At the end of July 2020, Cheryl Taylor will step aside as president of Foellinger Foundation, after serving the organization for three decades. She will remain on the Board of Directors.

The reflections that follow are a series of 30, looking back on challenges overcome and opportunities identified—and realized—that have helped carry the foundation forward.

07.30.2020

Words of Resolve

I’ve served the Foundation for three decades; first as program director, and for the last twenty years, as president and CEO. At the end of July, I’ll step down from my current role.

I did not imagine my time as president would culminate with six months like those we’ve endured in 2020. However, why wouldn’t I have? No matter your age, please consider all that you’ve lived through, already.

I am, as ever, reminded of the leadership of Helene Foellinger—and the way she persevered through historic threats.

Helene, born in 1910, was not yet four years old when World War I started. The war ended in 1918, just as The Spanish Flu began—lasting two full years. At that time, the century-long women’s suffrage movement culminated with the 19th amendment.

Helene was just shy of 30 when World War II’s six year-long conflict began. And all the while, the polio epidemic was raging across the country, until Jonas Salk and his team conquered the virus in 1955.

Three years later, Helene and her mother, Esther, established Foellinger Foundation.

Think about that.

And consider: history and heavens know that hard times didn’t end with the polio vaccine. Not in the world, not in the country, and not in Allen County.

For the last six decades, Foellinger Foundation has served this community—helping ensure each resident would benefit from the good times, and be able to persist with resilience through darker days.

As Helene Foellinger said, “Whatever may be said of human beings, we are, as a whole, a family.”

That notion drives us, and paved the way for us to support organizations that serve children and families—particularly those with the greatest economic need, and the least opportunity.

At Foellinger Foundation, we believe that we are much more alike than different, and our commonalities far outweigh our differences.

We are a family. We are a community. When we pull together, we do things we could never accomplish when divided. Together, we can be our best selves. Together, we can overcome.

The writer and activist Dorothy Day, said,

“People ask, ‘What is the sense of our small effort?’

“They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time.

“A pebble cast into a pond causes ripples that spread in all directions. Each one of our thoughts, words and deeds is like that.

“No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There is too much work to do.”

Dorothy’s words inspired me from a young age.

Early in my career, I worked for the American Red Cross, as a disaster relief specialist. I spent four years all around the country, helping communities through horrible disasters, that were nearly impossible to fully prepare for.

Soon after I returned to Fort Wayne, my career in communications often involved crises out of our control—including our community’s own devastating flood.

Throughout those experiences, I was inspired to see organizations and volunteers treat those in need with respect, and with humility.

Each person. Every time.

These were formative days for me.

After each episode, we’d ask what we saw, what we heard, what we learned. We’d ask ourselves how we can do better, for the next disaster, and for the next challenge.

As this chapter of my service to the Foundation comes to a close, I’m still asking those same questions.

And as we uncover the answers, because of the trust we have in each other, and the trust we have in the people and organizations we support—and because this is our calling—we will act.

Thank you.

– Cheryl Taylor

View the video:

07.28.2020

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜𝘁 𝗛𝗮𝘀 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗕𝗲 𝗮 𝗠𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿

Thank you for following this series! The conversations sparked by these posts have brought me joy and enlightenment. Thank you for sharing your own reflections with our community, as well. In closing: Foellinger Foundation believes in sharing best practices, and advancing the collective wellbeing of our community. This belief has always resonated with me personally, as well. I have been and continue to be enlightened by so many generous, thoughtful peers and mentors in my life. And I have found sharing what I’ve learned—and am still learning—with rising leaders in philanthropic and nonprofit organizations across our region and our country to be one of the most soulfully rewarding ways for me to invest my time. In fact, I might refer to it as a calling.

07.24.2020

My Own Mentors

In the lore of leadership, having mentors is always identified as a key criteria. It’s particularly important for women entering leadership positions or maintaining them to have mentors—both female and male.

I’ve been very fortunate to have both. The “Fabulous Five,” as I call them, gave me courage, respect, criticism, advice and unflinching loyalty. Their standards were demanding; their support extraordinary. As I reflect on three decades with the Foellinger Foundation and my earlier career path, I can only be grateful to these smart, thoughtful people who saw a spark in me and gave me a part of themselves.

1) A Franciscan friar who taught Latin, but was clearly a multi-subject scholar. He demonstrated for me the importance of having a proficiency in a subject (his was teaching Latin; mine was yet to be discovered) while maintaining an eagerness to learn and understand a wide variety of subjects. He opened my eyes to the Humanities and showed me that focusing on the Liberal Arts can take a person far.

