When Projects Flounder

What warning signs might alert you that a project is floundering? In this guide, grant makers recount their experiences with troubled projects and tell how they responded - or how they wish they'd responded. With the benefit of hindsight, veterans describe what they learned and offer advice on the most effective and timely way to handle distress signals.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Recognizing the warning signs
• Deciding whether to intervene
• Shaping your response to the situation

SAMPLE QUOTES

"It was at this time, that I started to feel completely in shark-filled waters. I started to feel I was caught in a bad dream. I was feeling oppressed by the whole thing, thinking 'God, why did I ever get into this?' "

— A grant maker on realizing that a large grant to an entrepreneurial start-up was dragging her into an ethically questionable money pit

"There was an uproar in the grantee community. People wanted to know what we were supporting. I'd thought we had an understanding [between the foundation and the grantee on how the grant would be used] and instead it was turning into something quite different. I was catching a certain amount of flak...I was feeling trapped."

— A grant maker on learning that a leading grantee was using foundation money to advance a previously undisclosed ideological agenda

"My heart sank at this meeting. I could tell that he felt this was hurdle-jumping, and unnecessary and undignified."

— A grant maker on realizing exactly how a critically important grantee regarded the core objectives of his foundation's major new initiative