Resource library · free toolkits, templates and guides
The practical library for people who build nonprofits
211 really practical toolkits, templates and guides for nonprofit and NGO leaders, and the consultants and funders who support them. A mix of the classics and newer methods.
Suggestions are welcome211 resources · 15 topics · 137 publishers · 197 free to use
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9 resources found
- Search: core funding
- 13.2C173
Making the case for unrestricted funding
A short briefing that brings together IVAR's research on unrestricted funding. It is written for foundation staff and board members who want to consider unrestricted funding and argue for it inside their organisation and with peers. It finds that the preference for restricted funding rests on familiarity and lacks evidence, accepts that restricted grants sometimes fit, and sets out the value unrestricted funding brings to charities and funders.
CurrentShort readFree - 13.2C170
General Operating Support: Action Guide (executive summary)
The executive summary of GEO's 2007 action guide for grantmakers on general operating support. It covers what operating support is, why it matters, how to make it work and how to keep accountability. Foundation staff use it to decide when and how to give unrestricted grants. The full guide is not online.
ClassicShort readFree - 13.2C174
Open and Trusting Grant-making commitments
A set of 8 commitments for UK funders who want to make grant-making more open and trusting. Funders commit to be clear, ask only what is needed, accept risk, decide quickly, share openly, give flexible funding, communicate purposefully and keep reporting proportionate. The commitments grew out of the COVID-19 response, and funders sign up publicly. Charities and funders use them to check grant practice.
Start hereCurrentKey online resourceFree - 13.2C172
Breaking the Starvation Cycle
A research report on whether international funders cover the administration costs of national NGOs. It draws on 81 NGOs in 10 countries and financial data from 286 restricted funding agreements with 92 funders. It finds no group of funders paid a full and fair share. Half the NGOs had 21 days or less of unrestricted reserves. It recommends full cost cover, funding for reserves and cost recovery skills, and better data on cost coverage.
CurrentResearch and evidenceFree - 13.1C168
Strengthening Nonprofit Capacity: Core Concepts in Capacity Building
A primer for grantmakers on supporting grantee capacity. It defines nonprofit effectiveness, capacity and capacity building, and covers trust between funders and grantees, links to funder strategy, grantee and funder readiness, and 5 types of support from unrestricted grants to collective capacity building. It sets out 3 principles: contextual, continuous and collective. Each section ends with questions for grantmakers, and a final section covers measuring impact.
Start hereClassicKey manual or guideFree - 13.2C171
Pay-What-It-Takes Philanthropy
An article that argues funders should pay the real costs of the work they fund, in place of the common 15 percent cap on overhead. The Bridgespan authors show that indirect costs at 20 high-performing nonprofits ranged from 21 to 89 percent of direct costs, with a median of 40 percent. They describe the starvation cycle, show how cost structures differ by type of nonprofit, and propose reimbursing costs by segment.
ClassicShort readFree with sign-up - 13.3C178
When Shift Happens: Navigating Toward a Framework for Responsible Philanthropic Exits
A journal article that sets out a framework for responsible exits when a foundation stops funding a field or grantee. Learning leaders from the Skillman Foundation, the California Health Care Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts drew on literature, focus groups, interviews with foundation staff and nonprofit leaders, and their own experience. The result is 7 core elements meant to keep a field resilient after funding ends.
EmergingResearch and evidenceFree - 13.2C176
Trust-Based Philanthropy Self-Assessment Tool
A self-assessment that helps a grantmaking organisation reflect on how far it has put trust-based philanthropy into practice. It covers 4 areas: culture, structures, leadership and grantmaking practices. Each section gives reflective prompts on how trust shows up and where practice needs work. It is available as an online interactive tool and a fillable PDF. Foundation teams use it to plan changes.
CurrentTool or templateFree - 13.1C167
Capacity Building 3.0: How to Strengthen the Social Ecosystem
A paper that proposes a new way to talk about capacity building, drawing on TCC Group's 35 years of designing and evaluating capacity-building work. It has 4 sections: core concepts and definitions of capacity and capacity building; who needs to build capacity; how the idea of capacity has changed, leading to an organisational actualisation framework; and newer methods used in effective capacity building. Funders and consultants use it to frame their approach.
ClassicResearch and evidenceFree
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