2) A big-city public relations dynamo, she hired me for my first “real” (read: full-time; on my own; away from home) job. She taught me how to spell the British way and the magic of writing words and seeing them three months later in a slick magazine. She introduced me to internationally successful women, who demonstrated wisdom and graciousness.

3) A gruff-speaking disaster services expert with the heart of a servant. He created a culture that sought out people who wanted to help others. He was always ready with a (appropriate) joke to bridge the sometimes heartbreaking aspects of the work with the reality of trudging on. He trained me well and sent me all over the country to communicate the message of the organization to those who most needed to know.

4) A polished, small-city former newswoman who took me and her own admin under her wing. In the process, she gave me herself as a mentor and introduced me to a life-long best friend. Equally as important, she introduced me to…

5) …a brilliant, sophisticated, elegant lawyer, who broke glass ceilings before the term became trendy and never boasted about it. She taught me how to write tightly crafted communiques that were both gracious and wiggle-proof. She modeled how to present oneself in any situation. She recognized the tremendous authority that was placed on her shoulders and her responsibility to exert that authority in appropriate ways. 

I’ve followed their paths and have served as a mentor. 

I often reflect “how would s/he” have thought about a specific idea, situation or challenge. How does the answer to that question align with my thoughts? Once I do that reflection, seldom does their advice conflict.

When that happens, I know I’m giving my very best to others—because I’m standing on the shoulders of greats.

07.16.2020

What We Didn’t Get Done—But Will

The Foundation’s focus is to identify and support organizations led by adaptive board and key staff members that promote self-reliance and build community—particularly organizations that serve children and families.

Data collected from American Community Survey shows that the number of persons aged 65+ living alone in Allen County increased by 37% between 2010–2017.

Few Foellinger Foundation grants actually focus on this population—especially those in this population with the greatest economic need and the least opportunity.

In addition, this group of residents is an entire volunteer force—rich with insight, experience and drive—which could be engaged to further the momentum of the community.

As the Foundation maintains its commitment to donor intent and fulfills its mission, we’re committed to making an even greater difference to each member of our community, and that includes developing ways to both tap into the wisdom of those who came before us, and supporting them in this stage of their lives.

07.10.2020

What I Might Do Differently

During the recession of 2008–2009, the Foundation reviewed its grants through our key priorities, plus a lens of “fairness.” Because of that additional lens, we essentially continued funding for all organizations that we had been funding—except for a percentage decrease. That percentage was the same across the board.

If I had this recommendation to make again, I would propose we use our key priorities, plus a critical lens of “better results”—aligning, as we always have, with Helene and Esther Foellinger’s values of integrity, accountability, responsibility and results.

With that in mind, we would have added funding to those who tracked and reported the outcomes of their work.

These would be tougher decisions—but in the end, would be truer to supporting those organizations who are mission-driven, well-governed and results-oriented.

07.03.2020

Why External Evaluations Are Important to Us

At Foellinger Foundation, we have little conceit; indeed, we ask of ourselves the same rigorous reflection we ask of our grantees.

The use of external evaluators provides us with an ongoing learning opportunity. It’s part of our culture, and part of every major initiative we’ve had since 1990.

Evaluations are not easy on us; they’re also not inexpensive. But, we find evaluations to be an absolutely critical part of our work. They are an investment in our investments.

External evaluation tells us what’s working, and what isn’t. It shines a light on what could work better, and what we should give up. Through the lens of an outsider, we’re able to make adjustments while programs are still active.

The phrase “fixing the plane while flying it” comes to mind.

However, as we continue to learn over the years, getting better ourselves, I like to think we’re doing a bit less fixing—and instead adjusting the plane to fly further, faster and higher.

06.26.2020

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝘀 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴

I often told people, “We’re a grantmaking organization; not a party organization.” For that reason, there haven’t been too many rowdy, blowout parties celebrating our successes. In fact, I can’t think of one!

However, we’re not averse to acknowledging our history, and we like to note key anniversaries with special events and opportunities—so long as they help us fulfill our mission.

For our 40th anniversary, in 1998, we made significant grants to intermediary organizations to support their efforts—Allen County Public Library, Arts United of Greater Fort Wayne, Taylor University and United Way of Allen County. This effort, called the New Century Celebration Initiative, invested in excess of $6M in supporting nonprofit organizational effectiveness.

