communityworks: everything changed
TRANSCRIPT
8/3/2019 Communityworks: Everything Changed
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In 2003 a oundation with a statewide
mission set out to build a strong network
o partners. Community oundations
around the state took up the challenge.
And everything changed.
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From isolation
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to collaboration
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Grand Victoria Foundation
Nancy Fishman230 W. Monroe Street, Suite 2530
Chicago, Illinois 60606
312 609-0200
grandvictoriadn.org
Community Foundation
o Central Illinois
Mark Roberts
331 Fulton Street, Suite 310
Peoria, Illinois 61602
309 674-8730communityoundationci.org
Community Foundation
o East Central Illinois
Joan Dixon
404 West Church Street
Champaign, Illinois 61820
217 359-0125
ceci.org
The Community Foundation o
Decatur/Macon County
Lucy Murphy
125 North Water Street, Suite 200
Decatur, Illinois 62523
217 429-3000
endowdecatur.org
Community Foundation
o the Great River Bend
Susan Skora
852 Middle Road, Suite 100
Bettendor, Iowa 52722
563 326-2840
cgrb.org
Community Foundation
o the Quincy Area
Jill Blickhan
P.O. Box 741
Quincy, Illinois 62306
217 222-1237
mycommunityoundation.org
DeKalb County
Community FoundationDan Templin
The Atrium Ofce Center
2600 DeKalb Avenue
Sycamore, Illinois 60178
815 748-5383
dekalbcountyoundation.org
The DuPage
Community Foundation
Dave McGowan
104 E. Roosevelt Road, Suite 204Wheaton, Illinois 60187
630 665-5556
dcdn.org
Efngham County
Community Foundation
and Mattoon Area
Community Foundation
Joedy Hightower
300 East Washington
P.O. Box 1211Efngham, Illinois 62401
217 342-4988 Efngham
efnghamoundation.org
217 235-2500 Mattoon
mattoonoundation.org
Evanston Community
Foundation
Sara Schastok
1007 Church Street, Suite 108
Evanston, Illinois 60201847 492-0990
evanstonorever.org
Community Foundation
o Kankakee River Valley
Norm Strasma
105 East Court Street
Kankakee, Illinois 60901
815 939-1611
endowtheuture.org
McHenry County
Community FoundationKate Halma
P.O. Box 1844
Woodstock, Illinois 60098
815 338-4483
mccdn.org
The Moline Foundation
Joy Boru
817 11th Avenue
Moline, Illinois 61265
309 736-3800molineoundation.org
Community Foundation
o Grundy County
Julie Buck
102 N. Liberty Street
Morris, Illinois 60450
815 941-0852
cgrundycounty.com
Oak Park - River ForestCommunity Foundation
Sophia Lloyd
1049 Lake Street, Suite 204
Oak Park, Illinois 60301
708 848-1560
oprc.org
Sangamon County
Community Foundation
John Stremsterer
One West Old State Capitol Plaza,Suite 816
Springfeld, Illinois 62701
217 789-4431
scc.us
Southern Illinois
Community Foundation
Pat Bauer
201 West DeYoung Street
Marion, Illinois 62959
618 997-3700
sic.org
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Community Foundation
o Central Illinois
Community Foundation
o East Central Illinois
The Community Foundation o
Decatur/Macon County
Community Foundation
o Grundy County
Community Foundation
o the Quincy Area
Community Foundation
o the Great River Bend
DeKalb County
Community Foundation
The DuPage
Community Foundation
Efngham County
Community Foundation
Mattoon Area
Community Foundation
Evanston Community
Foundation
Community Foundation
o Kankakee River Valley
McHenry County
Community Foundation
The Moline
Foundation
Sangamon CountyCommunity Foundation
Southern Illinois
Community Foundation
Grand Victoria Foundation
Oak Park-River Forest
Community Foundation
Southeastern Illinois
Community Foundation
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Financial and technical support to build leadership,
communications, and capacity to raise and manage unds:
$50,000/year, two years operating support, part o which
could be used or salary
$50,000 2:1 challenge grant or Communityworks
endowment
Participation in Learning Support Network
Financial and technical support to deploy
capacities on one or more target issues:
$60,000/year, three years general operating support
$200,000 1:1 challenge grant or
Communityworks endowment
Community convenings
Development o community impact plan
Participation in Learning Support Network
Communityworks Phase I
May 2003–May 2005
Communityworks Phase II
June 2005–May 2008
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Communityworks. The change so ar.
Five years ago, the Grand Victoria Foundation
was a young Illinois oundation with limited assets
and an ambitious statewide agenda or improving
early childhood care and education, workorce
development, and land use and protection. To develop
thoughtul, place-based programs and attract local
resources, Grand Victoria decided it needed partners.
It launched Communityworks, a $12 million, ve-
year initiative to expand the capacity and infuence
o Illinois community oundations and collaborate
with them. Drawing on interviews and reports
rom seventeen community oundations and Grand
Victoria, this report examines how it worked, what
lessons emerged, and what comes next.
