Diana R. Sieger is the president of the Grand Rapids Commmunity Foundation. For more information, visit Diana's President's pages or view her biography.

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President's Point of View: Structuring the conversation

February 13, 2009

I have been writing quite a bit lately about the topic “Listening to Nonprofits” and what that really means for this Foundation for work I’m doing with the Johnson Center. First of all there are many levels to what seems to be a fairly straightforward topic. Of course we listen to nonprofits as they are on the frontline of community needs and services in any community. A foundation that doesn’t listen to nonprofits is not going to be effective as noted in my blog a few days ago.

What is a tough situation, particularly for a community foundation, is when a nonprofit leader - volunteer or staff - contacts me or one of our Program staff requesting a meeting. Now on the face of it, this may seem reasonable and it is. However, while we are NOT stuck in “well our process” is this, we do need to be fair and consistent with everyone. Other foundations do want nonprofits to meet with them first and then develop a proposal based on the good advice they convey, and many times after many meetings a decision is rendered. (I have an actual example that was relayed to me a year ago by a prominent nonprofit leader in the San Francisco Bay Area who was strung along meeting after meeting over a period of a year with a foundation only to be told that they were not going to be considered.)

What we have developed over years of experience is a way to make sure that when meeting with our nonprofit partners, that the conversation is specific to what the organization needs to address and what funding may be needed. Our preapplication process guides that conversation.

Often the phone calls I receive follow this example:

“I just want to meet with you along with________(insert volunteer name here) to review how we are doing and pick your brain about what is happening in GR and area foundations. We also may want to touch on possible support from the Grand Rapids Community Foundation. I know you’ll want to meet with _______(insert volunteer name here) also because they have always been supportive of the GRCF.”

I generally play the voicemail over again to make sure I heard it correctly and yes this does occur quite a bit. Now I understand that people do want to meet with the “President” - I got that - I understand. AND I am not opposed to be open to talk, listen and strategize. However, ultimately after 21 years of serving as this Foundation’s president, I know that when I receive these calls that it ends up with “so we need your support” - which is fine - which is why we are in business! But there is a more effective and less time consuming route to take.

I cannot stress enough that it is so much better to be forthright about seeking funds. In fact, I venture to say that requesting a “we just want to meet with you to get the lay of the land” session goes the way of needing funding 100% of the time. It just delays the action needed by the applying nonprofit. In these sessions, even though the organization’s lead staff is told prior to meeting you should really just complete the preapplication, it is often believed that a meeting will remove that step and that funding will more likely occur. The staff in our Program area receive countless calls like this daily. Perhaps not as thinly veiled as “I’m bringing my volunteer who supports you too!”

In these horrific economic times, organizations want a lifeline - a ray of hope - and oftentimes that means financial support. That is why calls to us have been increasing and we do talk to many, many people on the phone making inquiries. We guide them to our website to the place where we have clear instructions on completing a pre-application . This helps so we can review the information, possibly organize a meeting which aids the applying organization structure the conversation to say “this is what we need and why” and for us to give guidance as to next steps and ideas that may or may not involve funding. Our board meets 6 times a year and make grant decisions at that time trying to be as flexible and nimble as we can!

As I referenced before, asking for a meeting upfront just delays the process by a few weeks. We are accessible - responsive - and empathetic! Meeting first with every organization really is a time zapper for everyone involved and does not lend itself to assuring that funding is a fait accompli. And we don’t have the staff or the time to do that. WE can serve nonprofits much faster and better if the guidelines previously referenced located on our website are followed. Certainly any questions about our process, the pre-application and anything of that nature are welcomed and encouraged with a phone number and email address noted on the instruction page.

We want all nonprofits to be successful particularly when needs are so severe and all of us are dealing with shrinking resources! It helps to give us information first online so we can serve in the best way possible.

Listening to nonprofits? You bet! Having interested organizations listen to us too? It helps! We do have priorities, we understand the dire circumstances that all organizations and people are facing and we are trying our level best to reach out as best as we can. Thanks for “listening” to me!