For our 50th anniversary, we granted $1M to Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation for infrastructure repairs and upgrades to the Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory and Foellinger Theatre, and welcomed the public to enjoy Mother’s Day at the conservatory, and a Fort Wayne Philharmonic performance at the theatre—both at no cost. We also introduced our new Inspire Grants. These 22 grants (totaling $525,000) were so successful, that Inspire Grants became an ongoing grant opportunity. Learn more. (link: https://www.foellinger.org/blog/inspiring-a-nonprofit-community)

Finally, for our 60th anniversary, in 2018, we announced more than $1.3M in funding for leadership development, including funding the Helene Foellinger Leadership Development Initiative for four years, and multi-year year funding for other proposed leadership programs. For this anniversary, we also recognized the service of David Bobilya by announcing the David A. Bobilya Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership Award.

As future anniversaries approach, we look forward to continuing to serve Allen County, and to celebrating the positive progress we are making—together.

06.17.2020

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁

In addition to grants, it is our mission to provide leadership training conferences, workshops and thought-leading speakers to strengthen nonprofits in Allen County. I’ve been thrilled to see our community’s nonprofit leaders learn from and meet so many incredible speakers over the last two decades.

In 2003, we hosted Malcolm Gladwell, who was a rising literary star after the success of his debut book, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. Gladwell, who made his name as a writer for The New Yorker, shared the principles of the book with our Williams Lecture attendees. He delighted, provoked and inspired our community. Since, Gladwell has written five more books, and his ascent has approached meteoric.

On a personal note, I sincerely recommend Mr. Gladwell’s podcast, Revisionist History, which follows his “journey through the overlooked and misunderstood.” It’s often riveting, and never less than entertaining. The podcast has just completed its fourth season and is available on all popular podcast platforms. Learn more at RevisionistHistory.com. 

06.08.2020

My Liberal Arts Education

As a high school student, I spent two formative years in Latin classes with Father Clyde, an educator who exemplified the word “Learned”. That experience proved to be one that changed the course of my life. 

In Father Clyde’s class, we were urged to explore ideas—not translations. There, we learned how to think, and how to acquire knowledge. 

Soon I was at St. Mary’s College, pursuing humanistic studies, literature and journalism. 

For me, my liberal arts education has made all the difference. 
As we explored the human condition, I developed deep analytical, contextual and critical thinking skills that have served me every day—every day—since. 

I joined several college friends in moving to Chicago for my first professional job; we arrived as liberal arts majors, and the world was wide open. We all had opportunities, though they weren’t always obvious to us at first. My friends entered widely varied careers; some became investment managers, others pursued insurance sales.

My own career always orbited communications and community—even if sometimes tangentially—and ranged from small family business to disaster services to public information to sales and, finally, to philanthropy. 
Two decades into my career, I pursued and received an interdisciplinary studies degree—a version of a Humanistic Studies Degree—from Indiana University.

Whether leading through a perplexing, seemingly “no-win” professional challenge, reading for development or pleasure (most often both), or admiring and discussing a work of art or performance, I’m never less than grateful for the way my education has served me—and allowed me to serve others.

06.03.2020

Investing in Leadership

In 2016, to further strengthen and inspire nonprofit leadership in our community, we introduced the Helene Foellinger Leadership Development Initiative, developed by our team.
The initiative includes two programs: the Leadership Lab, and the Barbara Burt Innovative Leader Fund. 

Through the Leadership Lab’s rigorous programs, executive and rising nonprofit leaders build adaptive skills that allow them to lead like no other—today, and tomorrow, as they prepare our community to overcome challenges we’ve yet to even uncover.  
Meanwhile, the Barbara Burt Innovative Leader Fund provides special programming and financial resources for nonprofit board members. With the support of the fund, these leaders gain skills in governance and learn best practices of board effectiveness. 
Of all the investments we’ve made, this investment in the development of individual leaders is, for me, the Foundation’s most important. 

The potential of profound change in nonprofit leaders and, in turn, what those leaders will bring to their organizations is the effort of which I am personally most proud. 

This fall, we look forward to premiering a documentary that intimately follows four leaders and their shared experiences as part of the 2019–2020 cohort. The film highlights the intentional, transformational impact of the program.

05.13.2020

Foellinger Foundation’s Signature Grants have made a legacy-level impact on our community. It has been an honor to be part of the team that has helped bring these to life. The COVID-19 pandemic has lead to a reimagining of the following two programs in 2020. We very much look forward to them returning to make their full impact in 2021 and beyond.

Signature Grants: Summer Learning

Our mission is to strengthen organizations that serve children and families—particularly those with the greatest economic need and the least opportunity.

Our Signature Grants are named such because they provide necessary funding for four programs that perfectly align with our mission—and create overwhelmingly positive results.   

Since 1994 and through 2021, we’ve granted Allen County Public Library the sum of $4.7M for the Summer Learning Program. This program helps maintain educational skills for young people who are most at risk, preventing the “summer slide”—and, it employs teens as part of Team Read. 

