Spotlight On: The Arizona Community Foundation

Earlier this week I had the privilege of serving on a grant review panel for the Arizona Community Foundation.  I was on one of nine panels that were judging grant applications in the field of Capacity Building.  What an eye-opening experience.

There are so many worthy nonprofits across the state doing so much good for our community.  It was humbling to see all the good works going on out there.

The proposal review process we followed had two steps:

• Individual review and ranking of the grants by each panelist.  We did this online at the Foundation’s website.
• Group review of the proposals and final funding recommendations.

There was a lot of discussion between the panelists.  A lot of give and take on our parts.  It’s an interesting procedure.  I’m a pretty opinionated person (I hope my boss Al is not choking on his coffee right now; this is like saying the Pope is a little bit Catholic.  Not that I even remotely compare to the Pope!), so it is surprising to me to see how different our top 10 list ended up compared to the list I went into the meeting with.  Hence, the benefit of a panel.  We each catch something different.  We learn from each other and re-evaluate.  Who knew that collaboration could be so much fun?  Maybe I’ll have to try to do a bit more of that at work, hmmmm, Al?

Anyhow, in case you don’t know about The Arizona Community Foundation (ACF), here’s more.

Spotlight On: ACF and its 13 affiliates are a statewide philanthropy and partnership of donors, volunteers, staff, nonprofit organizations and the community working together to address community needs through charitable giving. Their mission is to empower and align philanthropic interests with community needs and build a legacy of giving.

Program Description:  ACF seeks to build on the strengths and assets of Arizona’s nonprofit organizations and agencies that are striving to improve the quality of life throughout the state. In response to the current economic downturn and its substantial impact on the nonprofit sector and the public it serves, ACF is offering a competitive grant program focused on projects or initiatives in one of the two following areas:

• Capacity building in the areas of fund development and fundraising
• Costs associated with consolidation of resources through significant collaborations, mergers and acquisitions

I say this is a great idea.  Not only have they taken into account that there is a downturn and that somebody needs to help the nonprofits deal with this, but they have also addressed the fact that we need to do more work in the “teaching them how to fish” category.  Bravo.

And, there is even more good news.  If you are a nonprofit and you missed this deadline, never fear, they do this every year.  Plus, in an effort to help organizations prepare for these Grant Cycles, ACF even conducts workshops throughout Arizona and via webinar.  These workshops are customized to help applicants consider the criteria and the on-line grant application process before they create their competitive grant proposal.

Talk about a win, win situation.  Love it. Am proud to have been a part of this procedure.  Thanks, ACF for all you are doing for our community and for allowing me to be part of this humbling experience.