 is an amazing week. Welcome to the nonprofit show thrilled that you're here. Welcome back for those of you that have joined us previously. The nonprofit show is daily. It's a live daily broadcast, the only nation's live daily broadcast. And this week is a special week. As we move forward and through this week power week with your part time controller. Today, we are so excited because each and every day this week, we are dedicated to your part time controller, bringing up a conversation, a subject matter with a thought leader from their team to talk to us more about that topic. So today, in the hot seat, we have with us Susan Wagner and she's with us again from your part time controller each and every day we will have a representative from their team. But she's here to talk to us about foundations 101 and what you must know. So really, you know, this is something for all of our nonprofits. As we move forward to navigate foundations and relationships, Susan's going to share with us her her sage wisdom and expertise. So before we jump into this captivating conversation, I want to remind you who we are if we haven't met yet. So Julia Patrick is here, CEO of the American nonprofit Academy. And I'm Jared Ransom, your nonprofit nerd and CEO of the Raven Group, thrilled to be alongside Julia day in and day out. And we wouldn't be where we were in our if it weren't for our amazing partners. So a huge shout out of gratitude to our friends, especially for this Power Week. So thank you to fundraising Academy at National University. Thank you also to blimmering your part time controller, which Susan joins us from. Also nonprofit thought leader, American nonprofit Academy, staffing boutique nonprofit nerd, as well as nonprofit tech talk day in and day out. These companies allow us afford us these opportunities unscripted. And again, just really excited to have a plethora of episodes now that you can find on a multi channel approach. So if you're watching, you can scan this QR code. Go ahead and download that app because in just a few hours after a conversation with Susan, you'll get a notification that the episode has been added to the app. But we're also still on your dream streaming broadcast as well as your podcast. So find us just about anywhere you consume entertainment, whether you're at home, whether you're at the gym, whether you're in your car, whether you're on the beach, honestly, you can pretty much find us anywhere. So without further ado, waiting patiently, Susan Wagner, thrilled to have you here. Susan joins us as an associate from your part time controller. Welcome. Thank you so much for having me. I'm very pleased to be here. You know, we're really excited to have you here because foundations and we talked about this in the green room, you know, you could use the word mysterious easily anything when we talk about foundations. And it's really one of those topics that we need to be talking more and more about because I think the nonprofit relationship is one where we don't understand it. So we're really excited to have you be with us on this journey to kind of help us understand what it means and why we need to be thinking about it. So important. So first off at the get go, we use the word foundation like it's everything, but you're here to tell us not so fast, right? There are different types of foundations. How do we think about that, Susan? Well, so there's the family foundation and those are generally your first, second, maybe third generation of the original family who started that foundation. And they have certain goals. They might be locally based. Everybody is going to have a mission. All foundations have a mission that they would align with. Funny, the Ford Foundation actually started as a family foundation with a $25,000 grant and then became one of the largest private foundations in the country that does such great work. And then we have community foundations and they're generally place based philanthropy. So it may be a city or a region, an entire state, and they are the superheroes of the foundation world. They are able to get the grant money out as well as bring the nonprofits together for maybe a more strategic mission because they can see the bigger picture of that. And they will have unrestricted funds that would have come from the community. And then there's a very large influx of what's called donor-advised funds. And those are placed at community foundations. And that money is restricted to the donor's use, to the donor's wishes. So the community foundation can help guide them, but it's generally up to the donor how they want to assign those funds. Talk about the difference between corporate and independent foundations because we're seeing a lot of this happening where corporations are starting to say, okay, we want our own foundation for a lot of different reasons. Sometimes it's because it's easier to say, you know, because of all of the solicitations that come through, but it's also an amazing marketing tool. So let's talk about that and help us to understand that difference between the corporate and the independent. Right. So most of your large corporations, the Coca-Cola Foundation, the Verizon Foundation, I saw, I was looking for a fun one, there's a Lucasfilm Foundation. So, you know, I wonder if they give to Galaxy Star Fireway. So all the big corporations have foundations and that it is a way to do good, to focus their giving, as well as it is a PR tool to be able to say this is what the Coca-Cola Foundation is giving their money to which they're giving their money. And I talked with a tax expert a few days ago at a CPA firm that YBTC works with, and she told me she has seen her clients, corporate clients, asking about should we form a corporate foundation? It's just a real resurgence in getting that that exposure to be able to be a community benefactor. Yeah, it's a huge opportunity and I I think it's one of those things that it sounds good and I think there's a lot of, you know, benevolence affixed to it, but I think there's a lot of under education in it as well, like the understanding that this is like a legit, you know, federal paperwork kind of journey that you have to take and you have to be really serious about it because it's not just a, oh, let's do this and have fun. Well, they themselves, yeah, they themselves have compliance matters, right? So they need to stay in compliance, they need to, you know, report their expenditures and things like that, all the same. I'm curious though, as we look at this season, should we assume, as a nonprofit, right, that we are, I don't want to say deserving, but we have an