This component of the program has offered teens an income, job preparedness, communication training, and other valuable social skills. 

Signature Grants: Summer Clubhouses

Since 2000, we’ve granted Taylor University $8.9M for the Summer Clubhouse program, which serves more than 700 children between kindergarten and 4th grade every summer. 

Currently at seven sites, the program is designed to develop relationship skills and self-confidence, provide opportunities for family involvement and reinforce academic skills throughout the summer. 

For two decades, Summer Clubhouses have enriched our community; it’s nearly overwhelming to consider the number of children who have benefitted from this program over the last twenty years.

05.11.2020

Foellinger Foundation’s Signature Grants have made a legacy-level impact on our community. It has been an honor to be part of the team that has helped bring these to life.  

Signature Grant: Great KIDS make Great COMMUNITIES

Since 1998, we’ve granted Great KIDS make Great COMMUNITIES more than $2M as a Foellinger Foundation Signature Grant. 

Great KIDS make Great COMMUNITIES is Allen County’s positive youth development initiative, and was founded by Judge Charles Pratt, who has been nationally recognized by judicial entities for his forward-thinking, visionary approach to creating a bright future for more children.  

These funds support the organization’s work in providing high-quality training and support to the adults in our community who work directly with youth—youth-serving agencies and organizations, parent groups, faith-based organizations and community groups. 

In 2020, we were excited to ensure the program’s formal affiliation with another long-time grantee, YMCA of Greater Fort Wayne.  

Signature Grant: Let’s GROW!

Since 2012, Foellinger Foundation has granted Associated Churches more than $1.2M to support their Let’s GROW! initiative—another Signature Grant.

Let’s GROW! asks, “Where do those in need go for childcare and early childhood education?” and offers an ecumenical solution that supports ministries across our community, particularly those in some of the lowest-income neighborhoods of the city. 

In addition to financial and technical support, these funds help with skills development for caregivers, raising the quality of childcare being delivered. 

 

5.9.2020

Memorable Moments at Press Conferences

As the president of a grantmaking organization, I have the privilege of being spokesperson as we share the news of many of our most significant grants and funding opportunities. 

Often, these announcements are made in press conferences with local media, key stakeholders and Foellinger Foundation board members and staff present. 

The following press conferences were especially memorable:

• I was proud to join leaders of the The Rescue Mission to commit $1M toward their significant effort to address homelessness in our community. In this instance, we committed $500,000 outright, with another $500,000 in matching funds. The full match was secured in less than six months. 

• In 2008, as part our 50th anniversary, we granted $1M to Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation, with all funds to be used for infrastructure updates to maintain the Foellinger Theatre and Foellinger-Freimann Botanical Conservatory. This was not a glamorous award, but an important reminder of how important up-to-date, well-maintained facilities are for organizations. 

• Last year, we granted nearly $300,000 to the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center (NIIC) as a Breakthrough Fund grant for its entrepreneurial program which reaches out to and supports underserved communities. The Breakthrough Fund was a very “un-Foellinger” opportunity that challenged organizations to think differently as they seek to address systemic challenges. Already, the NIIC is making significant strides in its engagement and results.

• I’ll always remember the March 2020 announcement of Great KIDS Make Great COMMUNITIES formal affiliation with the YMCA of Greater Fort Wayne. We’ve long supported both organizations, and applaud the positive work they do for youth—and those who care for youth—in our community. 

• Finally, an asterisk that made the press conference above especially memorable: it was the last public event hosted by Foellinger Foundation before social distancing recommendations were made in advance of the coronavirus pandemic. Our next press conference—announcing the Foundation’s $1.35M Critical Response Grants in the face of COVID-19—was conducted via video announcement, as we and much of the rest of the world pivoted to using livestreams and virtual conferencing on the fly.

05.07.2020

A Few Thoughts on Women in Leadership 

There are more than 80,000 foundations in the United States, and many, if not most, are led by women. They’re operated by women, too—research shows that women comprise 77% of grantmaking staff, and 59% of grantmaking CEOs, in 2018. 

Of course, this is significantly different than when I started my career. 

Back in the mid-1980’s, women were not allowed to join the Public Relations Society of America, including the local chapter. So, a group of us became charter members of the local Women in Communication, or WIC.  

WIC met weekly for lunch in the back-back rooms of various spots around town. As our numbers grew, so did our collective voice, and soon we were courted by politicians, decision-makers and the press. They sought our opinions on, and sometimes support for, the most important initiatives and conversations happening in our community. 

We said what we believed, and remained staunchly independent. (When the on-ramp is closed, sometimes you need to drive straight through the barricades.)

