In 2003 a foundation with a statewide mission set out to build a strong network of partners. Community foundations around the state took up the challenge.

And everything changed. From isolation

to collaboration McHenry County Community Foundation

Grand Victoria Foundation DeKalb County McHenry County Nancy Fishman Community Foundation Community Foundation Evanston Community Foundation 230 W. Monroe Street, Suite 2530 Dan Templin Kate Halma The DuPage , 60606 The Atrium Office Center P.O. Box 1844 Community Foundation 312 609-0200 2600 DeKalb Avenue Woodstock, Illinois 60098 Grand Victoria Foundation Community Foundation DeKalb County grandvictoriafdn.org Sycamore, Illinois 60178 815 338-4483 of the Great River Bend Community Foundation 815 748-5383 mccfdn.org Oak Park-River Forest The Moline Community Foundation dekalbcountyfoundation.org Community Foundation Foundation of The Moline Foundation Mark Roberts The DuPage Joy Boruff 331 Fulton Street, Suite 310 Community Foundation 817 11th Avenue Peoria, Illinois 61602 Dave McGowan Moline, Illinois 61265 Community Foundation of Grundy County 309 674-8730 104 E. Roosevelt Road, Suite 204 309 736-3800 communityfoundationci.org Wheaton, Illinois 60187 molinefoundation.org Community Foundation 630 665-5556 of Kankakee River Valley Community Foundation dcfdn.org Community Foundation of East Central Illinois of Grundy County Community Foundation Joan Dixon Effingham County Julie Buck of Central Illinois 404 West Church Street Community Foundation 102 N. Liberty Street Champaign, Illinois 61820 and Mattoon Area Morris, Illinois 60450 217 359-0125 Community Foundation 815 941-0852 The Community Foundation of cfeci.org Joedy Hightower cfgrundycounty.com Decatur/Macon County 300 East Washington Community Foundation of the Quincy Area Community Foundation The Community Foundation of P.O. Box 1211 Oak Park - River Forest Sangamon County of East Central Illinois Decatur/Macon County Effingham, Illinois 62401 Community Foundation Community Foundation Lucy Murphy 217 342-4988 Effingham Sophia Lloyd to collaboration 125 North Water Street, Suite 200 effinghamfoundation.org 1049 Lake Street, Suite 204 Decatur, Illinois 62523 217 235-2500 Mattoon Oak Park, Illinois 60301 Mattoon Area 217 429-3000 mattoonfoundation.org 708 848-1560 Community Foundation endowdecatur.org oprfcf.org Southeastern Illinois Evanston Community Community Foundation Community Foundation Foundation Sangamon County Effingham County of the Great River Bend Sara Schastok Community Foundation Community Foundation Susan Skora 1007 Church Street, Suite 108 John Stremsterfer 852 Middle Road, Suite 100 Evanston, Illinois 60201 One West Old State Capitol Plaza, Bettendorf, Iowa 52722 847 492-0990 Suite 816 563 326-2840 evanstonforever.org Springfield, Illinois 62701 cfgrb.org 217 789-4431 Community Foundation sccf.us Community Foundation of Kankakee River Valley of the Quincy Area Norm Strasma Jill Blickhan 105 East Court Street Community Foundation P.O. Box 741 Kankakee, Illinois 60901 Pat Bauer Quincy, Illinois 62306 815 939-1611 201 West DeYoung Street Southern Illinois 217 222-1237 endowthefuture.org Marion, Illinois 62959 Community Foundation mycommunityfoundation.org 618 997-3700 sicf.org Communityworks. The change so far.

Communityworks Phase I Financial and technical support to build leadership, Five years ago, the Grand Victoria Foundation May 2003–May 2005 communications, and capacity to raise and manage funds: was a young Illinois foundation with limited assets $50,000/year, two years operating support, part of which could be used for salary and an ambitious statewide agenda for improving

$50,000 2:1 challenge grant for Communityworks early childhood care and education, workforce endowment development, and land use and protection. To develop Participation in Learning Support Network thoughtful, place-based programs and attract local

resources, Grand Victoria decided it needed partners.

Communityworks Phase II Financial and technical support to deploy It launched Communityworks, a $12 million, five- June 2005–May 2008 capacities on one or more target issues: year initiative to expand the capacity and influence $60,000/year, three years general operating support of Illinois community foundations and collaborate $200,000 1:1 challenge grant for Communityworks endowment with them. Drawing on interviews and reports

Community convenings from seventeen community foundations and Grand

Development of community impact plan Victoria, this report examines how it worked, what

Participation in Learning Support Network lessons emerged, and what comes next. The thinking changed.

