SOAR ANALYSIS Recurring Themes with Number of Mentions SUMMARY STRENGTHS Responsive - 13 OPPORTUNITIES Reimagining
ASPIRATIONS National and Coalition Building - 13 Organizational Excellence - 6 Policy and Equity Focus - 8
RESULTS Clear Business Model, Strategy and Goals - 20 Participation and Engagement - 16 Strength of Impact of Relationships – 7 Systems Change - 7 Reduced Racial disparities – 1 Philanthropists are better educated, more knowledgeable - 1
Convening Power - 12 Thought Leadership - 7 State-Wide Approach - 12 Lydia’s Leadership - 12 Trust Builder – 6 Relationship with SECF - 5 Ability to connect metro to rural – 5 Transformational vs transactional philanthropy – 4
Philanthropy - 19 Bridge Builder - 12 Capacity Building - 11 Innovative Business Model - 9 Policy Focus - 8 Leadership Development - 6 Defining Relationship with SECF - 6
Reimagining Philanthropy
SECF Collaboration - 5 Strategic Navigator - 8
Development - 6 Story Telling - 4
STRENGTHS Convening Power – 12
• GGA does a good job bringing in people from state government and other nonprofit sectors within the State who have real expertise and some know-how on critical topics. I think GGA excels at connecting grantmakers across the State in a variety of ways so that we can strengthen those funder-to-funder relationships for the benefit of better understanding Georgia's needs. • GGA is the only network where I know I get to see people regularly, not just once a year at a conference or on a webinar. Every time I go to Atlanta, I can connect with the Kendeda Fund. The Anderson Charitable Foundation is coming to Savannah next month. I get to be with my people. • I think the greatest value of GGA is the networking opportunity. We do not have a density of Foundation Executives down in this region of the State at all. And so, to have a network that I can rely on, discuss matters with, throw ideas out to is invaluable to me. Responsive – 13 • GGA is small enough to be nimble. The world has just changed so rapidly over the last year that we've been small enough and agile enough to be able to adapt pretty quickly. We shifted focus from pandemic to racial equity within a matter of a week or two. I think size-wise, we're in a good spot and able to change quickly.
• I've been very proud and impressed with the nimbleness with which GGA has done its work in the past year or so. GGA can be flexible and move into issue areas that are urgent and relevant at that moment. I think sometimes that's hard in philanthropy. • I appreciate the speed and flexibility of the organization. They were able to pull together some experts, kept us informed, and presented opportunities for how our foundations could support nonprofits during the COVID crisis.
Thought Leadership – 7
• I think having an executive director, in particular Lydia, who challenges GGA to think differently and engage in a process like this one and to put at the forefront priorities like the non-profits perspective, racial equity, and equity in general. • What I found valuable is that Lydia is a good intermediary between voices outside of philanthropy and voices inside philanthropy. She helped us learn how to communicate with each other, understand each other's incentives, understand each other barriers and then find a way for us to meet and talk mutually. • I would probably say GGA has been smart about attracting talent like Lydia to shepherd this effort. I think it couldn't have come at a more critical time. It would have been great anyway, but it certainly, GGA was so needed in the last 18 to 24 months. State-Wide Approach – 12 • I would say to you, GGA is singularly the only organization focused on philanthropy across the state. You have the Southeastern Council of Foundations, but they are focused on the Southeast. They're not necessarily just Georgia focus. • Often within Georgia, it's just Atlanta versus everybody else or even some more significant cities like Savannah, Columbus, and Athens, so I appreciate GGA paying attention to all voices. • I'm proud that GGA has been intentional about including people outside of the Metro Atlanta area. I think the organization is a lot richer and healthier because of that. To have the ability for someone from Thomasville or Columbus or Macon or Athens or Gwinnett County or Dalton to be at the table, all of those folks are engaged as well.
Lydia’s Leadership – 12
• Lydia was astute in defining GGAs role in strengthening the sector, and Lydia leaned into other organizations for stronger collaboration. • With Lydia at the helm, GGA was very effective in 2020. • I just think Lydia is exceptional. She has given us a consistent and significant opportunity. I consider her both a thought partner professionally and just somebody who's very open to hearing frustrations in real-time.
