News from FIN Network Days

The Foundation Center keeps its 470+ Funding Information Network partner libraries up on its current offerings and research at its annual Network Days conference.  This year, we St. Louis region FIN supervisors (Emma DeLooze-Klein @Kirkwood Public Library, M. Brad Smith @ St. Charles City-County Spencer Road Branch, Pamela Salela @ University of IL- Springfield, and me)  attended virtually.  Some results to pass along:

1. Training for using updated versions of FDO & Foundation Maps,

  plus a new free website --Foundation Stats -- (see G&FC Events Calendar on this page for Jan./Feb. 2015 hands-on workshop times)

2. Major funding trends reported by large arts, health and education grantmakers:

• more funding allotted innovative programs/organizations promoting racial and cultural equity in their communities;
• more funding is going for nonprofits working in areas of public policy and advocacy;
• funders are examining how technology and data are being used by organizations;
• deliberate efforts being made to help with sustainability and capacity building and technical assistance   
• funders interested in providing more support through MRIs and PRIs, social enterprise, fiscal sponsorships.  

Collaboration/Evaluation Info Now Available Online Free

As a Foundation Center Cooperating Collection, we are pleased to call your attention to 2 new online electronic resources on nonprofit topics available FREE from the Foundation Center:

• Interested in collaboration? -- http://foundationcenter.org/gainknowledge/collaboration/ has multimedia resources including a database of descriptions of successful collaborations.


• Need help with evaluation? -- http://trasi.foundationcenter.org/ a social impact assessment page where you can read the latest news, connect with peers and explore the database of tools and resources.

Take some time to see if they're useful to you. We'll be showing you through those and some other new free online resources at FOR4NPOs session here on Feb. 2, 2011. Watch for details.