What do private foundations do? The traditional answer is, give away money. By this Grand Victoria offered them the opportunity, and the resources, to change that model. logic, a statewide foundation like Illinois’ Grand Victoria Foundation would give away It would help them build their capacity and their endowments, if they would consider money around the state. But Illinois is a big state: nearly 13 million people, organized expanding their role, listening to their community, and creating and implementing into 102 counties and hundreds of local governments, with dramatic upstate/downstate plans to address those three issues locally (see grant details on p. 2). In launching and rural/urban disparities. Grand Victoria wanted to take on big issues, including early Communityworks, recalls Nancy Fishman, executive director of Grand Victoria, “I was childhood care and education, workforce development, and land use and protection. hoping that if we all agreed that we care about the same things, and that our solutions How could one grantmaker, with $50 million in total assets, possibly make a difference must be placed-based, and we all worked together, however different our strategies might on those issues in Illinois? be, it would make a much bigger difference to folks in Illinois than if Grand Victoria just Grand Victoria started by rethinking its role. Instead of going solo, suppose it could made its grants and community foundations focused on donor services.” be part of an ensemble? Instead of struggling to figure out needs and opportunities in Eighteen community foundations took up the challenge (one later dropped out). Decatur, Carbondale, and Quincy, suppose it found local partners who could share The operating support alone was irresistible. But many, especially brand-new foundations their knowledge? Instead of simply making its own grants, could it expand philanthropic or those with recently hired executive directors, were attracted by the chance to step resources in Illinois, especially outside the Chicago metro region? up to a new, more professional level of operations. “Communityworks was the first big Recent years have seen many foundations rethinking their role. They are moving idea that came our way,” said one executive director. A trustee said: “It came at just the beyond grantmaking to convene stakeholders, invest in research and capacity building, right time. It gave us direction; it gave us a focus; it gave us a story.” build networks, and share information. Grand Victoria made those ideas central to its approach. Grand Victoria also picked up on the increasing interest in community philanthropy, But not everyone was so sure. energized by a new generation of donors, new financial instruments, and new technologies. “We thought our job was to create permanent endowments for beloved local Other private foundations—notably Lilly, Kellogg, Mott, and Irvine—were­ investing in nonprofits,” not compete with them for resources, said one executive director; their states’ community foundations. Grand Victoria decided to seek partners among “Communityworks wanted to take us in a different direction. That was a community foundations in Illinois. At the time, in 2001, Illinois community foundations problem.” Another likened Communityworks to a giant slalom course: “We could (except in Chicago) were a largely underdeveloped sector. Some had just gotten started. see the finish line, but the slope was enshrouded in fog—we had no clear idea Others had been around for decades but were inactive. Only a handful had assets above how we would get there.” A few were downright suspicious. As one executive $10 million. director put it: “A foundation from Chicago says, ‘we’re here to help you?’ And then there was another definition problem: What do community foundations Nobody south of I-80 believes anyone from Chicago is going to help them.” do? The traditional answer has been, they manage the assets and carry out the wishes of local donors and work with the local nonprofits they wish to support. Several Illinois foundations acknowledged the importance for their communities of the issues Grand Victoria was raising. Communities in the Chicago metro area struggle with growth and land conservation issues; aging industrial cities know that they need a better trained workforce; and everyone recognizes the importance of early childhood learning. But community foundations generally did not see tackling such issues as their role. Their role was to work with local donors and help them support local organizations.

5 Grand Victoria Foundation | Communityworks From one tool

to a toolbox The people changed, and so did the places.

Before Communityworks, most Illinois community foundations were very small operations. Some had never had a full-time staff person or an office; others relied on one or two people to do everything. The operating support from Communityworks made a big difference.

New staff Communityworks required that the foundations have at least one full- time professional staff member. Several foundations hired executive directors, some for the first time: Julie Buck at Grundy County, Norm Strasma at Kankakee, Joedy Hightower for the combined posts of Effingham and Mattoon were all hired because of Communityworks. McHenry also hired its first full-time executive director. Other foundations (including Evanston, DeKalb, Central Illinois, Great River Bend, and DuPage) added program officers or other professional staff. By 2008, half of the Communityworks participants had three or more full-time staff.

New offices Southern Illinois moved from an incubator building on the Southern Illinois University Campus to a storefront office on DeYoung Street, the main drag in nearby Marion—a symbolic statement of independence from its university origins. Neither Effingham nor Mattoon had an office; now the foundations have office space near the downtown areas of each community. Oak Park - River Forest separated from the community chest and opened its own office in Oak Park’s Lake Street shopping district. Sangamon County opened offices in a downtown high rise in Illinois’ capital city, Springfield. Decatur moved out of a basement into offices on the second floor of a recently renovated, busy downtown community arts center. With a gift from a former trustee, DuPage Community Foundation bought its own condo in a local professional building. McHenry County left behind its 500-square-foot office and moved into a pleasant space that faces onto Woodstock’s classic town square (which was the setting for the movie “Groundhog Day”).