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What do private oundations do? The traditional answer is, give away money. By this
logic, a statewide oundation like Illinois’ Grand Victoria Foundation would give away
money around the state. But Illinois is a big state: nearly 13 million people, organized
into 102 counties and hundreds o local governments, with dramatic upstate/downstate
and rural/urban disparities. Grand Victoria wanted to take on big issues, including early
childhood care and education, workorce development, and land use and protection.
How could one grantmaker, with $50 million in total assets, possibly make a dierence
on those issues in Illinois?
Grand Victoria started by rethinking its role. Instead o going solo, suppose it could
be part o an ensemble? Instead o struggling to gure out needs and opportunities in
Decatur, Carbondale, and Quincy, suppose it ound local partners who could share
their knowledge? Instead o simply making its own grants, could it expand philanthropic
resources in Illinois, especially outside the Chicago metro region?
Recent years have seen many oundations rethinking their role. They are moving
beyond grantmaking to convene stakeholders, invest in research and capacity building,
build networks, and share inormation. Grand Victoria made those ideas central to
its approach.
Grand Victoria also picked up on the increasing interest in community philanthropy,
energized by a new generation o donors, new nancial instruments, and new technologies.
Other private oundations—notably Lilly, Kellogg, Mott, and Irvine—were investing in
their states’ community oundations. Grand Victoria decided to seek partners among
community oundations in Illinois. At the time, in 2001, Illinois community oundations
(except in Chicago) were a largely underdeveloped sector. Some had just gotten started.
Others had been around or decades but were inactive. Only a handul had assets above
$10 million.
And then there was another denition problem: What do community oundations
do? The traditional answer has been, they manage the assets and carry out the
wishes o local donors and work with the local nonprots they wish to support. Several
Illinois oundations acknowledged the importance or their communities o the issues
Grand Victoria was raising. Communities in the Chicago metro area struggle with growth
and land conservation issues; aging industrial cities know that they need a better
trained workorce; and everyone recognizes the importance o early childhood learning.
But community oundations generally did not see tackling such issues as their role.
Their role was to work with local donors and help them support local organizations.
The thinking changed.
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Grand Victoria oered them the opportunity, and the resources, to change that model.
It would help them build their capacity and their endowments, i they would consider
expanding their role, listening to their community, and creating and implementing
plans to address those three issues locally (see grant details on p. 2). In launching
Communityworks, recalls Nancy Fishman, executive director o Grand Victoria, “I was
hoping that i we all agreed that we care about the same things, and that our solutions
must be placed-based, and we all worked together, however dierent our strategies might
be, it would make a much bigger dierence to olks in Illinois than i Grand Victoria just
made its grants and community oundations ocused on donor services.”
Eighteen community oundations took up the challenge (one later dropped out).
The operating support alone was irresistible. But many, especially brand-new oundations
or those with recently hired executive directors, were attracted by the chance to step
up to a new, more proessional level o operations. “Communityworks was the rst big
idea that came our way,” said one executive director. A trustee said: “It came at just the
right time. It gave us direction; it gave us a ocus; it gave us a story.”
But not everyone was so sure.
“We thought our job was to create permanent endowments or beloved local
nonprots,” not compete with them or resources, said one executive director;
“Communityworks wanted to take us in a dierent direction. That was a
problem.” Another likened Communityworks to a giant slalom course: “We could
see the nish line, but the slope was enshrouded in og—we had no clear idea
how we would get there.” A ew were downright suspicious. As one executive
director put it: “A oundation rom Chicago says, ‘we’re here to help you?’
Nobody south o I-80 believes anyone rom Chicago is going to help them.”
5 Grand Victoria Foundation | Communityworks
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From one tool
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to a toolbox
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Beore Communityworks, most Illinois community oundations were very small
operations. Some had never had a ull-time sta person or an oce; others relied on
one or two people to do everything. The operating support rom Communityworks
made a big dierence.
New sta Communityworks required that the oundations have at least one ull-
time proessional sta member. Several oundations hired executive directors, some
or the rst time: Julie Buck at Grundy County, Norm Strasma at Kankakee,
Joedy Hightower or the combined posts o Engham and Mattoon were all hired
because o Communityworks. McHenry also hired its rst ull-time executive
director. Other oundations (including Evanston, DeKalb, Central Illinois, Great
River Bend, and DuPage) added program ocers or other proessional sta.
By 2008, hal o the Communityworks participants had three or more ull-time sta.
New oces Southern Illinois moved rom an incubator building on the Southern
Illinois University Campus to a storeront oce on DeYoung Street, the main drag
in nearby Marion—a symbolic statement o independence rom its university origins.
Neither Engham nor Mattoon had an oce; now the oundations have oce
space near the downtown areas o each community.
Oak Park - River Forest separated rom the community chest and opened its
own oce in Oak Park’s Lake Street shopping district.
Sangamon County opened oces in a downtown high rise in Illinois’
capital city, Springeld.
Decatur moved out o a basement into oces on the second foor o a recently
renovated, busy downtown community arts center.
With a git rom a ormer trustee, DuPage Community Foundation
bought its own condo in a local proessional building.
