CHEROKEE, NC, January
10, 2007—Cherokee Preservation
Foundation announced today the release
of Arm in Arm: Engaged Grantmaking
in Local Communities, a study it commissioned
that focuses on grantmakers whose mission
requires them to make grants over many
years in communities that have a limited
number of nonprofit organizations appropriate
for grant support and a limited number
of individuals with the experience
and skill required to lead those organizations.
The report examines these grantmakers’ particular
challenges, and the strategies they
undertake as a result.
The findings
of Arm in Arm are based on interviews
with approximately 30
individuals working in a range of
settings, including grantmaking to
First Nations,
Native American and Aboriginal Peoples,
as well as in rural areas and in
developing countries. The communities
in which
these grantmakers work often have
the following similarities:
“The study points
out several important implications
for grantmakers,” said Susan
Jenkins, executive director of Cherokee
Preservation Foundation. “First,
it means that these grantmakers’ legitimacy
comes from serving the needs of the
community and from being a steward
for the community’s endowment.
This is not the case in many other
settings, where the grantmaker’s
legitimacy derives from adherence to
the will of the benefactor.
“
Another consequence is that the development
of local capacity is as important to
the grantmaker as achieving specific
program goals,” Jenkins said. “The
grantmaking process must develop individual
leaders for both the staff and boards
of local organizations, and it must
develop the capacities of the organizations
themselves.”
Another finding of
the study is that the types of grantmakers
that were
the focus of the report need to be
engaged partners with their grantees.
In mainstream situations, most of the
work of the grantmaking staff is devoted
to choosing grantees and structuring
grants —they spend little time
with grantees after the grant is awarded.
In the settings studied in Arm in Arm,
however, the staff spends a significant
proportion of time with grantees in
coaching, supporting, and learning.
“
Cherokee Preservation Foundation hopes
Arm in Arm will help spread the insights
and creativity demonstrated by the
grantmakers we interviewed to others
working in similar settings,” Jenkins
said. “The report is also intended
to be useful to the staff and board
members of nonprofit organizations
and tribal programs based in the communities
that such grantmakers serve. By clarifying
what grantmakers are seeking to accomplish
and the roles they can best play, this
report can help nonprofits and tribal
organizations see the ways in which
they can respond.”
Arm in Arm came
about after Cherokee Preservation Foundation
asked Brody•Weiser•Burns
(a firm engaged in nonprofit consulting,
social enterprise planning, social
investing and corporate community partnerships)
to assist it in designing a grantmaking
program for capital projects in the
communities it serves that would help
organizations build both their physical
infrastructure and their leadership
and organizational capacity. To gain
insights for the assignment, Brody•Weiser•Burns
spoke with grantmaking organizations
that serve communities with characteristics
similar to those served by Cherokee
Preservation Foundation, and it was
clear that grantmakers were eager for
information about the work others were
doing in similar circumstances.
As
a result, Cherokee Preservation Foundation
decided to fund a report
to provide information and build
a network that reaches beyond categories
such as indigenous grantmakers or
rural
grantmaking to one that recognizes
the commonality of challenges faced
by these grantmakers.
Copies of the
report are available online at http://www.cpfdn.org/arm.html.
To request a hard copy, call Cherokee
Preservation Foundation at 828/497-5550.
About Cherokee Preservation
Foundation
Cherokee Preservation
Foundation (www.cpfdn.org) was established
on
November 14, 2000,
as part of the Second Amendment to
the Tribal-State Compact between the
EBCI and the State of North Carolina.
It blends project, planning and capacity
initiatives that will enhance the Cherokee
culture, facilitate economic development
and job opportunities, and improve
the environment. It is an independent
nonprofit foundation funded by the
EBCI from gaming revenues generated
by the Tribe. CPFdn is not part of
or associated with any for-profit gaming
entity. Since CPFdn’s inception,
it has made 342 grants totaling more
than $27.1 million.
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