9 Grand Victoria Foundation | Communityworks New capacity When Joy Boruff took over the Moline Foundation, it consisted of “a card table, a chair, a box with a John Deere mug, some pencils, a calculator, and some file folders,” she recalls. Boruff ditched the box and bought a copier, computers, and accounting software. Several others also upgraded their computers and software. Great River Bend bought a color copier and started planning new office space. Evanston hired a design team and created a bright, strong brand for its annual report and fundraising materials. All seventeen foundations applied for certification from the Council on Foundations as meeting the National Standards for Community Foundations, and twelve were certified.

But some things didn’t go smoothly. Several foundations struggled through staffing problems: too little staff, too much turnover, not the right staff for the tasks at hand.

“Communityworks enabled us to hire staff. It really increased the presence and the percep- tion of the foundations in the community.” Joedy Hightower and Mary McShane, Effingham County Community Foundation/Mattoon Area Community Foundation

11 Grand Victoria Foundation | Communityworks The work changed, for Grand Victoria ...and the community foundations.

Grantmaking is the most obvious tool at a foundation’s disposal, but not Community foundations who participated in Communityworks also took the only one. In launching Communityworks, Grand Victoria dug deep into up new and often unfamiliar tools: its philanthropic toolbox. Convening Phase 2 required community foundations to meet with “local citizens, Convening Grand Victoria explicitly set out to create a statewide network of civic leaders, and policymakers” to explore the three issues. For many this was a new partners and it built the network through shared experiences, including monthly challenge. “All of a sudden here we were holding public meetings on land use,” conference calls and annual meetings. said one; “we said to ourselves, what are we doing?” Many were pleasantly surprised by the results. “I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was skeptical,” said one executive director, Capacity building grants Communityworks offered each community foundation “but it proved to be very powerful to get people in the same room to talk about issues.” $280,000 in general operating support over five years, enabling them to add staff For some foundations, however, the convenings proved a special challenge; said one: and professionalize their operations as described above. “It’s hard to get people around here to come to community meetings—and I was doing them in counties where I didn’t know anybody” (she responded by recruiting new Technical assistance Grand Victoria invested $1.8 million in providing technical board members from those areas). Another executive director found one meeting assistance through its Learning Support Network. The network was staffed by field hijacked by advocates of a narrow agenda, while other sessions elicited a deluge liaisons who provided coaching, expertise, and other supports. Conference calls, of ideas and commentary. workshops, educational and research materials, access to consultants, and a website provided ideas on everything from the basics of running a foundation to resources on Partnerships Out of the community meetings the foundations developed partner- land use and protection, early childhood, and workforce issues. Field liaisons met ships with local officials, nonprofit and corporate leaders, and other funders, formalized regularly as a team to review progress and plot new directions. in part through Communityworks advisory committees. They built connections with groups they had never worked with before. Both Decatur and Sangamon County have Matching grants To encourage each community foundation to build its own developed their education initiatives as broad-based partnerships, with support and resources dedicated to the three issues, Grand Victoria offered $50,000 if community leadership from major partners besides the foundation. DeKalb and Great River Bend foundations raised $25,000 (in Phase 2 expanded to $200,000 on a 1:1 match). now say that they won’t undertake any new projects without partnerships.

Planning Phase 2 required the foundations to come up with a “community impact plan.” Many found it tough going (“unbelievably laborious,” said one), as they struggled to make sense of all the information they had gathered. But even those who complained recognized that the planning was essential if they were to move in new, more strategic directions. For a look at the plans that resulted, see the next section.

