By ANN RICHARDS
Introducing a new idea and developing practical applications that will make it useful takes time, deliberation and very often, a financial boost to stay on track. The CFLT Idea Lab grants program -- now available to groups of three or more community foundations working on new ways to attack old problems --- is designed to stimulate creativity by eliminating some of the financial barriers that stand in the way of innovation, according to Heather Scott, director of Community Foundation Services at the Council on Foundations (COF) in Arlington, Virginia.
A component of the Council’s Community Foundations Leadership Team's new three-year Plan of Action is to encourage greater collaboration and innovation among community foundations across the country, CFLT Idea Lab grants provide up to $50,000 over 12 to 18 months to develop lessons and model programs based on field-identified projects.
"It's a new tactic for us," Scott said of the grants. "We're going to the grassroots to ask community foundations what issues they want to work on -- we hope it will result in deeper engagement -- particularly among the smaller community foundations across the country -- in helping us develop and disseminate knowledge that benefits the entire field."
There are 770 community foundations with collective assets of about $44.8 billion in the United States, according to 2005 data collected by the Foundation Center. Scattered across a wide geographic area, it is difficult to manage the collective knowledge that is generated by these organizations and even more difficult to pollinate ideas with potential to improve their management and grantmaking, said Scott.
"When we review the CFLT Idea Lab grant applications, we'll be looking at the potential scalability of projects. There are pockets of people all over the place doing interesting things, but for community foundations of all sizes, the expenses of partnering with each other can seem insurmountable. By providing dollars to cover meeting costs, expert assistance and facilitation, we hope that we can ease those financial difficulties, allow them to take measured risks, and invest their own time and experience to develop solutions to common problems."
Since 1999, the Community Foundations Leadership Team has been charged with overseeing the work and priorities of Council’s community foundation members. Developed with ongoing support currently totaling more than $2 million from the Mott Foundation, the Leadership Team established a special projects fund in 2000. The fund has enabled COF to be responsive and proactive to opportunities in eight priority areas, which include accountability; the establishment of national standards; professional and organizational development; and fostering effective grantmaking and community leadership, according to Nick Deychakiwsky, Mott Foundation program officer.
"One of the most notable of the team's recent activities has been the launch of the National Task Force on Community Leadership, a group of 30 highly respected field leaders who will provide a framework and accelerate the shift to community leadership by community foundations at the local and field levels," Deychakiwsky said. "The Idea Lab grants are designed to further enhance the practice of community leadership by helping create, capture and share knowledge of value to the field."
"Over the last couple of years, in conversations with our national funders, we've been encouraged to move beyond efforts to strengthen the internal operations of community foundations and to take a look at how to assist them to become recognized leaders and partners of change within their communities," Scott said.
"We'll continue to develop resources and tools to build a strong infrastructure for the field, but we're also going to try a bottom-up approach that enables the community foundations to be a part of this work.
"We don't expect that every project we fund will be a huge success, but we are confident that valuable new learning will emerge. And we plan to share and spread this innovation through the CFLT Idea Lab."
To apply for a CFLT Idea Lab grant or for more information on the Council’s Community Foundations Leadership Team, go to: www.cof.org/leadershipteam