Today, though there remains work to do across industry sectors, leadership in the nonprofit space is an area where women flourish. 

I’ve long felt a certain sense of gratification to lead a foundation established by two women. 

I believe that Helene and Esther Foellinger would appreciate the symmetry, too. 

The Philanthropic Community in Northeast Indiana

Foellinger Foundation is proud to be part of our regional philanthropic community. 

While we honor donor intent and focus all of our grantmaking dollars in Allen County, we continue to collaborate with and share best practices with foundations and philanthropic leaders across northeastern Indiana. 

Our community is truly blessed to benefit from well-run, strategic foundations. We’ve found our peers to be mission-driven and purposeful, and have admired the focus and expertise of their work. We all know our areas of priority, and complement and support each other accordingly. 

Plus, we collaborate with zeal and intentionality. 

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have joined forces with AWS Foundation, Lutheran Foundation and St. Joseph Community Foundation to provide catalytic funding and resources to nonprofit organizations throughout our community. Learn more about these efforts at foellinger.org/covid19.

Working together—and working smart—we’re able to make an even more positive impact on our community. 

05.05.2020

“Not at This Time, Thank You.” 

It’s anomalous in the field, but Foellinger Foundation has always been very proud to not permit our own board members or staff to serve on the boards of organizations that may approach Foellinger Foundation for support. 

In short, we’ve always sought to avoid the potential for conflicts of interest, or even the appearance thereof. 

This is a difficult position to maintain, for several reasons—not the least of which is our keen emotional interest in the missions of so many nonprofits in our community and the people they support. 

However, at Foellinger Foundation, we’ve always followed our donors’ intent. Helene and Esther Foellinger set a high bar for all subsequent board members to adhere. Avoiding obvious conflicts-of-interest is just one of many ways the board does that.

How ‘Paths to Quality’ Started in Allen County

Supporting organizations that specialize in early childhood education and development has always been a priority of Foellinger Foundation’s grantmaking strategy. Our mission is to “…strengthen organizations that serve children and families—particularly those with the greatest economic need and the least opportunity.” 

In the mid-1990’s, we invited Junior League of Fort Wayne to join us as we supported the formation of the Child Care and Early Education Partnership, exploring solutions to systemic challenges in the sector. In 2000, Paths to Quality, Allen County’s quality indicator system, was implemented by that Partnership. 

Over that time, the foundation provided approximately a half-million dollars for Paths to Quality, including more than $100,000 in a series of grants for planning and development, and nearly $400,000 for implementation in Allen County. 

In the mid-2000’s, the State of Indiana’s Division of Family Services began considering the implementation of a statewide quality indicator system for use in determining how the quality of childcare could be improved. 

After a presentation by Teresa Reidt, director of the Partnership, and Dawn Martz, senior program officer at Foellinger Foundation, the State of Indiana recognized Paths to Quality as a model program—and implemented it statewide as a free and voluntary rating system. 

It was tremendously gratifying to see the great work by local early childhood development leaders recognized by the state.

05.02.2020

What Our Amazing Speakers Have Written

Being part of the selection team for our keynote speakers has been one of the most energizing aspects of my time with Foellinger Foundation. 

Our speakers represent a wide swath of professional experience, thought leadership and nonprofit expertise. Many of these speakers are also authors, and a shelf lined with the writing of only these speakers would be full with a lifetime of knowledge and wisdom. 

Three especially come to mind:

Stephen Carter was our first speaker, in May 2000, initiating our Ernest E. Williams Lecture Series. Mr. Carter is a professor of law at Yale University, and was a clerk to Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. His writings include both nonfiction, like Integrity and Fidelity, and novels, including The Emperor of Ocean Park. 

Peter C. Brinckerhoff is the only author to receive the Terry McAdam Award from the Alliance of Nonprofit Management for “Best New Nonprofit Book” more than once—and he received the honor three times. The founder of Corporate Alternatives and a former lecturer at the Kellogg School of Management, Brinckerhoff’s seminal work includes Generations: The Challenge of a Lifetime for Your Nonprofit and Mission-Based Management, for which I was honored to provide a dust jacket comment. 

Finally, for our 50th anniversary in 2008, we welcomed Jim Stovall to the Williams Lecture Series. Stovall wrote The Ultimate Gift, which was made into a major motion picture. Mr. Stovall began losing his eyesight when he was a teenager; he responded to this tragedy by becoming an Olympic weightlifting champion, president of the Emmy-winning Narrative Television Network, and was awarded International Humanitarian of the Year. His speech on “inspiration”—which coincided with our announcement of our then-new Inspire Grants—still reverberates throughout our community. 