opportunity, we're all deserving, do we have an opportunity to, you know, ask for funds from these, you know, foundations? Is it just kind of like, hey, they're a foundation, we're a nonprofit, how do we make this match happen, or do we really need to focus on, you know, the research of the foundations for a true alignment? What does that look like? That is so important because just like your nonprofit would have a mission to, for education or to poverty or something, healthcare or something, that the foundations have their organizational mission and values and they have to align in order for them to consider giving money to you. They have to honor their mission and the donor's wishes at the at the beginning and that is just so important to find that out. I have a, like the Mutual Omaha Foundation, I'm a child of the 70s, there's a TV show and so I went to the Mutual Omaha Foundation, I thought, do they have a wildlife mission? No, it's to break the cycle of poverty in the Omaha area, and so if you don't don't apply to them unless you're the Omaha Zoo. So I guess that doesn't work either, but you know what I mean. The other thing that really gets me is they, foundations, also at times change their focus, change their what I will call pillars of philanthropy and so if they're funding, you know, education, that might be what they're funding that year or for five years, but it could change over time and so, you know, really knowing what you're researching to make sure it's still an alignment. Have you seen that foundations, you know, are doing this, they're changing kind of that focus of their philanthropy giving? Yes, they do have to stay true to what the original mission was generally. There's requirements from that mission, I'm not a lawyer and I don't play one on TV either, so but they do have to, but they can go from maybe a economic basis mission to a more racial justice mission or I've seen that happen anyway. But you're right, just like in non-profit 5013 status application, you kind of have to stick to the knitting of what you told the federal government you're going to do and if you need to make a change, then you make a change, but I think you're right Jared, I mean I know that during the found the pandemic, there were a lot of foundations that said, you know, we're going to divert funds that would normally go to this that we're going to put them back into healthcare or into human services or because this is an emergency and we can identify that and so I think you're right Jared, to understand that you kind of got to be in them fold, you got to be watching and trying to figure out what everybody's doing because it can change and more. You know, let's keep your finger on the pulse for that, right, like keeping your finger, which I do think takes us to our next talking point about the connections. We talk, I feel like ad nauseam over relationships, relationships, relationships, right, so talk to us about this Susan, community foundations and making connections and I'm going to take it down to like the 101 as we're talking today, how do we start, where do we even start when it comes to making connections? Well you had, I loved you had a great one a few weeks ago, it was from the Arizona Community Foundation, her name Jill McElroy, the philanthropic advisor and she talked about how it's okay to reach out via phone call or an email and just get to know, ask a question or get to know someone and make a connection and having a strong relationship with your community foundation can help you later because they can bring together the different arts foundations to be able to accomplish a bigger goal and know that your mission is out there. So it is very important to make that community that connection with your community foundation as well as they just they do a wealth of things, they have a lot of resources, they'll do webinars and events and they might teach classes on fundraising or something like that but just getting to know them is helpful and being involved in that. You know I think it's interesting Jarrett to note too that a lot of these philanthropic advisors, they really do advise their clients coming in to like for example, oh I love music well did you know you know potential donor that there is you know this cultural music educational group that started I mean there's ways for those community foundations to educate their donors and their participating funders as to what's out there because if you live in an in an area that you're not actively engaged in how do you know how do you learn about this right and I feel like the community foundation piece can really help and to Jarrett's point you know how we can introduce ourselves or our missions or work to these philanthropic advisors can take us a long way. They are there to help you definitely. I'm curious Susan I feel like there's this three-year mark maybe even a five-year mark right of you know especially for grants a lot of the grand tours want to see and establish through your history is that the same for maybe making connections with foundations should we wait that three-year mark should we go ahead and you know start working on these relationships as soon as we get that IRS determination letter what is the timeline etiquette. I think it's important to just try to find a way to get in the door maybe look at your foundation foundation to whom that you would like to target and look at their board of directors maybe take that list to your board of directors and say do you know anybody on this list or if you are collaborative with it with another nonprofit maybe look at their funders and see who is funding them because they may want to fund you in the same in the same mission category. I don't think it's ever too early to to really be doing your research and that's just so important. That was a good question Jarrett because you're right there is a lot of this three to five-year pressure don't talk to us or we we can't help you until then but I love that idea and don't just start once I okay we're three years old we can do this I mean yeah I think that's fast that's a very interesting question. You know one of the things that Jarrett and I talked a lot about too is just that we even started this conversation is the power of communication and how that is best served foundations a lot of times will come to us from a completely different region or part of our nation where we're not popping into an event or meeting them or seeing them or being able to get them to tour which is like you know super hard so how do we do this and how do we do we get them on our email lists and our databases I mean what do we start