13 Grand Victoria Foundation | Communityworks The planning began.

Through their public meetings, the community foundations began learning about problems and leadership opportunities that they had never known existed, and finding partners among people they had never met. The Community Foundation of Central Illinois found that many groups had program plans for the same low-income Peoria community but didn’t know about each other. The foundation hosted a breakfast at the Urban League where people began planning collaboration to avoid duplicating resources. Kankakee, McHenry, and Effingham community foundations each connected with planning already underway for major local initiatives, and each stepped into a leadership role. In Kankakee, the community foundation became the driving force behind creation of a walking and biking trail along the Kankakee River, which required collaboration by twelve government entities involved in different sections of the trail. McHenry has taken a similar role for development of a new facility to host the county fair and other local and regional events. In Effingham, the community foundation became the focal point of local efforts to raise a $3 million permanent endowment to support the operation of a new sports facility. In Decatur, the foundation brought educators, child care providers and Head Start representatives together. The group immediately focused in on kindergarten readiness. In Springfield, the community meetings identified a challenge that touched on all three issues: transportation. The city’s buses didn’t reach the major shopping areas and employment centers just outside the city limits; and they stopped running at 6:30 p.m. The foundation’s first Communityworks grant provided transportation subsidies for local residents, and the foundation began exploring ways to reconfigure bus routes and schedules to connect people to jobs and child care. In addition to the community meetings, the Moline Foundation and the Community Foundation of the Great River Bend, working with other local foundations and the United Way, commissioned a survey of residents and leaders supplemented by focus groups and additional data. The “Community Vitality Scan” identified community priorities on education, the local economy and the environment, as well as other areas. The two community foundations then divided up the work, with Great River Bend taking responsibility for early childhood and the Moline Foundation beginning planning on workforce and land use and protection.

15 Grand Victoria Foundation | Communityworks “I learned that, if we as a community foundation go out and convene people, they will come, especially if we maintain our neutrality. You bring the issue out, and the solutions come from there.” James Sullivan, Community Foundation of Central Illinois

Pulling together all the input plus information and resources supplied by the Learning By the end of phase 2 the community foundations were beginning to invest grant Support Network, the community foundations began creating plans and setting goals. dollars from their Communityworks funds—and sometimes also from other resources— In Peoria, the ideas gradually focused on making Peoria Manual High School to carry out the plans they had created. They were starting to use their resources more a resource for the whole community. The community foundation started working with strategically. Some carried that approach over into their other grantmaking as well. others to create a rain garden and a training program for local child care providers “Unsolicited applications are practically nonexistent now,” says one executive director; on the Manual campus. “everybody knows what we’re trying to accomplish.” Out of the early sessions in Decatur came the idea of a summer pre-kindergarten program to enhance the readiness of children who would otherwise start out at a disadvantage—and an overall plan to make Decatur the “best educated city in Illinois.” Evanston came to the conclusion that kindergarten readiness and workforce readiness are grounded in the earliest years. They determined that there were strong preschool options for local kids, but that the real need was in the birth-to-three stage; so they began supporting home visiting for vulnerable families with very young children. But things did not always Other foundations also focused on early childhood. The DeKalb, McHenry, and play out so neatly. Quincy community foundations concentrated on improving the quality of child care As noted above, some community foundations by helping local providers to meet recently adopted state quality rating standards stepped into leadership opportunities that materialized for in-home child care. even before they had a plan. (Said an Effingham trustee, Sangamon County found that reorganizing Springfield’s transportation system “Sometimes you have to be opportunistic in terms of the was beyond its reach. It turned instead to an ambitious, multiagency planning initiative issue you use to get yourself known in the community.”) to create a “continuum of learning” to support lifelong learning by local residents. Others struggled with staff turnover, logistical The foundation’s ability to assess its effectiveness and change course suggests its growing problems, and other challenges and took a long time maturity as an organization. to develop their plans. True strategic grantmaking is Somewhat to its surprise, the Moline Foundation found itself helping lead local land challenging. As one executive director said, “The caution use and watershed planning sessions. The Community Foundation of Grundy County simi- is … to assemble the huge list of great ideas into a larly focused on watershed planning, and began working to create a conservation district. plan that is feasible and sustainable.” Moving together The Effingham County Community Foundation decided to tackle workforce from the toward increasingly strategic approaches is a key goal business development side by raising $150,000 to support a pilot program that utilizes of Communityworks Phase 3.

local entrepreneurs’ expertise in a non-traditional classroom.

17 Grand Victoria Foundation | Communityworks “The message that ‘We’ve held these meetings, we’ve done this work, it will result in community improvement’—that was a new pitch for us. It worked very well. And the Communityworks match stimulated a lot of giving for us.” The fundraising began. Lucy Murphy, Community Foundation of Decatur/Macon County