04.29.2020

David A. Bobilya Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership Award

David Bobilya touched the lives of so many in our community. He truly led with empathy, and was one of Foellinger Foundation’s and the community’s greatest friends and strongest advocates. He embodied the principles of accountability, responsibility, integrity and results that drive the work of our organization.

David served the Foundation for 16 years in various roles, providing strength and wisdom for many of our efforts, always exemplifying leadership excellence.

In his honor and his memory, Foellinger Foundation established the David A. Bobilya Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership Award in 2018.

The design of the award is inspired by David and his leadership. The candle in the center of the award represents the subtle glow of his leadership. Its light symbolizes David’s reach throughout the community and his gentle way of bringing understanding and hope to others. The glass symbolizes transparency and trust, and the four sides of the lantern’s base represent the four areas of effectiveness established by the Foundation—Governance, Leadership, Financial Sustainability, and Program Impact.

At our inaugural Leadership Luncheon in October 2019, we presented our annual lecture—featuring renowned thought leader, Tony Proscio—and recognized Thomas Kimbrough as the first award winner, for his 25+ year commitment to the YMCA. 

Mr. Kimbrough said, “I was able to observe firsthand David’s great leadership and impact in this community. He possessed the uncanny ability to motivate and inspire leadership through his gentle and thoughtful comments and deeds. I am very humbled.”

This fall, we’re looking forward to hosting the second Leadership Luncheon, featuring Danielle Sheets, Vice President of The Denver Foundation. There, we’ll present the 2020 recipient of the David A. Bobilya Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership Award. This year’s nominees will be considered from the perspective of the leadership they offered their organizations through the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Make a nomination here.

04.23.2020

Education Advancement in Philanthropy

For students and professionals interested in a career that offers an ever-evolving landscape, and each day a new challenge to overcome (or as I see it, a new opportunity to make our community a little bit better for each resident), work in philanthropy can be an ideal pursuit. 

Just as a Vision Statement paints a vivid picture of the future that we hope to reach, a Mission Statement describes the enduring purpose of our work. Mission-oriented work persists milestone after milestone, decade after decade, vision after vision. 

Philanthropic work is missional. We are here to help address problems and encourage community. And the thing is, there will always be problems to solve; always a community to engage. From that perspective, our work will never cease, our mission will never change.  

A noticeable part of the evolution of philanthropy has been the rise of study and specialized education in the field. In previous decades, the path to a career in philanthropic leadership often came through the study and experience of law, or finance and accounting, or liberal arts—like me. Now, there is an entire field of philanthropic studies. 

Indeed, the world’s first school dedicated solely to the study and teaching of philanthropy is right here in Indiana—the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. 

IU has been a leader in the field of philanthropic studies since the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University was founded in 1987. There, the university established the nation’s first bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. degrees in the field.

The future of philanthropy is bright. And young leaders in the field are driven to make their communities, country and world a better place—for all.   

It’s their mission. 

04.17.2020

Creative Thinking in “Flyover Country.”

National business press so often focuses on the work being done on either coast.

Covering the business of philanthropy is no different. In a universe of more than 80,000 foundations, very little attention has historically been paid to the creative efforts of foundations in the nation’s midsection. 

But we know there’s great work happening here—sometimes, the most innovative in the field. 

And quite encouragingly, in very recent years, more publications are paying attention. 

Organizations like Exponent Philanthropy and The Philanthropy Roundtable share thought leadership in the field, from philanthropic organizations of all sizes, all across the country. 

Whether from a high- or low-profile zip code, success stories, interesting ideas and innovative solutions are being shared with affiliate organizations, grantmaking peers, and more. 

I’ve been encouraged to see the work of Foellinger Foundation and other Midwestern institutions featured in Exponent Philanthropy, and elsewhere.

Alongside each other, we learn and inspire one another.

And together, we affect positive change all across our country, and the world—no matter the size of the metropolitan area.

04.10.2020

Stuff Matters.

Ask any nonprofit leader, and they’ll tell you: there are needs beyond operating support. 

Foellinger Foundation's Limited Asset Improvement (LAI) grants have provided an opportunity for nonprofits in our community to solve systemic operational issues by improving or replacing current assets, or by purchasing new assets. 

In other words, we’re funding the "stuff" that may otherwise fall through the cracks. 

These grants often don't receive the same fanfare or media coverage that many of the Foundation’s other activities do. 

However, they can be intrinsic to the success of the organizations we support—removing points of pain, and arming the organizations to achieve their missions with focus, confidence and capability. 

