Foundation Center Specialist Visits Central

Kief Schladweiler brought greetings to St. Louis from the Foundation Center in NYC last week and taught a free course at Central Library: "Introduction to Fundraising Planning." He described Foundation Center resources available here at the Grants & Foundation Center , one of almost 450 Funding Information Network libraries located worldwide and highlighted other valuable information available to grantseekers and nonprofits available at www.grantspace.org

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.