The $250,000 in endowment money offered by Communityworks required found- “ ations to raise a match, with the total to go into a Communityworks endowment fund. In raising that money, the community foundations for the first time were creating a fund that they could allocate, not simply according to donor wishes, but following a broad based, well-researched community plan. Many had never raised money before—“we had simply waited around for people But some foundations found to die,” said one. Several reported that the matching dollars, along with the newly the fundraising difficult. strategic approach and community plans, made raising funds easier. It enabled them Three had not raised the matching funds by the end of Phase 2. Some (including to approach donors they had not reached before with a coherent story and reason some who were successful) complained about the structure of the Community- for giving. As one put it, “We could say to donors, ‘here’s what we need in this works match, which specified that, to be matched, gifts must be committed to the community; here’s what the community is telling us; we have a great opportunity to Communityworks fund as a whole, rather than targeted to one particular issue. address these needs because we have the possibility of matching your contribution’— A gift from a funder passionate about early childhood but indifferent or hostile to it made the story so easy.” land protection would not count for the match (though it could be part of the As they became successful at fundraising, they found new ways to attract Communityworks endowment). Grand Victoria (and community foundations who resources. Three community foundations—Decatur, DuPage, and Great River Bend— were consulted on the provision) wanted community foundations to attract money found the matching strategy so successful that they created their own versions of it, “ they would have discretion to use in accordance with community plans, instead of either to raise additional funds or to encourage their grantees to raise funds. donor wishes. But for several foundations, that was a hard sell. The community foundations were also able to leverage resources from the partners The foundations that found the fundraising especially difficult were those that they had met through their convening. The Peoria Manual rain garden expanded struggled with the overall approach of Communityworks. Competing with capital through in-kind contributions from the school district and the park district; and campaigns for beloved local institutions, one executive director lamented that the community foundation’s contribution to the child care training center was matched “Communityworks didn’t mean anything to people. We would say, ‘We’ve got three by other funding sources. Said the executive director, “I learned that, if you have good issues and we’ll put a program together …’ Donors would say, ‘what are you going programs, you don’t have to be the only funder­—others will come in.” Another executive to do with the money?’ We said, ‘we don’t know yet.’ That was difficult.” Another said, director, approached by a high-quality early learning center that wanted to locate in “I would go to a county 50 miles from here and say ‘I want you to contribute money his county, said, “We don’t have the resources, but we know people. We convened an for child care, land use, and workforce. I don’t know what we’re going to do with informational session and 30 people showed up—all the local private foundations came.” it but it will help you folks here.’ Huh?” By contrast, as described above, funders who Other foundations have provided funding that enabled their grantees to apply for federal brought a well-worked out plan often found donors increasingly willing to listen. grants. One shared its findings on workforce issues with a private funder, who drew on On the other hand, one foundation president—who made the match by accepting the information to create a pre-engineering program at the local high school. Another one large gift—said the whole experience convinced her that “we aren’t fundraisers.” found donors willing to contribute $380,000 over and above the Communityworks “We got to where we are by saying to donors, ‘what do you want to do and how can we match to support its early childhood grantmaking. help?’ That’s very different from ‘we’ve got an idea, give us money for it.’”

19 Grand Victoria Foundation | Communityworks to strategic

From responsive The resources grew. 2008 figures reported July 31, 2008.

Across the board, assets have grown. Foundations are managing more funds. With expanded roles, operating … and so does staff. budgets increase 3 In Thousands $240 In Millions $7.343 69 $188 $5.900 59 2 2 $165 $160 $4.800 $144 43 $3.349 30 1 1 19 $1.707

04 05 06 07 08 04 05 06 07 08 04 05 06 07 08 04 05 06 07 08

Median asset size for 17 Median number of funds managed by 17 Median operating budget for 17 Median full-time staff of 17 community Communityworks foundations Communityworks foundations Communityworks foundations foundations; many also added part-time staff.

Fundraising is bringing in more gifts … and more money. In thousands $1,458 446 393 387 $1,102 $1,022 “If people buy into our vision—which we created through their input—then we’re going to be fine, because that will lead to a financial 200 commitment by folks who share our vision.”

$418 Jerry Smith, DeKalb County Community Foundation $286 42

04 05 06 07 08 04 05 06 07 08

Median number of gifts raised by 17 Median amount of gifts raised by 17 Communityworks foundations Communityworks foundations