McHenry County let behind its 500-square-oot oce and moved into a
pleasant space that aces onto Woodstock’s classic town square (which was the
setting or the movie “Groundhog Day”).
The people changed,
and so did the places.
9 Grand Victoria Foundation | Communityworks
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“Communityworks enabled us to hire sta.
It really increased the presence and the percep-
tion o the oundations in the community.”
Joedy Hightower and Mary McShane, Efngham County
Community Foundation/Mattoon Area Community Foundation
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New capacity When Joy Boru took over the Moline Foundation, it consisted o
a card table, a chair, a box with a John Deere mug, some pencils, a calculator,
and some le olders,” she recalls. Boru ditched the box and bought a copier,
computers, and accounting sotware. Several others also upgraded their
computers and sotware. Great River Bend bought a color copier and started
planning new oce space.
Evanston hired a design team and created a bright, strong brand
or its annual report and undraising materials.
All seventeen oundations applied or certication rom the Council on
Foundations as meeting the National Standards or Community Foundations,
and twelve were certied.
But some things didn’t go smoothly.Several oundations struggled through stang problems: too little sta,
too much turnover, not the right sta or the tasks at hand.
“
11 Grand Victoria Foundation | Communityworks
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Grantmaking is the most obvious tool at a oundation’s disposal, but not
the only one. In launching Communityworks, Grand Victoria dug deep into
its philanthropic toolbox.
Convening Grand Victoria explicitly set out to create a statewide network o
partners and it built the network through shared experiences, including monthly
conerence calls and annual meetings.
Capacity building grants Communityworks oered each community oundation
$280,000 in general operating support over ve years, enabling them to add sta
and proessionalize their operations as described above.
Technical assistance Grand Victoria invested $1.8 million in providing technical
assistance through its Learning Support Network. The network was staed by eld
liaisons who provided coaching, expertise, and other supports. Conerence calls,
workshops, educational and research materials, access to consultants, and a website
provided ideas on everything rom the basics o running a oundation to resources on
land use and protection, early childhood, and workorce issues. Field liaisons met
regularly as a team to review progress and plot new directions.
Matching grants To encourage each community oundation to build its own
resources dedicated to the three issues, Grand Victoria oered $50,000 i community
oundations raised $25,000 (in Phase 2 expanded to $200,000 on a 1:1 match).
The work changed, or Grand Victoria
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Community oundations who participated in Communityworks also took
up new and oten unamiliar tools:
Convening Phase 2 required community oundations to meet with “local citizens,
civic leaders, and policymakers” to explore the three issues. For many this was a new
challenge. “All o a sudden here we were holding public meetings on land use,”
said one; “we said to ourselves, what are we doing?” Many were pleasantly surprised
by the results. “I’d be lying i I didn’t say I was skeptical,” said one executive director,
but it proved to be very powerul to get people in the same room to talk about issues.”
For some oundations, however, the convenings proved a special challenge; said one:
It’s hard to get people around here to come to community meetings—and I was doing
them in counties where I didn’t know anybody” (she responded by recruiting new
board members rom those areas). Another executive director ound one meeting
hijacked by advocates o a narrow agenda, while other sessions elicited a deluge
o ideas and commentary.
Partnerships Out o the community meetings the oundations developed partner-
ships with local ocials, nonprot and corporate leaders, and other unders, ormalized
in part through Communityworks advisory committees. They built connections with
groups they had never worked with beore. Both Decatur and Sangamon County have
developed their education initiatives as broad-based partnerships, with support and
leadership rom major partners besides the oundation. DeKalb and Great River Bend
now say that they won’t undertake any new projects without partnerships.
Planning Phase 2 required the oundations to come up with a “community impact
plan.” Many ound it tough going (“unbelievably laborious,” said one), as they struggled
to make sense o all the inormation they had gathered. But even those who complained
recognized that the planning was essential i they were to move in new, more strategic
directions. For a look at the plans that resulted, see the next section.
...and the community oundations.
“
“
13 Grand Victoria Foundation | Communityworks
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Through their public meetings, the community oundations began learning
about problems and leadership opportunities that they had never known existed,
and nding partners among people they had never met.
The Community Foundation o Central Illinois ound that many groups had
program plans or the same low-income Peoria community but didn’t know about
each other. The oundation hosted a breakast at the Urban League where people
began planning collaboration to avoid duplicating resources.
Kankakee, McHenry, and Engham community oundations each connected with
planning already underway or major local initiatives, and each stepped into a leadership
role. In Kankakee, the community oundation became the driving orce behind creation
o a walking and biking trail along the Kankakee River, which required collaboration
by twelve government entities involved in dierent sections o the trail. McHenry has
taken a similar role or development o a new acility to host the county air and other
local and regional events. In Engham, the community oundation became the ocal
point o local eorts to raise a $3 million permanent endowment to support the operation
o a new sports acility.
In Decatur, the oundation brought educators, child care providers and Head Start
representatives together. The group immediately ocused in on kindergarten readiness.
