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managing the number of applications per quarter
I am a new grants administrator for a small community foundation. The foundation currently accepts applications quarterly, but the number of applications received varies a lot and some quarters, the Grants Committee (3 board members and the foundation ED) complains that there are too many to review. They would like 15 - 20…
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As a CF, how do you determine who is eligible to receive your annual unrestricted grant dollars?
Our unrestricted Community Endowment has received its first large estate gift. To this point the grant distribution from the Community Endowment has been very small. We would like to learn more about the process to determine grant recipient(s). Does the community foundation have specific areas of interest when granting…
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Community Suite Consultant 'Guru'
Hello everyone, 😀 I want to introduce myself and let you know that I am providing community foundations and non-profits with Community Suite consulting. I worked at Foundant from 2016 to 2023 and implemented over 125 clients during my time at the company. My implementation experience ranges from start-up foundations to…
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Donor Handbook
Does anyone have a Donor Handbook or collected materials you could share? This would be specifically for stewardship of new fundholders - something you may provide them that explains fund administration services, policies, fund statement examples, how to fundraise for their fund, an outline/timeline of how/when funds reach…
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Auditor Access
We are starting our audit soon and this is the first year we are fully in Csuite for our audit. I am wondering if any of the other foundations have allowed their auditors access as read only during the audit to look at and verify the information that they are looking for? And if so, what access and permissions were given?…
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Single Third Party Invested Funds
I was wondering if anyone had a policy/handbook available that they use for investment managers who have clients that want have the investment manager continue to invest the funds, but the account becomes a charitable fund with the foundation? I know that there are foundations that have gone down this route successfully…
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Scholarship Deferals
Good Morning, We were recently contacted by a scholarship recipient that her scholarship she was awarded was going to be returned to use from the college unless we provide them a letter stating that the scholarship could be deferred to next school year. This is because of the aid awarded to her by the financial…
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Positive Pay file for Bank of America
Does anyone use Bank of America Positive Pay and how do you pull the information from CSuite to upload?
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Restrictions/policies when permitting non-endowed or flow through funds?
We have a policy that an Endowed Fund must be started before we permit a non-endowed or flow-through fund to be established. We are revisiting this, however. I am curious as to whether other Foundations permit non-endowed/flow through funds to be established on their own, and if so, are there policies or terms of reference…
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Unused Capacity Grant Funds
Are there other funders out there that always end up with unused Capacity Grant funds? It's an easy $5,000 with a simple request process. Thoughts on why our nonprofits do not want to take advantage of capacity-building dollars? 🤔
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Do any of our peer community foundations grant scholarships internationally? If so...
What should we be aware of when establishing a scholarship for international students/universities? Note: This would be an employer scholarship for dependents of international employees. What IRS guidelines are you using to govern your work? Are there particular nuances with the application, selection, or grant process for…
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Expenditure and Check Approval/Signature
Our CF is in the process of updating/reviewing our internal processes and procedures regarding check signing approval/signature for both operational (AP) expenditures as well as grant/scholarship checks. We are a CF with assets of around $200m, total FT staff of 20 and a Finance department of 4 FT staff (CFO, Dir of…
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COI Tracking in Csuite
Hello- We are wondering if anyone uses CSuite to track conflict of interest for boards and committee. We have been looking at using the Org Roles to identify conflicts AND easily export that information for meetings and 990 prep. Example: a profile would be connected to ABC Organization with the role type "COI- Board…
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Position Filled
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Anniversary year
Hi all, Next year is our 35th anniversary and we're trying to think of fun and impactful "gifts" to our various constituents - grantees, scholarship recipients, donors, and the broader community. Has anyone done anything like this? Other anniversary ideas you would like to share? We are likely not doing a big event but…
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Let Us Get to Know You link
Hi, We're a new foundation and want to begin communicating with the nonprofit leaders/grant writers throughout our region. Because our website isn't ready, we'd like to use Foundant and a Let Us Get to Know You form to capture contact information. We'd then be able to send emails about our launch and other important…
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Staff on Selection Committees
We are having a conversation about including staff members on our scholarship selection committee to review applications and make recipient selections. Are there other community foundations out there that do this? What are the benefits and challenges? Are there any best practice guidelines about this?
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EFC to SAI Changes
Hello, Can anyone provide on information transition process from EFC to SAI changes. My organization typically uses EFC chart, as well as institutional aid to determine unmet need. Does somebody have an example or template for estimated conversions for SAI.. They have developed and/or plan to implement? Thank you, Kaylin
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What does programming mean to your CF?
Hello! Our CF is making some strategic plans and have recently decided we were going to do more programming. I have been tasked with figuring out what a "program" is for our organization. In the past we have run a scholarship cycle, grant cycle, and a couple initiatives as our programs. However, we would really like to…
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endowment examples
Would others in the community foundation world be willing to share draft endowment agreement language with me? We are considering opening an endowed fund for a rural hospital foundation. My community foundation wants to review the current draft agreement and is looking for examples to review as part of this process. My…
