In thinking about David La Piana’s remarks at the Donors Forum Annual Luncheon in June, one statement in particular struck me. Yes, “transformation is not optional” was an eye opener, but that’s not it. It was a more simple one. David noted that all of us can make a difference, but to do so we “must take our egos out of it."
We were excited to welcome almost 600 guests to Donors Forum's 36th Annual Members and Forum Partners luncheon today. The luncheon featured David La Piana, a leading thinker in the sector, speaking on the converging trends that are affecting philanthropy and nonprofits.
Though it’s in the rear-view mirror now, the prosperity the economy presented just a few years ago was not lost on Illinois foundations and nonprofits at the time, according to findings of Donors Forum's Giving in Illinois 2009 report.
Donors Forum’s Economic Outlook 2010 report was the inspiration for a news story, "Slow-pay state starves charities," in the Springfield-based Illinois Times.
After five years of strategic support to build community organizing capacity on Chicago’s South Side, the Woods Fund, a Member of Donors Forum since we were founded in 1974, announced in the fall of 2009 that it was phasing out of the South Side Initiative.
Donors Forum issued its seminal publication Illinois Nonprofit Principles and Best Practices in 2004 as part of its Preserving the Public Trust Initiative. The publication, which offers guidance to nonprofits and grantmakers on governance and management, was updated in 2008 to reflect regulatory and legislative changes made since 2004, and to align with a set of national principles issued by Independent Sector.
In his blog, "Free the Nonprofits," Harvard Business Publisher blogger Dan Pallota writes about "Letting Non-Profits Act Like Businesses: One Foundation's Brave Act of Leadership."
Donors Forum’s recently issued report, Economic Outlook 2010: Illinois Nonprofits and Grantmakers Still Reeling After Rough Year, is based on a Donors Forum survey conducted in November, 2009. It documents the effects of the economy both on grantmakers’ current and planning grantmaking activities, and on nonprofits’ resources, capacities, and future survival strategies.