In Springeld, the community meetings identied a challenge that touched on
all three issues: transportation. The city’s buses didn’t reach the major shopping areas
and employment centers just outside the city limits; and they stopped running at
6:30 p.m. The oundation’s rst Communityworks grant provided transportation
subsidies or local residents, and the oundation began exploring ways to recongure
bus routes and schedules to connect people to jobs and child care.
In addition to the community meetings, the Moline Foundation and the Community
Foundation o the Great River Bend, working with other local oundations and the United
Way, commissioned a survey o Quad Cities residents and leaders supplemented by ocus
groups and additional data. The “Community Vitality Scan” identied community
priorities on education, the local economy and the environment, as well as other areas.
The two community oundations then divided up the work, with Great River Bend taking
responsibility or early childhood and the Moline Foundation beginning planning on
workorce and land use and protection.
The planning began.
15 Grand Victoria Foundation | Communityworks
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Pulling together all the input plus inormation and resources supplied by the Learning
Support Network, the community oundations began creating plans and setting goals.
In Peoria, the ideas gradually ocused on making Peoria Manual High School
a resource or the whole community. The community oundation started working with
others to create a rain garden and a training program or local child care providers
on the Manual campus.
Out o the early sessions in Decatur came the idea o a summer pre-kindergarten
program to enhance the readiness o children who would otherwise start out at a
disadvantage—and an overall plan to make Decatur the “best educated city in Illinois.”
Evanston came to the conclusion that kindergarten readiness and workorce readiness
are grounded in the earliest years. They determined that there were strong preschool
options or local kids, but that the real need was in the birth-to-three stage; so they
began supporting home visiting or vulnerable amilies with very young children.
Other oundations also ocused on early childhood. The DeKalb, McHenry, and
Quincy community oundations concentrated on improving the quality o child care
by helping local providers to meet recently adopted state quality rating standards
or in-home child care.
Sangamon County ound that reorganizing Springeld’s transportation system
was beyond its reach. It turned instead to an ambitious, multiagency planning initiative
to create a “continuum o learning” to support lielong learning by local residents.
The oundation’s ability to assess its eectiveness and change course suggests its growing
maturity as an organization.
Somewhat to its surprise, the Moline Foundation ound itsel helping lead local land
use and watershed planning sessions. The Community Foundation o Grundy County simi-
larly ocused on watershed planning, and began working to create a conservation district.
The Engham County Community Foundation decided to tackle workorce rom the
business development side by raising $150,000 to support a pilot program that utilizes
local entrepreneurs’ expertise in a non-traditional classroom.
“I learned that, i we as a community oundation
go out and convene people, they will come,
especially i we maintain our neutrality. You bring
the issue out, and the solutions come rom there.”
James Sullivan, Community Foundation o Central Illinois
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B ut t hi ng s d i d no t a l w a y s
p l a y o ut s o ne a t l y .
As no t e d a b o v e , s o me c o mmuni t y o und a t i o ns
s t e p p e d i nt o l e a d e r s hi p o p p o r t uni t i e s t ha t ma t e r i a l i z e d
e v e n b e o r e t he y ha d a p l a n. ( S a i d a n E f ng ha m t r us t e e ,
S o me t i me s y o u ha v e t o b e o p p o r t uni s t i c i n t e r ms o t he
i s s ue y o u us e t o g e t y o ur s e l k no w n i n t he c o mmuni t y .” )
O t he r s s t r ug g l e d w i t h s t a t ur no v e r , l o g i s t i c a l
p r o b l e ms , a nd o t he r c ha l l e ng e s a nd t o o k a l o ng t i me
t o d e v e l o p t he i r p l a ns . T r ue s t r a t e g i c g r a nt ma k i ng i s
c ha l l e ng i ng . As o ne e x e c ut i v e d i r e c t o r s a i d , “ T he c a ut i o n
i s … t o a s s e mb l e t he hug e l i s t o g r e a t i d e a s i nt o a
p l a n t ha t i s e a s i b l e a nd s us t a i na b l e .” M o v i ng t o g e t he r
t o w a r d i nc r e a s i ng l y s t r a t e g i c a p p r o a c he s i s a k e y g o a l
o C o mmuni t y w o r k s P ha s e 3 .
By the end o phase 2 the community oundations were beginning to invest grant
dollars rom their Communityworks unds—and sometimes also rom other resources—
to carry out the plans they had created. They were starting to use their resources more
strategically. Some carried that approach over into their other grantmaking as well.
Unsolicited applications are practically nonexistent now,” says one executive director;
everybody knows what we’re trying to accomplish.”
“
“
“
17 Grand Victoria Foundation | Communityworks
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The $250,000 in endowment money oered by Communityworks required ound-
ations to raise a match, with the total to go into a Communityworks endowment und.
In raising that money, the community oundations or the rst time were creating a
und that they could allocate, not simply according to donor wishes, but ollowing
a broad based, well-researched community plan.