to do so that we can be like hey hello we're here you know Jarrett and I always use that number 1.8 1.8 million nonprofits based in our country there's a lot of competition for us to be waving our flags so how help us to understand how we get through this major major challenge well there's some really great websites out there candid.org is a tremendous one and they have the philanthropy news digest that you can subscribe to and you can customize it to your interests so if you are in arts and culture you could get all the RFPs and all the news from arts and culture and it's the foundation and so I subscribe to a lot of emails I scan them every morning while I'm drinking coffee look for something for my clients or YPTC in general I have a fun story is it okay so I'm reading the philanthropy news digest and I see the whole kids foundation is giving their grant application is going to open to give three thousand dollar grants to schools and or other nonprofits who serve children and they're to build a garden and so I have a lot of daughters I have four daughters but one of the daughters was going to a new high school that just opened that year it had an environmental science focus and I knew that teacher wanted to build a garden so I sent it to her and said you should apply for this grant and she wrote back and said I wish I could but I we don't have this official five or six digit code from the government that says you can apply for grants yet and I said well and so I wrote the the contact the whole kids foundation and I said hey there's this this new school here's some articles from the newspaper about them opening here's their official website they have an environmental science focus they don't have this code is and they they're saying they aren't able to open up an application profile on your website and they said no problem this these are foundations have a little more leeway than the United States government and so they she opened a profile for him she they've submitted the application and they got the three thousand dollar grant I love it I love this thank you Susan I really think that brings so much hope and optimism to so many others I have a similar story and so I love when I hear stories like this because it really does speak to not only the relationship but literally as simple as a communication is you know and I feel that any time we see you know I'm talking on grants where it says you must have an invitation to apply my whole M.O. is great now I'm working on that invitation how do I get an invitation you know it's not like oh darn I can't apply it's like okay now my task is to get that invitation so I love another nonprofits or you're find your board see if there's someone that they can get you invited how they can get you invited and yes that's very important you know it's such an interesting thing I loved your that you said that you know now my goal is to get the invitation because ultimately it goes back to communication I mean and I think if you need permission to lean in think about that 1.8 million number I mean these organizations they have to learn about all the work that so many different people are doing and so to step forward and introduce yourself is going to take you so incredibly far really really important you know when we talk about communication and how do we do that do we as Jared you know mentioned do we have the grant administrator or grant writer do that is this coming from the CFO the CEO the board chair yes all the above like how do we start this and how do we how do we champion the concept of communication I'd say just find a way to to be able to contact them foundations are very transparent they're very regulated by the federal government and are required to be transparent but they you can find out about on guide star you could look at their 990s and to whom they gave grants in the past years and and you can also find their phone number or send them an email and I you know a blind email you can do a blind email but also just trying to find a way to get in or trying to have a specific question like the five digit federal code for the schools or something or you know the deadline is there any leeway on the deadline it there may be and just because of your dog died or something I don't know but just trying to find a way to to be able to talk with them because it is intimidating to go to a website and and just send it an application off into the universe but if you can find a way to connect with them do so you know I love what you're saying I feel like it's it's very similar to what your colleague Hatsy was saying on Monday when it comes to NICRA and I still have to look at what NICRA stands for negotiated indirect caught cost rate agreement and she also you know said these are public service and they want to be of service to you they really do want to help their job is to do you know more good for the community and similarly you know as it is with those federal agents similarly with these foundations their job is to help you their job is to help the community so I you know I wish we could go back to like where's the origin of this intimidation where like who started this intimidation around you know whether it's the IRS the federal agents whether it's foundations you know because they're people they're people just like us with with a passion and compassion to do greater good they got into the business of this this philanthropic business because they wanted to do good there's government government services only go so far and then the nonprofits and the private sector take over and they these foundations want to give money to the nonprofits in order to do good that is their they don't want to stamp no they want to say yes they want to find a way to say yes they're good people I believe all things come from a good place yeah I do too and I love that you said that this they got into the business so that they could say yes and not no so how do we get there how do we understand what it is that they're looking for and what we can be a part of it it kind of goes back to our very first question to you about alignment and understanding that they're going to be some fits you know there might be a compassion and an idea that this wow we want to help you it's just that we are structured in such a way that we have to fund these types of projects or these types of efforts and so it really speaks to Jared it makes me think back to you know cause selling with our friends over at national university and fundraising academy and that whole piece of discovery and spending time and being thoughtful about really understanding the ecosystem and the