23 Grand Victoria Foundation | Communityworks The collaborations grew.

Communityworks has stimulated partnerships as community foundations came “I can stand up at a meeting and speak together to achieve strategic goals. Some collaborations were a direct result of the about an issue, and I’m reflecting the experience Communityworks process: Moline and Great River Bend collaborated on their of my colleagues across the state—it’s not just me talking.” Kate Halma, McHenry County community scan, then divided up the work. Mattoon and Effingham, which joined Community Foundation forces to apply for the Communityworks grant, have now merged to become the South- eastern Illinois Community Foundation and are reaching out to other nearby counties. Other partnerships evolved out of the work itself. McHenry and DeKalb have collaborated on early childhood work. Kankakee has reached out to nearby Grundy County to join its riverfront trail. Three foundations (Moline, Great River Bend, and Southern Illinois) have joined a partnership with other funders working in communities along the . Many foundations especially value these peer collaborations. Using the ideas from her colleagues, said one executive director, “We as a small new foundation could do things right from the beginning, rather than having to go back and fix things we’d done wrong.” Another mentioned credibility: “I can speak about an issue, and I’m reflecting the experience of my colleagues across the state, it’s not just me talking.” Several cited the Alliance of Illinois Community Foundations as a major byproduct of Communityworks. This network evolved from the 17 Communityworks foundations and now includes nearly fifty members from around the state. Building partnerships with community foundations was of course the original idea that motivated Grand Victoria to launch Communityworks. To the extent that community foundations have become partners to each other, that purpose was achieved. Said one trustee, “These multiple county collaborations would probably have taken place at some point, but Communityworks really accelerated the whole process.”

Still, the partnerships have not been without strains The formal Communityworks collaborations have each been challenging, for different reasons that are too complex to go into here. Meanwhile, it’s not clear that the community foundations truly see Grand Victoria as a partner. Though many had praise for Grand Victoria’s vision and commitment to Communityworks, few cited Grand Victoria as a partner. Some did, however; said one executive director: “They have the ambition to be a statewide funder; we have the ambition to grow locally. I see them as a trusted partner.”

25 Grand Victoria Foundation | Communityworks The landscape changed.

As Phase 2 came to an end in spring 2008, most community foundations had just begun making their first Communityworks grants. Still, there are some real- world results already underway. Among the highlights:

Early Childhood Forty Evanston families are getting home visiting services to give newborns a strong start in life, and the community foundation is funding an evaluation of home visiting to assess results and improve quality. In Decatur, the community foundation has provided funding to screen kids for kindergarten readiness and, working with the park district and the library, has set up a pre-kindergarten program that last year served 176 children. A 2007 evaluation showed half the kids improving their scores on key benchmarks. Mentors from West Central Child Care Connection are visiting 23 home child care providers in Quincy to focus on meeting state quality standards. A community foundation grant to Positive Parenting DuPage provides professional development for local child care providers. The DeKalb County and McHenry County community foundations are collaborating to help local child care providers meet state quality standards. Great River Bend has funded a community-wide assessment of child care to guide future work, and is supporting quality training for local child care centers. A training center for child care providers is getting underway at Manual High School in Peoria, with community foundation funding. Oak Park-River Forest is also funding training for child care staff and investing in the Parents as Teachers program. The Community Foundation of Grundy County brings together providers and other “birth to five” professionals to share ideas, and also funds before and after school child care and programs for at-risk families. The Community Foundation of the Kankakee River Valley is investing in parent education, mental health services for young children, and helping child care providers meet state quality standards.

27 Grand Victoria Foundation | Communityworks Land Use and Protection Groundbreaking for the Riverfront Trail along the Kankakee River is scheduled for spring 2009. “We envision communities where people With support from Community Foundation of Central Illinois, Manual High prosper, nature thrives, and our children enjoy lives filled with unlimited School in Peoria launched its rain garden in June 2008. possibilities.” Jim Baum, board president, The DuPage Community Foundation has funded creation of a speakers Community Foundation of Grundy County bureau to raise the importance of affordable housing in its very affluent county, and has made a grant to DuPage United to work on this issue. The Moline Foundation has provided grants for a land use plan and a watershed plan for Rock Island County. The Community Foundation of Grundy County, with help from nearby Kankakee, convened partners to launch the Illinois Headwaters Resource and Development Council.

Workforce The Mattoon and Effingham foundations have provided funding to establish a support center for startup businesses. The Community Foundation of East Central Illinois, in collaboration with local unions, funds a vocational summer program for high school students to get them thinking about highly skilled union jobs post-graduation. The Moline Foundation funded creation of a website and related curriculum to enable local high school students to explore a broad variety of careers and identify the training options to prepare for them.

And they’re just getting started. Foundations will continue to work on these issues, and they hope to increase their impact by collaborating in “action hubs” on each issue in Phase 3 of Communityworks.