Many had never raised money beore—“we had simply waited around or people
to die,” said one. Several reported that the matching dollars, along with the newly
strategic approach and community plans, made raising unds easier. It enabled them
to approach donors they had not reached beore with a coherent story and reason
or giving. As one put it, “We could say to donors, ‘here’s what we need in this
community; here’s what the community is telling us; we have a great opportunity to
address these needs because we have the possibility o matching your contribution’—
it made the story so easy.”
As they became successul at undraising, they ound new ways to attract
resources. Three community oundations—Decatur, DuPage, and Great River Bend—
ound the matching strategy so successul that they created their own versions o it,
either to raise additional unds or to encourage their grantees to raise unds.
The community oundations were also able to leverage resources rom the partners
they had met through their convening. The Peoria Manual rain garden expanded
through in-kind contributions rom the school district and the park district; and
the community oundation’s contribution to the child care training center was matched
by other unding sources. Said the executive director, “I learned that, i you have good
programs, you don’t have to be the only under—others will come in.” Another executive
director, approached by a high-quality early learning center that wanted to locate in
his county, said, “We don’t have the resources, but we know people. We convened an
inormational session and 30 people showed up—all the local private oundations came.”
Other oundations have provided unding that enabled their grantees to apply or ederal
grants. One shared its ndings on workorce issues with a private under, who drew on
the inormation to create a pre-engineering program at the local high school. Another
ound donors willing to contribute $380,000 over and above the Communityworks
match to support its early childhood grantmaking.
The undraising began.
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“
“
“
“
“
“The message that ‘We’ve held these meetings,
we’ve done this work, it will result in community
improvement’—that was a new pitch or us.
It worked very well. And the Communityworks
match stimulated a lot o giving or us.”
Lucy Murphy, Community Foundation o Decatur/Macon County
19 Grand Victoria Foundation | Communityworks
But some oundations oundthe undraising dicult.Three had not raised the matching unds by the end o Phase 2. Some (including
some who were successul) complained about the structure o the Community-
works match, which specied that, to be matched, gits must be committed to the
Communityworks und as a whole, rather than targeted to one particular issue.
A git rom a under passionate about early childhood but indierent or hostile to
land protection would not count or the match (though it could be part o the
Communityworks endowment). Grand Victoria (and community oundations who
were consulted on the provision) wanted community oundations to attract money
they would have discretion to use in accordance with community plans, instead o
donor wishes. But or several oundations, that was a hard sell.
The oundations that ound the undraising especially dicult were those that
struggled with the overall approach o Communityworks. Competing with capital
campaigns or beloved local institutions, one executive director lamented that
Communityworks didn’t mean anything to people. We would say, ‘We’ve got three
issues and we’ll put a program together …’ Donors would say, ‘what are you going
to do with the money?’ We said, ‘we don’t know yet.’ That was dicult.” Another said,
I would go to a county 50 miles rom here and say ‘I want you to contribute money
or child care, land use, and workorce. I don’t know what we’re going to do with
it but it will help you olks here.’ Huh?” By contrast, as described above, unders who
brought a well-worked out plan oten ound donors increasingly willing to listen.
On the other hand, one oundation president—who made the match by accepting
one large git—said the whole experience convinced her that “we aren’t undraisers.”
We got to where we are by saying to donors, ‘what do you want to do and how can we
help?’ That’s very dierent rom ‘we’ve got an idea, give us money or it.’”
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to strategic
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The resources grew.
04 05 06 07 08
Median asset size or 17
Communityworks oundations
I nMi l l i o
n s
Across the board, assets have grown.
Median number o unds managed by 17
Communityworks oundations
Foundations are managing more unds.
$ 1 .7 0 7
$ 3 . 3 4 9
$ 4 . 8 0 0
$ 5 . 9 0 0
$ 7 . 3 4 3
1 9
3 0
4 3
5 9
6 9
04 05 06 07 08
Median number o gits raised by 17
Communityworks oundations
Median amount o gits raised by 17
Communityworks oundations
2008 fgures reported July 31, 2008.
I n t h o u s an d s
Fundraising is bringing in more gits … and more money.
4 2
2 0 0
3 8 7
4 4 6
3 9 3
04 05 06 07 08
$
2 8 6
$ 1
,4 5 8
$ 1 ,1 0 2
$ 1 , 0 2 2
$ 4 1 8
04 05 06 07 08
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With expanded roles, operating
budgets increase
… and so does sta.
Median operating budget or 17
Communityworks oundations
Median ull-time sta o 17 community
oundations; many also added part-time sta.
I nT h o u s an
d s
$ 1 4 4
$ 1 6 5
$ 1 6 0
$ 1 8 8
$ 2 4 0
3
1
2 2
1
04 05 06 07 08 04 05 06 07 08
“I people buy into our vision—which we
created through their input—then we’re going
to be ne, because that will lead to a nancial
commitment by olks who share our vision.”
Jerry Smith, DeKalb County Community Foundation
23 Grand Victoria Foundation | Communityworks
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Communityworks has stimulated partnerships as community oundations came
together to achieve strategic goals. Some collaborations were a direct result o the
Communityworks process: Moline and Great River Bend collaborated on their
community scan, then divided up the work. Mattoon and Engham, which joined
orces to apply or the Communityworks grant, have now merged to become the South-
eastern Illinois Community Foundation and are reaching out to other nearby counties.
