Offering a comprehensive spectrum of capabilities – from strategy and governance to program design and evaluation – we can help you develop and implement high-impact philanthropic solutions to the issues that concern you the most and in the communities or regions of the world where you want to make a difference.
Strategic giving starts with exploring motivations, values, and interests; defining a vision and goals; designing strategies that are rooted in research and knowledge; and creating structures and other components needed for effective implementation. Work with us to articulate your philanthropic vision and craft a strategy that will bring your vision to life. We start where you are, whether you need to establish goals and new strategies, revisit or rethink current strategies, prepare to ramp up your efforts in size or impact, or create a plan of action. With your commitment as the fuel and a strong strategic plan as the guide, you’ll know your philanthropy is on the right path.
Do you have a broad vision you’d like to refine or a clear vision you need help putting into action? What social issues or geographies concern you the most and what kind of impact do you want to achieve? Whatever your goals, we can structure and support research and learning to lay the foundation for high-impact strategies. This work may help to identify unmet needs, gaps, and funding opportunities; uncover innovative ideas; and explore potential partnerships. This research and knowledge building informs our work in designing high-impact grants programs, scholarship and college success programs, signature initiatives, and other philanthropic strategies.
What is working well? What could be improved upon? Measuring the effectiveness of your philanthropy is daunting. We know. For more than 30 years, we’ve conducted research, measurement, comparative analyses, and evaluations of foundations and giving programs around the world. We encourage our clients to incorporate evaluation from the beginning. We’ll help you create an evaluation framework and process, assess progress towards your philanthropic goals, and recommend strategies to improve your results, refine your approaches, and leverage greater impact.
Whatever your goals, our program design and management services turn your vision and values from ideas into thoughtful, high-impact initiatives that facilitate bold action and unparalleled results. What approaches can make a difference on the issues you care most about? Where are the needs, gaps, and opportunities where philanthropic resources can spur long-term impact? What roles can you, your company, or your foundation play? Where are the greatest opportunities for leadership and leverage? How can you obtain critical input and engage key partners in shaping your efforts?
We can help you with all these questions and more. Building on your vision and goals, we can lead a deep dive into the issues or geographies that concern you. We can help you learn from other funders; understand models, approaches, and best practices; deepen your understanding of what is working well and where efforts are falling short; solicit input and ideas from external stakeholders with a range of perspectives and experiences; and facilitate Idea Labs to invite the best thinking and ideas from thought leaders and stakeholders. Drawing on these approaches and TPI’s depth of knowledge and experience, we will work with you to design, implement, and assess strategies and programs to support your philanthropic goals.
With decades of experience designing and managing a myriad of philanthropic strategies and, in some cases, entire foundations, we have the staff and expertise to manage your strategies or be your thought partners. Managing grants programs, scholarship and college success programs and other types of philanthropic strategies requires time, attention to detail, skill, and expertise. This work can include preparing guidelines, designing Requests for Proposals (RFPs), uncovering funding opportunities, reviewing proposals, conducting site visits and other due diligence, developing grant agreements, monitoring and evaluation, providing technical assistance and communications with grantee partners and others, and documenting impact and learnings. Our experienced staff can manage your philanthropy, giving you more time to focus on the big picture and engage in the process in whatever ways work best for you and other stakeholders.
Our experience in board development and governance is deep, including work with hundreds of family, private, community, and corporate philanthropies. Strong governance and culture can play a major role in guiding and supporting effective philanthropic strategies and impact. Often our clients undertake this work during a significant transition, such as a shift in leadership, a new strategic direction, or an increase in assets. We can help you develop governance structures, policies, trustee handbooks, leadership succession plans, board member and committee recruitment plans, and more.
For many TPI clients, fundamental governance issues can include succession planning, engaging younger generations or other key stakeholders, creating policies and structures that offer flexibility and varying roles, clarifying roles of board and staff, or addressing other challenges. We can help you create a plan and timeline for engaging rising generations or other stakeholders; facilitate planning meetings or retreats to help navigate challenging dynamics and new perspectives; lead a board self-assessment process to identify strengths, concerns, and areas for improvement; develop policies and board orientation processes; and train and coach board members on grantmaking, governance, evaluation, and philanthropic best practices.
Since 1989, TPI has partnered with foundations, companies, and other funders to create scholarship and college success programs that are transforming the lives of young people throughout the U.S. and beyond. While some of these programs provide conventional scholarships based on specific criteria, TPI has also pioneered the creation of innovative models designed to help students succeed in college and beyond. These more intensive programs provide comprehensive supports that address the complex factors involved in helping young people sustain success, including flexible financial resources, mentoring, academic support, peer networking, and enrichment opportunities. TPI’s college success programs help to level the playing field for young people who may be the first generation in their family to attend college, and who face significant financial and other challenges, enabling these students to thrive. If you are passionate about creating pathways to success for those who may face significant barriers and providing the supports to help them fulfill their potential, we can design a program customized to fit your goals and resources.
For trustees, board members, family members, corporate leaders, foundation staff, and others who are eager to engage deeply in overall strategy, grantmaking, research and learning about issue areas and ways to leverage philanthropic impact, or in other ways, TPI can provide training, advising, and coaching tailored to your specific needs. We can develop customized learning plans; identify educational opportunities and arrange informational meetings with experts, practitioners, and peers; facilitate networking, partnerships, and new connections; convene grantees and others to share ideas, information, and lessons learned; and provide ongoing support and serve as a sounding board and thought partner.
Open communication and environments that support it are key to success in any arena, including philanthropy. Our team of skilled and experienced facilitators support boards, families, corporate leadership teams, planning committees, and other groups. We can help you structure and facilitate important conversations and meetings to support planning and goal setting, design and management of philanthropic strategies, assessment, governance, and other needs. We can help you design board retreats and planning sessions; design and facilitate regular planning and decision-making meetings; incorporate learning opportunities into the process, including guest speakers and briefings on key issues; develop meeting summaries and recommended next steps; facilitate Idea Labs to elicit fresh thinking and new perspectives; and more.