Trust Builder – 6 •
I'm based here in Atlanta, but I've had a unique opportunity to see how other states do things. I haven't seen other states convene folks the way that GGA does. There are always key issues, and topics and GGA is very consistent. When I've tried to connect in
other states, it's a bit more sporadic or transactional, whereas GGA seems intentional and consistent. • Well, I think, getting the family foundations to have a conversation about equity, I'm just going to keep it real. I never thought I would see that day. And to create that space, having an honest conversation about equity and bringing people in who know what they're talking about is something that I appreciate. • I've come to respect GGA's ability to be impartial and bring people to the table from the public sector who we don't often get to hear from. Relationship with SECF - 5 • I think that Lydia continues to make GGA distinct from SECF is fantastic. We can certainly get engaged with SECF very meaningfully, but it seems GGA is much more event-specific. SECF is so much bigger than GGA; it's harder to get involved in a real way. • There was some tension between the role of GGA and the role of SECF. GGA works, obviously, under the umbrella of SECF in a lot of ways. I'm sure it's not completely solved but I feel like perhaps due to Lydia and the steering committee, that some of those tensions have gone away. The relationship seems more comfortable, there seems to be less awkwardness there. • One of the things that makes GGA unique, honestly, is its partnership with SECF. Many of the statewide PSOs or philanthropic serving organizations that are growing today are moving toward just independence, which means that they have to build more infrastructure and have a lot more money to function. Because of the partnership that we've established with SECF, they've been able to function at a very high level. In some cases much higher than some of the kind of statewide associations that are 501(c)(3)s and with much less financial resources. Ability to connect metro to rural – 5 It was important to be a part of GGA because we're a rural-based foundation in South Georgia. But yet we know that we have a lot to learn from our colleagues, but we're not connecting with them formally or informally. GGA is truly a statewide organization, so there'll be participation from rural counties in Atlanta. Many of these issues affect everybody across the state, so you need to hear the voice of people in rural Georgia to understand what the issues are and how it affects them. I mean, the uniqueness of GGA for me is truly the connection and the human ability to connect quickly with somebody in Albany or Rome. Transformational vs. transactional philanthropy – 4 • The learning that GGA has gone through over the past year and concrete sessions and speakers that they brought in exposed GGA members to new voices. • I think GGA, over this year, challenges members through those structured conversations. • GGA supports members on how they rethink grantmaking, the type of requirements they require for grantmaking, being exposed to and seeking out organizations that they're not typically aware of, and removing barriers.
OPPORTUNITIES Reimagining Philanthropy – 19
• The national and worldwide calls for change in philanthropy or for eyes to open wider and ears open wider. I think GGA is moving along nicely with that. This could be one of those organizations that help us think bigger broader about our roles as funders. • We know that philanthropy sometimes can perpetuate prejudice and injustice, and I think it's been a genuine intention to center programming and speakers who sparked that conversation and dialogue. • Yeah, I think a few years ago, prior to the pandemic, we'd decided that there were going to be two areas of focus. And then now it might be three, but this conversation around equity, and the other one around climate change, and I think those trends align with kind of where GGA was going in the first place. So that was pre-pandemic. Bridge Builder – 12 I feel like GGA is my connection to philanthropy to the trends regionally, how we are reading and speaking so that we can learn together. I like the ability to invite board members or others in leadership to be a part of GGA, which is often a great way to get others in our local philanthropic realm involved in the statewide conversation. I can start because I want to ... it's partially a strength and then an opportunity. So one of the things I wanted to lift up is that Lydia started to get together community foundations across the state so that we have a bi-monthly call, which has been helpful, especially during the pandemic, to stay connected. And in all honesty, I think we as a community foundation sector in the state, at least I've been told, we've been uneven in how often we've gotten together, right? So I think that's been a helpful thing. The North Carolina network of grantmakers and some others don't have SECF based in their state. SECF is based in Georgia, adding another layer of support upfront, especially if Lydia were ever to leave. • There's some practical aspects to this about staffing and governance and leadership and program design and so on that GGA needs to address. • One day, Lydia won't be leading GGA. So how do we put together a sustainable staffing structure that will let us continue to grow, prosper, and serve? Even beyond what we can imagine is life without Lydia. Innovative Business Model – 9 • It'd be interesting for GGA not just to convene and bring the people to talk about the work that they're doing but also how do small family foundations and community foundations fit into that puzzle so that we're not duplicating our efforts and are really being thoughtful about the overall structure of how all of these funds are being managed over the next few years especially. Capacity Building – 11 •
