Providing for the Long Term

WAYS TO USE THIS GUIDE

This guide was written primarily for grant makers and donors who may be considering a contribution to endowment funds. It is intended as a first step in helping them decide how to proceed and what further guidance to seek. But it may be just as useful for grantees who are considering an endowment campaign or are planning to approach funders with the idea. Grant makers may also find it helpful to share this guide with the people on whom they rely for ideas and advice, like supervisors, colleagues, and outside experts.

As you work through the issues raised in this guide, it may be worthwhile to distribute copies to others who can be important to your success. For example:

With Your Board — If you consider requests for endowment grants or other contributions toward long-term investable assets, board members might want some guidance in thinking through the special considerations that such grants raise. You could offer this guide with questions such as these in mind:

• Do we have — or do we want to develop — the skills and technical resources to make endowment grants?
• Are there opportunities for endowment or endowment-like grants that we should be considering — or should consider in a different way — in the future?

With Grantees — If you feel ready to have a candid conversation with a grantee or grant applicant about whether an endowment grant is advisable, this guide could help in organizing that conversation. You and the grantee could use the conversation to explore:

• Whether you now have, or could readily obtain, enough information about the challenges, opportunities, and uncertainties that an endowment campaign would entail?
• What preliminary studies or technical advice you should pursue to help you formulate decisions?
• What options other than an endowment might also serve the same, or similar, purposes?
• What organizational, management, and fundraising strains an endowment might place on the grantee, and whether the likely benefits are worth the cost and effort?

With Colleagues and Advisers — You might find it helpful to discuss this guide with other grant makers, or with experts who advise you on grant making, either informally or in organized discussion sessions. The guide could prompt a discussion about:

• What resources have others found useful in considering or making endowment grants?
• How have others approached endowment grant making, and how does their experience compare with your own or with the suggestions in this guide?

As a Training Tool for Grant Makers — Because this guide explicitly offers guidance to grant makers from their colleagues and other experts, it is readily suited for use in training sessions — either in the initial orientation of new grant makers, or in personal-development training later on.