. Rossi, is the first publication from the newly established Welfare Reform Academy at the University of Maryland at College Park. It summarizes in dependent evaluations of programs spawned by the Family Support Act of 1988 — the last major attempt to reform welfare prior to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996 — and outlines new evaluations that are underway from government agencies and non-profit organizations in response to the recent welfare legislation. A final section offers tips on judging the quality of such evaluations. Publisher: The Welfare Reform Academy, School of Public Affairs, University of Maryland, 2101 Van Munching Hall, College Park, Md. 20742; (301) 405-6330; World-Wide Web http://www.welfare-reform-academy.org; 66 pages; free.
Mission Accomplished: A Practical Guide to Risk Management for Nonprofits, by Peggy M. Jackson, Leslie T. White, and Melanie L. Herman, exhorts non-profit organizations to adopt risk-management programs because “simply purchasing insurance does not reduce the likelihood of a mishap, nor does it eliminate many aspects of non-financial risk,” the authors warn. Chapters cover how to avoid risk to people, property, income, and goodwill; how to install an effective risk-management program within an organization; and how to handle risks that are common to non-profit organizations, such as liability for volunteers and special events. One chapter provides a glossary of risk-management and insurance terms, while another offers a bibliography and resources for further information. Ms. Herman is executive director of the Nonprofit Risk Management Center; Ms. Jackson and Ms. White are associates. Publisher: Nonprofit Risk Management Center, 1001 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington 20036; (202) 785-3891; fax (202) 833-5747; e-mail info@nonprofitrisk.org; World-Wide Web http://www.nonprofitrisk.org; 70 pages; $25 plus $5 postage and handling.