The importance of LAI grants became strikingly clear as organizations in our community worked to modify their operations during the coronavirus pandemic:

"As a result of the Foellinger LAI grant that we used to upgrade our equipment and operating system last year, we were easily able to set-up remote access quickly and easily with assistance from our IT vendor. This would not have been possible without those hardware & software upgrades."

–Ruth de Wit, Executive Director, Volunteer Lawyer Program

"We wanted to share a quick note of thanks for the LAI grant we received in 2018 to update our server. The update has increased our capacity and improved our ability to work remotely as a staff. As our staff prepares to transition to remote working, we are grateful to have this ability to stay connected to one another and to those we serve and interact with."

–Lucas Weick, CFRM, Chief Philanthropy Officer, Embassy Theatre

04.07.2020

Capital with Purpose: Community Development 

While our capital grants are rare—available by invitation—Foellinger Foundation has engaged in several measured and intentional capital investments over the years. 

Perhaps the most significant capital investment the Foundation made was when we purchased numerous plots of land on the eastern edge of downtown Fort Wayne in the 1980’s. At the time, many of these plots were home to empty or blighted buildings. 

These plots provided a new home for Foellinger Foundation, as well as the opportunity to grant homes to organizations we support.

In 1990, we granted Arts United the Doubleday Building ($400K) as part of the evolving arts campus. In 1999, we granted Early Childhood Alliance the land ($200K) for their downtown childcare center, along with $300K in 2000 for construction, and $150K in 2001 as a two-year grant for programming at this site. Finally, in 2007 we granted Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne the land ($280K) to build their own standalone building.  

Most recently, in 2019, we granted $1M to The Rescue Mission in support of their new building, just a block south of the foundation. 

These are community development decisions, and I’ve been proud to see our corner of downtown flourish. 

Over time, as downtown’s vibrancy has extended toward the east, Indiana Tech has expanded their east-side campus toward downtown. The density of this activity and investment has helped invigorate the East Central neighborhoods that connect us.

03.11.2020

Adaptive Leadership

One of my favorite books is Dr. Ronald Heifetz’s seminal Leadership without Easy Answers. This groundbreaking work explains the essence of “adaptive leadership”—leadership beyond technical knowledge, fitting the extraordinary times and complex challenges that leaders at all levels must navigate today.

When Dr. Heifetz was on his original book tour in support of Leadership without Easy Answers, I had the chance to hear him speak about this concept. His work spurred our thinking for more than a decade—driving innovation within the Foundation and in our work surrounding leadership. 

As we sought to find our place in developing nonprofit leaders, the importance of adaptive leadership—and the incredible results it can generate—became the heart of the Helene Foellinger Leadership Development Initiative.

We announced our funding to design and beta the Helene Foellinger Leadership Development Initiative in October 2015, at our Language of Leadership event.

More than 450 leaders attended that event, and learned from the keynote speaker, who was the founder of Harvard University’s Center of Public Leadership at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Yes: poetically, it was Dr. Ronald Heifetz himself.

While we’re on the topic of favorite books…

I love trading book recommendations, and discussing the way brilliant ideas and beautiful writing can invigorate, inspire and illuminate our lives. Some of my favorites are below. (I’d love to hear yours, too.)

• Little Women, Louisa May Alcott

• A Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold

• The Tipping Point and Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell

• A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking

• Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America, Barbara Ehrenreich

• A Framework for Understanding Poverty, Ruby Payne

• The Long Loneliness, Dorothy Day

• The Undoing Project, Michael Lewis

• The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion

• Leadership Without Easy Answers, Dr. Ronald Heifetz

• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick Lencioni

• Conversational Intelligence: How Great Leaders Build Trust and Get Extraordinary Results, Judith Glaser

• 1940’s-era and Victorian-era mysteries

Here are five of my favorite poets:

• Emily Dickinson

• William Wordsworth

• Billy Collins

• Mary Oliver

• Janis (Joplin, of course, always a poet)

Finally, I love podcasts. There’s much to debate about technology’s impact on our lives, but I’ve found podcasting to be a platform that has given rise to unique voices and points of view, on topics both broad and niche. Here are 13 that I wholeheartedly recommend:

• History and Current Affairs, by New York Historical Society

• Broken Record, with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell and Bruce Headlam

• On Being, with Krista Tippett

• We the People, by National Constitution Center

• Planet Money, by National Public Radio

• HBR IdeaCast, by Harvard Business Review

• Economist Radio, by The Economist

• The Book Review, by The New York Times

• 30 for 30, by ESPN

• U.S. Supreme Court Oral Arguments, by Oyez

• Moonrise, by The Washington Post

• Hidden Brain, by National Public Radio

• The New Yorker Radio Hour, by The New Yorker

03.06.2020

Starting Inspire Grants As Part of Our 50th Anniversary

For the Foundation’s 50th anniversary in 2008, we introduced a new type of Capacity Grant—the Inspire Grant. The two-phase Inspire Grant offers an opportunity for renewal and reflection, and then action.  