• I think that I'm part of that tension and part of the threat is always around funding and money. I believe SECF is a member-driven kind of dues organization. The idea that GGA might become a dues organization or grant-seeking organization is frightening. • Maybe GGA is not a membership organization but raises grant money, which is how Ed Collaborative is funded. To help fund the administrative cost. But I just think it's short- sighted not to feel that there's need and room for both SECF and GGA. Policy Focus – 8 • What end is their engagement with the policymakers? They're very good at disseminating the information and in a way that our foundations can break that down, but then what? • Philanthropy must use its voice as an advocate to solve systemic issues as well. We know that the private sector can't do it alone. So thinking about who and how GGA might play even a bigger role in educating philanthropy. But also helping move them towards advocacy when it's appropriate. • It's the policy and issue areas that they're good at. I think they're good at exploring issues and how policy affects those issues for the Georgia grantmakers. Leadership Development – 6 • But I think that's the other hard point here is not wanting to limit the participation of folks who are maybe new coming into the field and aren't going to pay some membership fee. • There are few young people in the room; there are very few trustees in the room. • I think we have a tremendous opportunity across philanthropy to engage the younger generation of emerging philanthropists. It's not just GGA, I think we all need to think about what that means? How do we include but also provide some opportunities for emerging younger philanthropists to have their voices heard and imprint on things? Defining Relationship with SECF – 6 • I might add. And this is a confusion I have, is I don't know if this would be a threat, but it needs to be better. I think the confusion is the relationship with the Southeastern Council of Foundations. I'll just leave it at that. • How GGA interacts with the Southeastern Council of Foundations, I think that could be improved. • It's interesting that SECF is based in Atlanta, got a lot of Atlanta love, and a lot of Georgia based love, GGA is here too, so as a newbie still new to the party it took me a hot second to figure out the difference between what was what and how it all correlates and relates and doesn't step on each other's toes but partners together, et cetera. Story Telling – 4 • I think we have to get more clear on what we offer. I think we have to get clear on how we will pay for those things that we offer. And I think we have to be more clear how we are managing the voices that are in our network, and I don't mean managing them, but managing how GGA shows up understanding there's multiple voices. So I think those are things that we'll have to figure out. • I think we should aspire to achieve clarity on what we offer, and maybe even more so, we should aspire to be clear on why we're offering it. And then I think we need to be
clear on how we're going to pay for it, and our structure, and what it means to the philanthropic community in Georgia. And our relationships to our partners. I think these are just things we'll have to spend some time to get clear on. • Without going into detail, I think it's just worth examining or re-examining what it means for GGA, a grant-makers alliance versus the other affinity groups that exists? What does it mean? Who's expected to do what, who should be lead on what? Maybe just state clearly what the differences are. Sometimes it's confusing and sometimes it's exhausting to try to keep up with everything. ASPIRATIONS National and Coalition Building – 13 • The thing that keeps coming to mind for me to support is a peer to peer networking; it's that shared knowledge among grantmakers, and expanding their outside of metropolitan Atlanta, and understanding there's a lot outside of Atlanta. • Yeah, I think it would be great for GGA to be that place where relationships can be accelerated. If GGA can play a role in accelerating the time it takes for foundations to find innovative and on the vanguard organizations, that could make a big difference in the community. • GGA is not a place where you have to wait to receive a coveted invitation, but this is a place where you can present yourself. Organizational Excellence – 6 • I would hope again, like the financial capital is not the end of philanthropy's role in our community, but ultimately over time, being able to track that, they're investing differently. • I think part of what GGA has done, but what they could do more powerfully is perhaps, help do sufficient research that is needed to get national capital into the south. • Well I certainly think having a deeper impact on our state and an impact on social issues and all those things, I think we should have goals like that and goals for collaboration with foundation leaders. Policy and Equity Focus – 8 • I'm thinking about whether there could be some real, tangible policy change or policy enacted due to GGA's activity; I think that's a big aspiration. • I think it understands how policy, public policy, and policy change affect the nonprofits' work they fund. One of the things, one of the goals that they had before, was educating their participants from a beginner, intermediate, and advanced level, and so I think I haven't seen that. • There has been an up-and-down commitment to policy and research. I think there was more emphasis on it when I started, but I haven't seen as much of it now. Reimagining Philanthropy - 5 • I was connected to funders I have not been associated with through GGA, especially in the early part of the pandemic. I'm just trying to learn enough to make informed reports back to my trustees on what's the thinking going on in the funding world, especially the Georgia funding world, because we're place-based and that's what our board members are most focused on.