Other partnerships evolved out o the work itsel. McHenry and DeKalb have collaborated
on early childhood work. Kankakee has reached out to nearby Grundy County to join
its riverront trail. Three oundations (Moline, Great River Bend, and Southern Illinois)
have joined a partnership with other unders working in communities along the
Mississippi River.
Many oundations especially value these peer collaborations. Using the ideas rom
her colleagues, said one executive director, “We as a small new oundation could do things
right rom the beginning, rather than having to go back and x things we’d done wrong.”
Another mentioned credibility: “I can speak about an issue, and I’m refecting the
experience o my colleagues across the state, it’s not just me talking.” Several cited the
Alliance o Illinois Community Foundations as a major byproduct o Communityworks.
This network evolved rom the 17 Communityworks oundations and now includes
nearly ty members rom around the state.
Building partnerships with community oundations was o course the original
idea that motivated Grand Victoria to launch Communityworks. To the extent that
community oundations have become partners to each other, that purpose was achieved.
Said one trustee, “These multiple county collaborations would probably have taken
place at some point, but Communityworks really accelerated the whole process.”
Still, the partnerships have
not been without strainsThe ormal Communityworks collaborations have each been challenging, or
dierent reasons that are too complex to go into here. Meanwhile, it’s not clear thatthe community oundations truly see Grand Victoria as a partner. Though many had
praise or Grand Victoria’s vision and commitment to Communityworks, ew cited
Grand Victoria as a partner. Some did, however; said one executive director: “They have
the ambition to be a statewide under; we have the ambition to grow locally. I see them
as a trusted partner.”
The collaborations grew.
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“I can stand up at a meeting and speak
about an issue, and I’m refecting the experience
o my colleagues across the state—it’s not just
me talking.” Kate Halma, McHenry County
Community Foundation
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As Phase 2 came to an end in spring 2008, most community oundations had
just begun making their rst Communityworks grants. Still, there are some real-
world results already underway. Among the highlights:
Early Childhood Forty Evanston amilies are getting home visiting services to
give newborns a strong start in lie, and the community oundation is unding an
evaluation o home visiting to assess results and improve quality.
In Decatur, the community oundation has provided unding to screen kids
or kindergarten readiness and, working with the park district and the library, has
set up a pre-kindergarten program that last year served 176 children. A 2007
evaluation showed hal the kids improving their scores on key benchmarks.
Mentors rom West Central Child Care Connection are visiting 23 home child care
providers in Quincy to ocus on meeting state quality standards. A community
oundation grant to Positive Parenting DuPage provides proessional development
or local child care providers. The DeKalb County and McHenry County community
oundations are collaborating to help local child care providers meet state quality
standards. Great River Bend has unded a community-wide assessment o child care
to guide uture work, and is supporting quality training or local child care centers.
A training center or child care providers is getting underway at Manual High
School in Peoria, with community oundation unding. Oak Park-River Forest is also
unding training or child care sta and investing in the Parents as Teachers program.
The Community Foundation o Grundy County brings together providers and other
birth to ve” proessionals to share ideas, and also unds beore and ater school child
care and programs or at-risk amilies.
The Community Foundation o the Kankakee River Valley is investing in parent
education, mental health services or young children, and helping child care
providers meet state quality standards.
The landscape changed.
“
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Land Use and Protection Groundbreaking or the Riverront Trail along the
Kankakee River is scheduled or spring 2009.
With support rom Community Foundation o Central Illinois, Manual High
School in Peoria launched its rain garden in June 2008.
The DuPage Community Foundation has unded creation o a speakers
bureau to raise the importance o aordable housing in its very afuent county,
and has made a grant to DuPage United to work on this issue.
The Moline Foundation has provided grants or a land use plan and a
watershed plan or Rock Island County.
The Community Foundation o Grundy County, with help rom nearby
Kankakee, convened partners to launch the Illinois Headwaters Resource
and Development Council.
Workorce The Mattoon and Engham oundations have provided unding to
establish a support center or startup businesses.
The Community Foundation o East Central Illinois, in collaboration with local
unions, unds a vocational summer program or high school students to get
them thinking about highly skilled union jobs post-graduation.
The Moline Foundation unded creation o a website and related curriculum to
enable local high school students to explore a broad variety o careers and identiy
the training options to prepare or them.
And they’re just getting started.Foundations will continue to work on these issues, and they hope to increase
their impact by collaborating in “action hubs” on each issue in Phase 3 o
Communityworks.
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“We envision communities where people
prosper, nature thrives, and our children
enjoy lives lled with unlimited
possibilities.” Jim Baum, board president,
Community Foundation o Grundy County
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The spirit changed.
“The greatest thing is learning, hanging out
with peers on a very intimate basis. Plus they
gave us a structure or tackling issues.”Julie Buck, Community Foundation o Grundy County
“Communityworks came at just the right time
or our oundation to step rom being a recipient
waiting around or people to die, to actively
engaging our community. … We’re getting to
the place where people call us—donors and non-
prots—to see i we can assist them. That’s
exactly the place we want to be.”
