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Demographic questions in scholarship application?
Hi everyone, Do you ask demographic questions as part of your scholarship application? We have not included a demographic section, but starting next year, we plan to add optional questions at the beginning of the application to better understand who is applying and receiving our scholarships. Initially, I planned to use…
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How long is your scholarship application open?
For years, our organization's annual scholarship application has opened on January 15 and closed two months later on March 15. We're considering moving up the deadline and having the application open for a shorter period of time, possibly 6 weeks. What are the open & close dates for your scholarship program? What factors…
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Creative ideas for Donor Recognition events or themes?
Hi there - we would like to hold a donor recognition event for our fund advisors, and were wondering what others do that may be unique or creative. We have had charities speak before, and were thinking of a charity tour, but also wondering how others added some ooomph and value, for the donor and for us an organization?
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Congrats to the March Top 10!
Congratulations to @JesikaEllis, @EricaBarnhart, @ElaineNedder, @TammyTilzey, @emilyszewczyk, @MadiSyring, @SidneySuttles, @TeresaDavis, @KelleyHoagland, and @MariaVeronicaBanks! 🏆️ As a thank you for your contributions to our Compass community this past month, you will be entered into a random drawing for a surprise. The…
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Combining Scholarship Funds
Hello everyone! We are currently seeking effective processes to combine smaller scholarship funds into one scholarship, perhaps by region, but want to make sure we are honoring the desires of our fund holders and donors. Is there any advice for how to effectively combine scholarships to better serve students and the needs…
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Scholarship Follow ups
I am wanting to know what other foundations' practice is for scholarships and follow-ups. We pay the school once a year for renewal scholarships and ask the students to submit a mid-year follow-up with their transcript from the fall along with the financials and then one for the end of the semester to make sure we know…
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In relation to scholarships how do you "score" essays and letters of recommendation?
We receive over approximately 500 scholarship applications each year and each application has three letters of recommendations and an essay question that relates to each individual scholarship (we have approx 40 scholarships total). Currently we have a scholarship committee consisting of board members and volunteers that…
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Happy 3rd Anniversary, Compass!
I'm so grateful for this community of philanthropic experts who are always eager to share their experiences and help others maximize their impact on their own communities! What is your favorite thing about Compass?
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Help Finding a Web Designer for Donation Landing Page
Hello Compass Community! Crown Point Community Foundation is currently looking to work with a web designer to help format our donation landing page. We have over 300 Funds that we would like to organize in accordion menus with a search option at the top. If you have an example, please send the link to your donation landing…
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Grant Review Practices
I'm looking for advice from an organization that has experienced growth and had to adapt their grant review process. We are small, but growing. We now regularly receive 50+ grant applications for each cycle and our current process is an "everyone is involved in everything" approach. All board members evaluate the…
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Next Coffee Talk: Effective Internal Communication, Thursday, May 11, 10 am MT
REGISTER HERE Join us for a conversation about internal communication practices. With every struggle comes a new trick or process. Learn from your peers how they have created communication practices across departments and job types at their organizations. Be ready to share your own struggles and tips. This unique Coffee…
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How are YOU Working Smarter Not Harder? Let's Learn Together!
Hi Compass Community! My name is Rachel Myers and I have been working with the great team at Foundant to create a new learning series in response to this critical question: How can you release some pressure and create more space to work on what is most important to you and your organization? SPOILER ALERT: It is NOT about…
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Sales Tax on auctions - California
We are a new Foundation. We are located in California, which does not grant exemption to sales tax to non-profits. We have had a couple of auctions and have received some items from local retailers to auction. I am confused about the regulations. How do others report the basis for sales tax on tangible items where the…
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Scholarship Checks vs. Gift Cards
Hello, I'm wondering if anyone uses gift cards rather than checks to award scholarships? Every year we are reaching out to students, specifically our middle school award winners, multiple times encouraging them to cash their checks. I'm interested in how other foundations handle this problem. Thanks!
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Evaluating Community Quality of Life/Vibrancy Projects
I are interested in learning how other funders evaluate projects that improve quality of life and/or create vibrancy in a community (parks, recreation, arts, community spaces & places).