nature of what your relationship could be and not just saying oh my god they have a lot of money they have a big checkbook let me get a little bit because that's never that's never really going to be sustainable right and to do your research find out their mission find out there's some really great services out there the fundraising academy as well as candid has the foundation directory and there's grant station foundation directory you can go to candid.org backslash find us I believe and then you can find a library near you that has foundation directory it is a subscription based service but you could go into that library and use that service there at the library and then send the information to yourself over email love it that is a masterful thing to know yeah another pro tip to add on to that Susan back in the day I used to do this I'm curious if it's still available but I would take my thumb drive or jump drive right and I would download some of those contacts and the information then I would bring it home and really come through it right so I love that you mentioned that because it is often a barrier for many to have a subscription to that themselves for the organization but many of our local public libraries as you just mentioned have this accessible to us and so you know it's going to take some time to go there find it and then yeah send it to yourself take a jump drive make sure that jump drive is empty because you're going to be taking home a lot of information that's a great idea yet you do that's a wonderful because you do have to keep it everything's there at the library you can't access it online from your home but there's a tremendous amount of resources at those foundation directory the grant station and such Susan before we move into our final close of today's conversation I'm curious when it comes to the power of communication what is that like beautiful blend of you know not not too much information not too much quietness like we don't want to make these people our besties out of the gate or do we but like how often should we be communicating with them good question Lee you never want to make yourself a bother in anything so be a be a good house guest I guess but you know don't be afraid to ask for help and take good notes and if there is a new question develops go ahead and ask it again but you know be thoughtful about their time respected as you would want yours to be respected you know I think that's a good question Jarrett because I think that it goes back to that fear and the oftentimes if we can get over that hump you know going to their events opening up their their new e-newsletters and reading them writing personal notes I mean offering tours which are hard to get them to go to because they get asked morning and night but yeah opening yourself up and making making it more genuine we'll take you down that path a lot further and I think a lot quicker I really really do this is well I think they're looking for that partnership right like they're really looking to build a partnership like many funders are and so you know moving it from transactional to that relationship is really I think what we're all striving to do so such great information Susan you've been a wonderful representative of YPTC as I mentioned to you before we even open our digital doors every single YPTC team member has really blown us away with the level of expertise and knowledge as it comes to nonprofits you know we think of YPTC as only accountants but you're really so much more and as your colleague Teresa shared with us yesterday you know there are centers of excellence within YPTC you know some focusing like yourself on foundations others focusing on data visualization there's so many like you know verticals if you will within the team and it just floors me every time we have a representative like yourself join us and this is day three of nonprofit power week so we have two more guests from the team joining us tomorrow but for those of you watching and listening us with us today we're so glad you're here Susan Wagner has joined us she's an associate with your part-time controller had so much great wisdom to share with us when it comes to foundations and I'm so grateful to have you really shine some light with us on this topic so thank you for joining us Thank you for having me I really enjoyed it It's been a lot of fun Susan and for those of you watching us I would encourage you or are listening to go back onto that YPTC.com website they have their own podcasts they have a lot of free information you don't need to be a client of theirs this episode in fact will be uploaded there as well so if you want to share this information or review it or you know use it in some other way to help strengthen your journey with foundations you'll be able to find that there as Jarrett mentioned we have an amazing mix of people coming to us this week from YPTC and Nonprofit Power Week and so you'll get to hear about a lot of different things that are not really they're kind of like accounting and finance aligned what wouldn't you say Jarrett because if you know some of these tricks to the trade you're going to be stronger with how you work with your accounting and finance department so I think check in with us and take a look at some of what these valued team members of YPTC are sharing with us because it's super powerful wow Jarrett this has been fun we talk about the mystery of foundations all the time don't we we do yeah and you know there's so many out there I don't even know the number of foundations we tout the number of 1.8 million non-profits but foundations play a critical role in our you know ecosystem for our community so thank you again it's been wonderful to have you Susan thank you thank you so much for having me and you're in for a treat for the rest of the week too they're great presenters so thank you good well it's it's going to be hard to beat what we've had so far but anyway non-profit power week we are so very fortunate we have the partnership with Fundraising Academy at National University Bloomerang of course your part-time controller American non-profit academy non-profit thought leader staffing boutique non-profit nerd and non-profit tech talk these are the folks that join us day in and day out so that we can have these amazing discussions coming up on 900 episodes and holy moly October right around the corner right around the corner well as we end every episode of the non-profit show we want to remind ourselves our viewers our listeners certainly our friends over at YPTC to remember to stay well so you can do well we'll see you back here tomorrow everyone