Joan Dixon, Community Foundation o East Central Illinois
“Through Communityworks we’ve held town
meetings, we’ve adopted national standards, we’ve
proven that we’re here, we’re solid, the people
on the board have credibility. We’re creating a
possibility where there wasn’t any beore.”
Maggie Flanagan, Southern Illinois Community Foundation
“It’s been very challenging—sometimes
exhilarating, sometimes exhausting. But
i we hadn’t done it, I don’t think we’d be
where we are today.” Jill Arnold Blickhan,
Community Foundation o the Quincy Area
“We became a whole dierent grantmaker,
convener, partner—a whole dierent
organization than we were beore.”
Dave McGowan, DuPage Community Foundation
“I never thought that such substantial change
would result rom the simple idea o grant-
making paired with leadership convening.”
Joy Boru, The Moline Foundation
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“We have huge energy, we have our own alli-
ance, we’ve had a legislative day in Springeld,
we’re building the power o philanthropy.”
John Stremsterer, Sangamon County Community Foundation
“In its beginning history the oundation saw
itsel more as an asset manager, a way or people
to give donations. Now we’re becoming community
leaders, ocused on partnering with the commu-
nity to nd solutions and make an impact by
leveraging local resources.” Sophia Lloyd, Oak Park-
River Forest Community Foundation
“Communityworks allowed us to be
more than just the money, the assets, a
responsive grantmaker. Instead we’ve
been able to move philosophically to
become a more strategic grantmaker,
a leader in the community.” Dan Templin,
DeKalb County Community Foundation
“Communityworks gave us ocus,
direction, and the nancial backing
to go with it.” Pam Debono, board chair,
Community Foundation o Kankakee River Valley
“You don’t have to be a big oundation to
make a dierence. It’s what you can do;it’s the kind o initiative you can take;
it’s how you bring people together: It’s
always more than the money.”
Sara Schastok, Evanston Community Foundation
“Through Communityworks we realized
you can make a dierence in the community i
you organize to do that. That’s a huge change.”
Susan Skora, Community Foundation o Great River Bend
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Several elements proved critical to success in the rst ve years o Communityworks:
Capacity Grand Victoria set minimum requirements (at least one ull-time proessional
staer plus $200,000 in permanent assets) and sought to build community
oundation capacity by oering general operating support and creating the Learning
Support Network. Community oundations praise these supports or enabling them
to take their operations to the next level. Some are now investing in capacity building
or their grantees. Grand Victoria also invested in its own capacity, creating a team
including a director and eld liaisons who meet regularly and, as Nancy Fishman
says, “work well as a team and are ready to provide in a very fuid way the kind
o support that’s needed.”
Leadership The oundations that achieved the greatest transormations through
Communityworks were those where the executive director ran with the idea and
the board was supportive. Turnover at the executive director level proved a serious
setback. At some oundations board members who disagreed with the direction
let and new members, oten more open to Communityworks, replaced them.
Keeping board members engaged and keeping continuity among board members
with knowledge o the initiative was important. Some executive directors cite lack
o board support as an obstacle to progress on Communityworks. Grand Victoria
provided learning opportunities or board members, which were generally well
received; but the learning was not always shared beyond the original participants.
Foundations also had a Communityworks advisory committee, which included
non-board members. Giving the advisory committee appropriate responsibilities
while still respecting the board’s prerogatives and keeping it engaged proved an
important balancing act or many oundations.
The thinking
changed again.
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Flexibility Communityworks has been a “learn as you go” operation or both
community oundations and Grand Victoria. Through its eld liaisons and regular
meetings, Grand Victoria listened to the community oundations and responded to their
concerns (or example, the Phase 1 match requirement was lowered at the RFP stage rom
$50,000 to $25,000 when community oundations said the target was too high). Said one
executive director, “Grand Victoria said, here are the parameters, but that doesn’t mean
that your impact plan, or your implementation plan, or your grants need to be cookie-
cutter. Just because something worked in New York doesn’t mean it will work in Golden,
Illinois.” Some drew a lesson or their own work: “I your oundation leadership can be
as fexible as your nancial instruments,” said one executive director, “you can go ar,
because you’ll be more open to possibilities.” Others work to achieve “continuous learning”
and build learning communities among local nonprots and civic leaders. On the other
hand, some oundations elt Grand Victoria could have been more fexible on some
structural issues, e.g., matching contributions to the Communityworks endowment.
Communication Grand Victoria worked to keep lines o communication open, and
took trouble to clariy its ideas and intentions. The eld liaisons served as a useul link,
community oundations reported. Still, oundations were not always sure their ideas
and concerns were being heard. Going orward, community oundations recognize that
eective communications will be critical to keep their boards engaged, build community
leadership, reach new partners and new donors, and expand eectiveness. Especially
important will be telling their stories and demonstrating local impact. Yet, with small
stas and expanding responsibilities, many struggle to devote time to communications.
