March 12, 1998 | Read Time: 5 minutes
Corporate and Foundation Fund Raising: A Complete Guide from the Inside
By Eugene A. Scanlan
A scattershot approach to seeking grants can often yield disappointing results, writes the author of this book. He provides this guide in order to help grant seekers narrow their options and develop a comprehensive fund-raising strategy.
Mr. Scanlan, a Washington-based consultant, says that proposal writing should take place in the middle of the grant-seeking process, preceded by careful prospect research and followed by well-timed correspondence with the grant maker. Drawing on his interest in military history, he asserts there is an “operational art” to seeking funds that combines knowledge of strategy and tactics with the wisdom to choose one’s “battles.”
Mr. Scanlan begins with an overview of the workings of corporate, private, and community foundations and then covers how to conduct research on potential grant sources, approach them, write proposals, maintain a relationship with a grant maker, and use consultants.
A final chapter provides insights from grant makers on what they like to see. A glossary of terms and a suggested reading list are also included.
The book is part of Aspen Publishers’ “Fund Raising Series for the 21st Century,” edited by James P. Gelatt.
Publisher: Aspen Publishers, 7201 McKinney Circle, Frederick, Md. 21704; (800) 638-8437; World-Wide Web http://www.aspenpub.com; 276 pages; $59; I.S.B.N. 0-8342-0936-5.
Nonprofit Governance: The Executive’s Guide
Edited by Victor Futter and George W. Overton
Chief executives of non-profit organizations need to become better acquainted with their complementary duties as manager, caretaker, and provider, say the editors of this book.
“While in the past an executive director may have been able to neglect the management responsibility of his or her position, in today’s environment doing so puts one’s job, and the entire organization, at risk,” write Mr. Futter and Mr. Overton.
The book is a collaboration between the American Bar Association’s Section of Business Law and the American Society of Corporate Secretaries. Its chapters — contributed by consultants, executives of non-profit and for-profit organizations, and lawyers — examine the chief executive’s role in the oversight and operations of the organization’s board of directors, in management practices, in dealing with areas of risk to non-profit organizations, and in complying with tax and accounting regulations.
The editors include many sample documents and checklists related to those topics, including policy statements concerning conflicts of interest among board members, mission statements and sample letters of incorporation from non-profit organizations, and statements of financial position and cash flow.
The call to emulate successful businesses is stressed throughout. For example, a chapter on the duties and liabilities of board officers and directors at non-profit groups ends with a reprint of one board’s guidelines on governance — the board of the General Motors Corporation.
Mr. Futter is chair of the ad hoc committee on non-profit organizations of the American Society of Corporate Secretaries. Mr. Overton is a lawyer at the Chicago firm Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon.
Publisher: American Bar Association, Publication Orders, P.O. Box 10892, Chicago 60610-0892; (800) 285-2221; fax (312) 988-6030; 338 pages; $79.95 plus $5.95 postage and handling; I.S.B.N. 1-57073-422-4.
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
The Commonwealth Fund Survey of the Health of Adolescent Girls provides the results of a survey that questioned 6,748 boys and girls in grades 5 through 12 in order to determine what health professionals, schools, parents, and policy makers can do to promote girls’ health. The questions in the survey, which was completed in June 1997, focused on abuse and violence, mental health, risky behavior, access to health care, and communication with doctors and other health-care professionals. Among the findings: one in five high-school girls reported sexual or physical abuse, and 29 per cent of girls said that they had had thoughts of suicide. Publisher: The Commonwealth Fund, One East 75th Street, New York 10021-2692; (212) 535-0400; fax (212) 606-3500; e-mail cmwf@cmwf.org; World-Wide Web http://www.cmwf.org; 43 pages; free.
The Evolution of Think Tanks in a Changing Political and Institutional Environment, by Andrew Rich, posits that the similarities shared by public-policy institutions — in such areas as goal setting, publication formats, and supporting organizations — are often ignored because of the clamor over the organizations’ ideological differences. Mr. Rich, a doctoral-degree candidate in political science at Yale University, tracks the evolution of early think tanks, examines their political divisions, and concludes that the survivors have followed similar paths in adapting to changing times. Publisher: Program on Non-Profit Organizations, Institute for Social and Policy Studies, Yale University, 88 Trumbull Street, P.O. Box 208253, New Haven, Conn. 06520-8253; (203) 432-2121; fax (203) 432-7798; 52 pages; $5.50; ask for PONPO Working Paper No. 245 or I.S.P.S. Working Paper No. 2245.
Patient and Community Education in Nursing Homes: The Impact of Ownership Type, by Elizabeth H. Bradley and Leslie C. Walker, is the summary of a study that examined 112 nursing homes in Connecticut and found significant differences between those with for-profit ownership and those that were tax-exempt. The authors conclude that non-profit homes were more likely to have continuing discussions with patients and their families about the use of life-sustaining medical treatment and “advance directives”; to discuss pain management, hospitalization, and other options for patients; and to have ethics committees to help shape the planning of patient services. Publisher: Program on Non-Profit Organizations, Institute for Social and Policy Studies, Yale University, 88 Trumbull Street, P.O. Box 208253, New Haven, Conn. 06520-8253; (203) 432-2121; fax (203) 432-7798; 33 pages; $4.50; ask for PONPO Working Paper No. 246 or I.S.P.S. Working Paper No. 2246.