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Grants to Government Entities
Hi all, Due to the nature of our grantmaking, we often end up granting to military installations, national parks, public schools, etc. I've been struggling with how to manage these entries in Foundant when every organization is essentially filtered by their EIN. We have a ton of applicants who, rightfully, end up entering…
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Scholarships to a for-profit school
Hi everyone, We have an org fund that is the "friends of," or fundraising arm of a for-profit school. The "Friends of" Fund wants to distribute scholarships to the for-profit school to eligible students. Do any of you manage anything similar to this scenario? Thanks for any insight! Lori Sellers Trenholm Director of…
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Welcome to Connected Philanthropy - A new subcommunity for BOTH funders and nonprofits!
The Connected Philanthropy forum is dedicated to creating a collaborative space for funders and nonprofits to share ideas, gain insights and find inspiration to maximize the impact on the philanthropic community. @EricaBarnhart is kicking off this new space in Compass with a discussion about impactful communications. Meet…
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Indiana-based Third Party Accounting
All, we are a nonprofit scholarship org in Indiana that recently switched to Foundant. Our independent, 3rd party accountant who performed monthly reconciliation left and took another job. The firm has assigned someone else, but there has been a slow transfer from the former person to the new person. If we decide to go…
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Using Standardized Test Scores to Evaluate Scholarship Applicants
After making standardized test scores optional on our UA in 2021, we returned to requiring them in 2022. None of our individual scholarship opportunities use test scores for eligibility, but our reviewers have found them helpful in assessing applicants' academics. Given the trend toward colleges/universities not requiring…
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Best Practice for Donor Record Retention in CRM Software
I am wondering if anyone has best practices for how long you keep an inactive donor's record in a database? We keep all donation history in our accounting system but our CRM (DonorPerfect) charges based on number of profiles, so we have been culling some small batches of donor records to stay within the current bracket for…
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Data Capture - Targeted Demographics, Places and Identifying Gaps
Hi, We updated our grant application forms to better assess targeted social minorities applicants aim to serve (e.g. foster youth, persons w/disabilities, etc). We also include an option to check mark all the zip codes an applicant targets geographically to identify potential gaps within our county. With help from…
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Scholarship - room and board
Good afternoon, I have a few questions related to scholarship payments: Do you limit scholarship payments to tuition and fees required for enrollment or attendance at the educational institution, or for fees, books, supplies, and equipment required for courses at the educational institution? Do you allow students to use…
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Hey-o from the East Coast!
Hi Everyone! I wanted to welcome you all to the East Coast Regional Group here on Compass. Eastern time zone employees at Foundant are in the minority for staff members so I get REALLY excited when I speak to other people in my time zone :) I'm a CSM who works remotely for Foundant out of York, PA. Where you all from? I'll…
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Welcome to the Canadian Regional Discussion Group in Compass!
Hello! We have plenty of friends from Canada join-in on Foundant's sector education events like Coffee Talks and webinars. We would love to make this a meeting place for you to share ideas and ask questions of one another. Please join-in and introduce yourself, or just go ahead and post a question or idea here if you have…
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Submitting grants to board for approval
Our board allows staff to approve grants $5,000 or below as long as due diligence has been completed. Our grant committee approves anything above $5,000 via DocuSign. We currently submit an exhaustive list of all grants processed from donor advised funds, designated funds, scholarships, expense to fund, etc., regardless of…
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RFP for Senior Programs/Projects
Hi all, We are planning to open a call for proposals from local nonprofits to support programs/projects focused on seniors specifically. We want to keep the initial RFP flexible and do not want to add many requirements on the type of program it should be however we are thinking we should avoid funding any programs that…
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Challenge Grant Cancellation Letter Example
In GLM we make challenge grant awards with a dollar for dollar match. Once they raise the match we match with our commitment. We have a challenge that isn't going to be met and we need to cancel it in GLM, but I need to send a formal letter advising them of the cancellation. I was wondering if anyone has done this in the…
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Say Hi to your neighbors in Regional Chats!
Let us know where you're from, share an interesting fact about your town (i.e. Did you know it's illegal to use a lasso to catch fish in Tennessee?), and connect with others in your region!
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Benchmarking
We are a community foundation in Central Kentucky looking to establish some benchmarking with similar size foundations. We currently have $30 million in assets in 196 funds. We are particularly looking at this from a growth and staffing standpoint as well as general comparisons. Open to learning and other areas of…