Partnerships Leadership capital can be greater than nancial capital. Convening
community members was an invaluable step toward achieving greater visibility and
impact, but the meetings had to have a clear purpose and lead to signicant results.
Convenings that raised expectations but led nowhere could be counterproductive.
Also important was building community partnerships. Foundations worked hard at
learning to collaborate, building trust, and recognizing when to take the lead and
when to step back.
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Resources Community oundations said they had learned to recognize the power
o endowments in providing fexibility and building or the uture. Several ound that
building a strategic plan based on community input gave them “a story” to bring to
donors they had never reached beore; the matching unds reinorced that appeal.
On the other hand, some oundations never were able to put the pieces together to
create a coherent story; while others chose instead the more traditional path o
identiying and implementing the wishes o major donors.
Priorities The transition to more ocused and more strategic grantmaking
includes saying no to some worthy projects. Achieving genuine impact also requires
taking a hard look at local organizations that may be well-meaning but ineective—
a painul task, in small communities, that must be detly managed. Also important
is managing donor expectations, and being careul about what initiatives a
oundation can reasonably undertake.
Risk-taking Grand Victoria took a risk by deciding not to go it alone but instead to
work with previously untested partners. Many community oundations also saw
Communityworks as risky. Some worried that no one would show up at their meetings,
or that they would raise expectations they could not ulll. Others were not sure the new
direction was the right one. Still, they all jumped in, and most, in the end, were glad
they had. Even those who eventually chose another course said they had gained important
benets; and many ound Communityworks transormative.
Patience Adopting a genuinely strategic approach is long-term, dicult work. Illinois
community oundations have made a start toward strategic grantmaking but they have
a long way to go, as many themselves acknowledge. Moreover, the kinds o changes they
hope to make in their communities take time to achieve. One board member, speaking
about early childhood, worried that people would be “looking or instant change, instant
improvement; but i you work with newborns today, you’re not going to see results or a
long time.” “Things don’t happen overnight, you’re not going to solve all the problems,”
said one executive director. “But you can become a change agent in your community.”
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Communityworks. The Change Continues.
Grand Victoria used the lessons rom the rst
ve years to shape Communityworks going or-
ward. Recognizing that oundations need capacity
to carry out new plans and new roles, Phase 3
provides operating and endowment support and
also continues the Learning Support Network.
To encourage collaboration, Phase 3 launches
action hubs” in which partners, including Grand
Victoria, can collaborate on grantmaking strategies
and seek regional or statewide solutions. Finally,
to encourage truly strategic work among those
oundations that have made the most progress in
Phase 2, Grand Victoria provides support to build
the Communityworks endowment as a strong,
independent source o unds or the uture.
And that’s just the beginning.
“
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Package One
Operating grants: Year 1 up to $50,000; year 2 up
to $40,000; year 3 up to $30,000.
Optional matching git o $100,000 per year or
administrative endowments.
Continuing participation in Learning Support
Network and Action Hubs.
Package Two
Operating grants: Year 1 up to $50,000; year 2 up
to $40,000; year 3 up to $30,000.
A $1 million grant or permanent administrative
endowment and a $1 million grant to the permanent
Communityworks endowment.
Optional matching grants to build operating and/
or Communityworks endowments: 1:1 match up to $2
million over three years, matching gits rom new
donors, Communityworks donors, and lapsed donors.
Continuing participation in Learning Support
Network and Action Hubs.
Action Hubs Fund
$500,000 und to support collaborative eorts
designed to have a broader impact.
Communityworks Phase III
September 2008–October 2011
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“Every oundation including Grand Victoria is dierent now than when we
started. We’re more active than passive. We all have a more outward viewo our roles in areas we’re working in; instead o looking inward, at our
organizations, our to-do lists, we look outward, to see where can we connect
others, or connect to others. Every participant was transormed, even i
Communityworks was not ultimately the model they adopted, they’re still
very dierent philanthropicorganizations than when we started.”
Nancy Fishman, Grand Victoria Foundation
T h i s r e p o r t i s p r i n t e d o n r e c
y c l e d p a p e r w i t h s o y b a s e d i n k s .
D e s i g n K y m A
b r a m s
D e s i g n ,
P r i n t i n g
A c t i v e G r a p h i c s Acknowledgements
No summary o Communityworks would be complete without acknowledging
the Communityworks team: Sheila Leahy, Julia Parzen, Cindy Blorstad, and
Janet Rael. Together they ormed the all-important heart o this undertaking.
Their thoughtulness, their knowledge, their generosity, and their erce and
tireless commitment to the success o the community oundations and o
Communityworks have been truly incredible. I am deeply grateul to each o them.
Many thanks to our evaluators, Rob Paral and Karen Callam, who provided that
important objective eye, and to writer Mary O’Connell who traveled long distances
to visit community oundations all over Illinois in order to tell their story.
Nancy Fishman
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Grand Victoria Foundation
230 W. Monroe Street, Suite 2530
Chicago, Illinois 60606
312 609-0200
grandvictoriadn.org