How does an Inspire Grant work? Here’s a great example.

In 2008, Cancer Services of Northeast Indiana received an Inspire Grant that made a lasting impact on the organization.

The Inspire Grant allowed Cancer Services to explore complementary care and wellness support for its patients and caregivers. Staff and board members researched and experienced a wide-range of activities and visited similar organizations during Phase I.

In Phase II, they reviewed the experiences and implemented various measures of complementary care by training massage therapists in the specifics of working with oncology patients, offering those services at Cancer Services and educating the medical community on cutting-edge thoughts in wellness therapy.

Cancer Services now has two massage therapists on staff, and offers group classes for yoga, tai chi, stretching, meditation and more. The organization has been able to adapt to—and, in many ways, lead—the way cancer patients are supported in our community.

Inspired, indeed. 

Barbara Burt Innovative Leader Fund

This fund—part of the Helene Foellinger Leadership Development Initiative—recognizes Barbara Burt, who for more than 45 years was a critical philanthropic and nonprofit leader in our community. Mrs. Burt taught so many of us what excellence in nonprofit leadership looked like—and those lessons endure.

The Barbara Burt Innovative Leader Fund was established in 2008 in honor of Mrs. Burt’s retirement; she led Foellinger Foundation as President and CEO from 1995 through 2001, and as chairman of our Board of Directors from 2001 through 2008.

This fund supports nonprofit board members who are pursuing unique learning experiences, encourages innovative thinking to develop “adaptive leadership” skills and promotes exchanges about leadership styles and practices within nonprofit organizations.

I worked closely with Barbara when I joined the Foundation, and remain grateful—and forever better—for her leadership and friendship.

02.29.2020

Kudos from Ford Foundation

At Foellinger Foundation, we count on the comprehensive reports of external evaluators to provide us with feedback and guidance. Of course, we also seek the feedback of organizations we support, and we study their results. These are the measures of our own success.

Having said that, it’s nice to be recognized by your peers—especially when those peers represent some of the largest and most influential foundations in the world.

Recently, representatives from Ford Foundation visited Fort Wayne to discuss a report on their Building Institutions and Networks (BUILD) initiative, a five-year, $1B investment in the long-term capacity and sustainability of up to 300 social justice organizations around the world.

As they travel the country, Ford Foundation representatives encourage funding entities in the communities they visit to provide operating and capacity building support to nonprofits. Typically, the Ford team laments the lack of this kind of funding in philanthropic circles.

But they were more than pleasantly surprised in Allen County.

Kathy Reich, director of BUILD, commended Foellinger Foundation in three different meetings for our leadership in providing this type of support—for decades.

You see, approximately 60% of our annual grant payments are for operating support, and over the last decade, we’ve provided $2.7M in capacity building grants. 

Of course, what matters most is the results of the organizations we support.

And we will always invest in their excellence.

02.22.2020

The Staff I’ve Been Privileged to Lead

The great, late Stephen Covey—who once spoke at a Foellinger Foundation event—said, “The key to life is not accumulation. It’s contribution.”

How inspiring! I have been blessed to lead a team that believes this to be true. Foellinger Foundation’s staff is committed, passionate, innovative and empathetic; they arrive to the office each morning with a clear understanding and commitment to our purpose, and to making a positive and personal contribution in our community.

Our team is balanced between recent additions, who bring fresh perspective and a hunger to learn, with team members who have dedicated the primes of their working lives to our mission. Plus: we have genuine fun together.

I am full of gratitude at the opportunity to lead—and contribute alongside—these talented professionals.

02.19.2020

Donor Intent and Why It Matters

Donor intent forms the basis of all decisions by Foellinger Foundation’s board. Donor intent is our polestar—no matter the climate we find ourselves in.

To wit: In 2007, we created an initiative, which invited prospective adaptive organizations that were mission-driven, well-governed and results-oriented to participate in a project, which included multiyear operating, capacity-building and limited asset improvement grants. Between announcing the fund and rolling it out, the Great Recession hit, and the foundation’s resources plummeted.

Our board met to decide what to do next—and quickly decided that if the Foellinger Invited Initiative was the right thing to do in July 2007 when our portfolio was high, it was still the right thing to do in November 2008. It was either the right thing for us to do, or it was not.

That’s following donor intent.

Over the next decade, we invested more than $32-million dollars in 24 nonprofit organizations through this initiative.