29 Grand Victoria Foundation | Communityworks “In its beginning history the foundation saw “Through Communityworks we’ve held town itself more as an asset manager, a way for people meetings, we’ve adopted national standards, we’ve to give donations. Now we’re becoming community proven that we’re here, we’re solid, the people leaders, focused on partnering with the commu- on the board have credibility. We’re creating a nity to find solutions and make an impact by possibility where there wasn’t any before.” leveraging local resources.” Sophia Lloyd, Oak Park- Maggie Flanagan, Southern Illinois Community Foundation River Forest Community Foundation

“Through Communityworks we realized you can make a difference in the community if The spirit changed. you organize to do that. That’s a huge change.” Susan Skora, Community Foundation of Great River Bend

“The greatest thing is learning, hanging out with peers on a very intimate basis. Plus they “You don’t have to be a big foundation to gave us a structure for tackling issues.” make a difference. It’s what you can do; Julie Buck, Community Foundation of Grundy County it’s the kind of initiative you can take; it’s how you bring people together: It’s always more than the money.” Sara Schastok, Evanston Community Foundation

“Communityworks came at just the right time for our foundation to step from being a recipient waiting around for people to die, to actively engaging our community. … We’re getting to the place where people call us—donors and non- “We have huge energy, we have our own alli- profits—to see if we can assist them. That’s ance, we’ve had a legislative day in Springfield, exactly the place we want to be.” we’re building the power of philanthropy.” Joan Dixon, Community Foundation of East Central Illinois John Stremsterfer, Sangamon County Community Foundation

“It’s been very challenging—sometimes exhilarating, sometimes exhausting. But if we hadn’t done it, I don’t think we’d be “We became a whole different grantmaker, where we are today.” Jill Arnold Blickhan, “Communityworks allowed us to be convener, partner—a whole different Community Foundation of the Quincy Area more than just the money, the assets, a organization than we were before.” responsive grantmaker. Instead we’ve Dave McGowan, DuPage Community Foundation been able to move philosophically to become a more strategic grantmaker, “Communityworks gave us focus, a leader in the community.” Dan Templin, direction, and the financial backing “I never thought that such substantial change DeKalb County Community Foundation to go with it.” Pam Debono, board chair, would result from the simple idea of grant- Community Foundation of Kankakee River Valley making paired with leadership convening.” Joy Boruff, The Moline Foundation

31 Grand Victoria Foundation | Communityworks The thinking changed again.

Several elements proved critical to success in the first five years of Communityworks:

Capacity Grand Victoria set minimum requirements (at least one full-time professional Flexibility Communityworks has been a “learn as you go” operation for both staffer plus $200,000 in permanent assets) and sought to build community community foundations and Grand Victoria. Through its field liaisons and regular foundation capacity by offering general operating support and creating the Learning meetings, Grand Victoria listened to the community foundations and responded to their Support Network. Community foundations praise these supports for enabling them concerns (for example, the Phase 1 match requirement was lowered at the RFP stage from to take their operations to the next level. Some are now investing in capacity building $50,000 to $25,000 when community foundations said the target was too high). Said one for their grantees. Grand Victoria also invested in its own capacity, creating a team executive director, “Grand Victoria said, here are the parameters, but that doesn’t mean including a director and field liaisons who meet regularly and, as Nancy Fishman that your impact plan, or your implementation plan, or your grants need to be cookie- says, “work well as a team and are ready to provide in a very fluid way the kind cutter. Just because something worked in New York doesn’t mean it will work in Golden, of support that’s needed.” Illinois.” Some drew a lesson for their own work: “If your foundation leadership can be as flexible as your financial instruments,” said one executive director, “you can go far, Leadership The foundations that achieved the greatest transformations through because you’ll be more open to possibilities.” Others work to achieve “continuous learning” Communityworks were those where the executive director ran with the idea and and build learning communities among local nonprofits and civic leaders. On the other the board was supportive. Turnover at the executive director level proved a serious hand, some foundations felt Grand Victoria could have been more flexible on some setback. At some foundations board members who disagreed with the direction structural issues, e.g., matching contributions to the Communityworks endowment. left and new members, often more open to Communityworks, replaced them. Keeping board members engaged and keeping continuity among board members Communication Grand Victoria worked to keep lines of communication open, and with knowledge of the initiative was important. Some executive directors cite lack took trouble to clarify its ideas and intentions. The field liaisons served as a useful link, of board support as an obstacle to progress on Communityworks. Grand Victoria community foundations reported. Still, foundations were not always sure their ideas provided learning opportunities for board members, which were generally well and concerns were being heard. Going forward, community foundations recognize that received; but the learning was not always shared beyond the original participants. effective communications will be critical to keep their boards engaged, build community Foundations also had a Communityworks advisory committee, which included leadership, reach new partners and new donors, and expand effectiveness. Especially non-board members. Giving the advisory committee appropriate responsibilities important will be telling their stories and demonstrating local impact. Yet, with small while still respecting the board’s prerogatives and keeping it engaged proved an staffs and expanding responsibilities, many struggle to devote time to communications. important balancing act for many foundations. Partnerships Leadership capital can be greater than financial capital. Convening community members was an invaluable step toward achieving greater visibility and impact, but the meetings had to have a clear purpose and lead to significant results. Convenings that raised expectations but led nowhere could be counterproductive. Also important was building community partnerships. Foundations worked hard at learning to collaborate, building trust, and recognizing when to take the lead and when to step back.

