INSP - From ideas to products in 2003

So far, INSP’s approach has mainly involved bringing together experts on philanthropy in four working groups. The task for these groups was to go through a process of self-organization and come up with a work plan. This produced what one might call a ‘catalogue of topics’. From now on, members will work intensively in small thematic groups on aspects of philanthropy that have been identified as essential for making the foundation field more strategic. If 2002 was the ‘year of ideas’ for INSP, 2003 will be the ‘year of products’.

The working group approach was appropriate at the beginning of the INSP project when the whole concept of peer learning and peer exchange on an international level was relatively new in the world of philanthropy. Now that the creative and innovative ideas for making philanthropy more strategic generated during 2002 are starting to be transformed into products and messages to our field, the time is right for a change of approach.

During 2003, INSP will synthesize the knowledge gathered together so far in a set of INSP working papers. These will include a ‘kitchen guide’ to innovative philanthropy and a paper on foundations and their interaction with stakeholders. The working papers will be a starting point for intensive dissemination and possible spin-offs in the next project phase, starting late 2003.

In the light of the slightly altered working structure, with small units of 1-6 people instead of the larger working groups, the annual plenary meeting will become the prime networking event for INSP members.

Evaluation workshop in Frankfurt, Germany

Representatives of eight European foundations convened for an informal meeting in Frankfurt on 22 November 2002  to discuss the current state of evaluation in European foundations and compare each other’s evaluation practices. The meeting was organized to provide input to a paper on evaluation as a learning tool that is currently being developed by a group of INSP members, headed by Edward Pauly, Director of Evaluation at the Wallace Reader’s Digest Fund.

Ed Pauly began the day with an overview of the evaluation experience in the US. He pointed out that the majority of US foundations do not yet allocate significant amounts to evaluation. At the same time there has never before been greater and more valuable experience with the use of evaluation to build on.

The rest of the meeting made clear that the practice of evaluation in leading European foundations is much more advanced than is generally assumed. However, because of the lack of a real infrastructure, ‘stories of change’ and creative approaches are barely being communicated and exchanged. Not only the organizers but all participants were enthusiastic about the open spirit of the meeting and stressed the need for more similar events in Europe.

For more information about INSP, or to read the minutes of the meeting, please visit www.insp.efc.be

If you have interesting and challenging texts on strategic approaches to philanthropy that you’d like to include on the INSP website, please contact the INSP management at dirk.eilinghoff@bertelsmann.de

Upcoming events - Second INSP plenary meeting

To be held 13-14 March 2003 in the Harrison Conference Center, Glen Cove, in New York, USA (members only).

The conference will comprise a plenary session and breakout sessions. These will provide an opportunity for the thematic groups to meet and exchange ideas with ‘neighbouring’ topics.

INSP-hosted sessions at EFC conference
INSP will host two sessions at the forthcoming European Foundation Centre conference in Lisbon, Portugal, 1-3 June 2003.

‘Addressing the People Challenge: Human resource management in foundations’ is the title of one. What are the keys to attracting, developing and retaining the highly motivated and strategy-focused people required to advance a foundation’s mission? It is only recently that foundations have started to integrate HR development in their thinking about effective programme work and to embrace issues such as a long-term recruitment policy, career development assistance and incentive systems. The session will present different approaches to the unique HR challenges faced by foundations.

The other session is called ‘Strategic Planning in Foundations: Practices and lessons learned’. Strategic planning is an effort to increase the capacity of foundations by defining their purpose and plotting a path for the years ahead. Given the varying sizes, structures and missions of foundations, there is no ‘perfect way’ to do this. This session will present some proven concepts, and the discussion will aim to provide helpful suggestions for finding your ‘own way’.