Got Initiative?
While there are significant differences in the development, structure, and practices of community foundations around the world, I'd like to offer the following, which are logical, universal, and applicable ideas for community foundations to use in preparing to implement a programmatic initiative.
a. Pursue Research and Knowledge
Research and knowledge should be acquired about the community served and the issue that the initiative intends to address. This information gathering component should be done well and objectively. In collecting a broad base of information, a community foundation must include research, knowledge management, discussion forums, task forces, and information distribution.
While community indicators projects like the Vital Signs (Community Foundations of Canada) assessment are extremely critical to a community foundation’s decision to implement an initiative, research and knowledge about the community, based on the community’s opinions, recommendations, and judgments should also be acquired. Community perception assessments, which reflect how a community perceives itself (versus how it truly is), may provide more encouragement for community leaders, members, and organizations to be involved in the initiative.
Instituting an initiative without the data to support that it is needed is very risky. This commitment to acquiring knowledge around the initiative should occur before, after, and during initiative implementation. Consistently collecting information about the initiative’s impact, the community’s response to the initiative and new practices through which the initiative can be improved is essential for the most beneficial impact.
2. Initiative Research
In addition to collecting research and knowledge about the community in which the initiative is to be implemented, a community foundation must also collect information about the subject of the initiative. The challenge in hiring general practitioners is that they may not be well prepared to offer an intelligent point of view in a specific area such as youth development. On the other hand, the challenge in hiring specialists is that their opinions may be too narrow in adherence to the community foundation’s mission.
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b. Prepare to fund the initiativeIn planning to launch a programmatic initiative, a community foundation should be prepared to support it through funding. Continued funding, whether for developmental assistance, programming, or research, demonstrates the community foundation's commitment to the continity of the initiative. There are several approaches that a community foundation can offer in presenting financial support for its initiatives:
§ Budget Line Item
§ Competitive Grants
§ Corporate Sponsors
§ Funding Pools
§ Matching Grants
§ Micro Enterprise Revolving Loan Fund
In financially supporting its programmatic initiatives, community foundations complement their role as initiative-implementers.