33 Grand Victoria Foundation | Communityworks Communityworks. The Change Continues.

Resources Community foundations said they had learned to recognize the power Grand Victoria used the lessons from the first of endowments in providing flexibility and building for the future. Several found that building a strategic plan based on community input gave them “a story” to bring to five years to shape Communityworks going for- donors they had never reached before; the matching funds reinforced that appeal. On the other hand, some foundations never were able to put the pieces together to ward. Recognizing that foundations need capacity create a coherent story; while others chose instead the more traditional path of identifying and implementing the wishes of major donors. to carry out new plans and new roles, Phase 3

Priorities The transition to more focused and more strategic grantmaking provides operating and endowment support and includes saying no to some worthy projects. Achieving genuine impact also requires taking a hard look at local organizations that may be well-meaning but ineffective— also continues the Learning Support Network. a painful task, in small communities, that must be deftly managed. Also important is managing donor expectations, and being careful about what initiatives a To encourage collaboration, Phase 3 launches foundation can reasonably undertake. “action hubs” in which partners, including Grand Risk-taking Grand Victoria took a risk by deciding not to go it alone but instead to work with previously untested partners. Many community foundations also saw Communityworks as risky. Some worried that no one would show up at their meetings, Victoria, can collaborate on grantmaking strategies or that they would raise expectations they could not fulfill. Others were not sure the new direction was the right one. Still, they all jumped in, and most, in the end, were glad and seek regional or statewide solutions. Finally, they had. Even those who eventually chose another course said they had gained important benefits; and many found Communityworks transformative. to encourage truly strategic work among those

Patience Adopting a genuinely strategic approach is long-term, difficult work. Illinois foundations that have made the most progress in community foundations have made a start toward strategic grantmaking but they have a long way to go, as many themselves acknowledge. Moreover, the kinds of changes they Phase 2, Grand Victoria provides support to build hope to make in their communities take time to achieve. One board member, speaking about early childhood, worried that people would be “looking for instant change, instant the Communityworks endowment as a strong, improvement; but if you work with newborns today, you’re not going to see results for a long time.” “Things don’t happen overnight, you’re not going to solve all the problems,” independent source of funds for the future. said one executive director. “But you can become a change agent in your community.”

And that’s just the beginning. Communityworks Phase III Package One September 2008–October 2011 Operating grants: Year 1 up to $50,000; year 2 up to $40,000; year 3 up to $30,000.

Optional matching gift of $100,000 per year for “Every foundation including Grand Victoria is different now than when we started. We’re more active than passive. We all have a more outward view administrative endowments. of our roles in areas we’re working in; instead of looking inward, at our organizations, our to-do lists, we look outward, to see where can we connect Continuing participation in Learning Support others, or connect to others. Every participant was transformed, even if Network and Action Hubs. Communityworks was not ultimately the model they adopted, they’re still very different philanthropicorganizations than when we started.”

Package Two Nancy Fishman, Grand Victoria Foundation Operating grants: Year 1 up to $50,000; year 2 up to $40,000; year 3 up to $30,000.

A $1 million grant for permanent administrative endowment and a $1 million grant to the permanent Communityworks endowment. Acknowledgements No summary of Communityworks would be complete without acknowledging Optional matching grants to build operating and/ the Communityworks team: Sheila Leahy, Julia Parzen, Cindy Blorstad, and or Communityworks endowments: 1:1 match up to $2 Janet Raffel. Together they formed the all-important heart of this undertaking. million over three years, matching gifts from new Their thoughtfulness, their knowledge, their generosity, and their fierce and donors, Communityworks donors, and lapsed donors. tireless commitment to the success of the community foundations and of Communityworks have been truly incredible. I am deeply grateful to each of them. Continuing participation in Learning Support Many thanks to our evaluators, Rob Paral and Karen Callam, who provided that Network and Action Hubs. important objective eye, and to writer Mary O’Connell who traveled long distances to visit community foundations all over Illinois in order to tell their story. Action Hubs Fund $500,000 fund to support collaborative efforts Nancy Fishman designed to have a broader impact. Active Graphics Abrams Design, Printing reportThis is printed on recycled based inks. Design Kym paper with soy Grand Victoria Foundation 230 W. Monroe Street, Suite 2530 Chicago, Illinois 60606 312 609-0200 grandvictoriafdn.org