• But we got to move people into action and into advocacy as Mindy mentioned. Into justice and away from charity. That's my opinion. I just think that's an opportunity or I aspire that GGA can play that role. • I would say get philanthropy to accept the fact that we're only using like 20% of our capital and I'm talking all forms of capital. We're using money, we're not using influence and relationships. So if we could help people understand how to do that, how it will make us better philanthropists and get better results. SECF Collaboration – 5 • I think some programming and things are being done at SECF that they do a great job with. And we should let SECF have those and fund GGA's niche. • When you look at the philanthropic infrastructure and how many organizations there are out there now, I'll leave it on this note for me, that adding more infrastructure to Georgia in a form of a membership is not something that I see impactful. • I see a partnership being very valuable for both SECF and Georgia Grantmakers Alliance to make real change. Strategic Navigator - 8 • I think something where we, the funders still have a place to learn and grow as a collective, without, to be a little clumsy collectively. • A lot of times GGA does an amazing job of setting the stage for the problem or the issue and giving you all the information you could ever want about said issue but then it's like, what happens next? We hang up and we all go back on our different paths but is there an opportunity to then take that knowledge and create an actionable step with the players that are on the call? • To add to that, I simply stated what echoes what everybody else has said, connecting dots where they might otherwise not exist. And those dots could be people, they could be organizations, they could be social issues, they could be geographies. • Stable budget, clear relationship, either independent or transparent relationship with our current fiscal partner SECF. Is there's some report that comes out that explains this? • We have... The structure of GGA, we kind of have these subgroups and sub-committees policy, and there are conversations around having ed funders, all these different subgroups. I don't know what that is, but I think there's something to be asked around that; how does that look? • "Probably just because it's top of mind, a sustainable business model, and it's something that we, as a board, understand, and we are capable of executing on and works, and we don't have to overthink that all the time, but that's not the primary thing we're spending our time thinking on. Then the next to me would be a sort of collective subject matter expertise, that we would be on the cutting edge of what's happening in the state of Georgia and where philanthropy is most vitally needed. RESULTS Clear Business Model, Strategy and Goals – 20
Participation and Engagement – 16
• GGA has a magic of convening bright, capable, caring people and watching what happens. • I would add to that just high levels of participant satisfaction and engagement. • So is GGA bringing new funders into the conversation. Who's attending these meetings? Strength of Impact of Relationships – 7 • Well, to stay with the SECF relationship and other state associations within SECF's footprint, I think an indicator of success is the extent to which GGA maximizes its impact for its own footprint while at the same time complimenting the impact of SECF and other state associations. • GGA could do a lot when it comes to a just and equitable Georgia. And so, I think there are complementary pieces here that can really work together to achieve some really great results and some great actions. • I want GGA to becomes a space and philanthropy is a space where elected officials hold philanthropy and regard and as a stakeholder and advisor if you will, that they should go to around key issues as maybe doing or conducting due diligence or committee development around any particular issue because the beauty of this group is that the foundations all cut across a lot of different areas. So whether it's education, early childhood development, healthcare. There's a lot of different arenas in which I think we have a lot of power and influence in our intellectual capital. And I would think that one potential aspiration could be to become that go-to entity that folks at that level that are making decisions and formulating policy see this as a group where they can come and that they should come. And we're influences in what can happen in policy in the State. Systems Change – 7 • What changes can we attribute to GGA influx and GGA programming, and GGA relationship building? • And I guess the last thing I would just say is a way to really understand non traditional philanthropy in Georgia. Where does that live? • I think GGA should have some sort of vision for what they want Georgia to be and orient a little bit around that. I don't think, for as much as it is the Georgia Grantmakers Alliance, I feel like more work needs to be done to building up Georgia as a place, almost. Right now I feel like it's treated as like Georgia is some disparate communities, and looking at things on a really more holistic statewide level, I guess. Reduced Racial disparities – 1 • I was going to say a measure could be the reduced racial disparities in every sector. Also, leveraging philanthropy as a really nimble, flexible innovator and to prove proof of concept for public partnerships.
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