The Foraker Group

Recovery Resources Nonprofit Resources for your organization Apply for public assistance (emergency protective measures and earthquake-related debris removal, as well as for repairs to infrastructure damage). The deadline to apply is April 1. More information can be found here: http://ready.alaska.gov/Earthquake SBA Loans – The US Small Business Administration provides low-interest, long-term disaster loans to businesses of all sizes, including nonprofit organizations (and individual homeowners and renters – see below) to repair or replace uninsured/under-insured disaster damaged property.  As a business, you may borrow up to $2 million for physical damage. BA is providing one-on-one assistance to disaster business loan applicants at a Business Recovery Center in Eagle River. No appointment is necessary. Resources for those you serve Alaska Disaster Hotline (free legal assistance available for earthquake survivors): (855) 743-1001 The type of legal… Read more »

There is a line often directed to nonprofits that has been circulating for as long as I can remember. It goes something like this: “If only nonprofits could operate more like businesses.” For sure this is said not to insult, but with the best intentions. But for those of us in the field, who take our role of mission stewardship seriously, the intention is lost because it implies that we are acting recklessly and in disarray while our counterparts have the proven model. I mention this because it seems right now, perhaps more than most times, we should share the way we run our nonprofit corporations and stand up as a model to both business and government. Let us not forget that the C in our 501(c)3, 4, 6, 12,… Read more »

Foraker is piloting our first ever Fund Development Planning cohort in Anchorage this summer. This is a cost-effective way for your organization to put a fund development plan into place with a group of peers and experts on hand. Apply today! With the Fund Development Planning (FDP) cohort you’ll find a safe space where you can discover new tools and resources to help you write and implement your fund development plan – with a group of peers going through the same experience. During your FDP cohort, you will craft a gift chart that is real for your organization, learn how to launch or strengthen your board’s fund development committee, develop your organization’s philosophy of philanthropy, write fund development goals and objectives that are realistic for the next 1-3 years, practice… Read more »

To Alaska Nonprofit Leaders: This morning the Governor’s office released its proposed Fiscal Year 2020 budget. All budget documents can be found on the website for the Office of Management and Budget. I encourage you to examine the proposed budget and understand what it can mean to your mission and your organization. I also encourage you to keep three important points in mind: Please know that the work you do matters. Remember that this is a proposal. There is a long road ahead of us before a final budget is approved. The legislature is the only branch of government with the power to appropriate money, which it does through a comprehensive budget bill. When the governor receives this bill, he can veto all or portions of it (the line-item veto),… Read more »

For many years now, we have been documenting the economic impact of the nonprofit sector on our state’s economy. Our latest report, published last year, found that the sector directly employs 44,100 people in Alaska — that’s more than 17% of the state’s jobs. In rural Alaska, the sector contributes 40% of all jobs. This impact caught the attention of Alaska Business and resulted in this feature that highlights our statistics but more importantly tells the story of community benefits from three Foraker Partners — Catholic Social Services, Hope Community Resources, and the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce. Please share this story with your networks and help spread the value of the work we all do. You can read the story here…. Read more »

We are taught to be prepared for disaster. As Alaskans we might understand that notion a little bit better today than we did in November after the earthquake, or again after the government shutdown in December, which was a different kind of disaster. We think we understand what it means to be prepared – that we know the consequences of a disaster. But, in fact, we understand them much differently when they happen to us and around us. There is rarely anything good to say about the disaster itself, but as we explored together in December, how we respond as Alaskans when disaster strikes, and specifically how we respond as nonprofits, is remarkable. After the earthquake I marveled at our sector’s response. And now again, I do the same. The… Read more »

As we continue to move forward from the 7.0 earthquake and the aftershocks we understand that there are many stages to this event.  Thank you to all of you who stepped up to support each other, your team, and the community.  We continue to want to understand the impact on your mission.  Specifically, this survey will focus on the financial loss.  As we did with the last survey, we will share this information with the Disaster Recovery Fund Committee at the Alaska Community Foundation, private funders in Alaska, and the office of Emergency Management at the State who are processing the disaster declaration and the funds associated with that declaration. Click here to participate in the follow up survey.  … Read more »

In partnership with the UAA Economics Department and Rasmuson Foundation, Foraker is co-hosting a series of lectures from leading scholars from around the country that will focus on the latest research in philanthropy. The first lecture will take place on February 4 from 12:00 – 1:00 pm and will feature Anya Samek, an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Southern California. Her lecture, Do Thank You Calls Increase Charitable Giving?  will share findings from experiments involving nearly 600,000 individual donors and 500,000 thank you calls over a period of 6 years. Save the date for April 22 with Uri Gneezy,  Epstein/Atkinson Endowed Chair in Behavioral Economics & Professor of Economics and Strategic Management at the University of California San Diego and May 22 with  Jonathan Meer, Professor of Economics at Texas A&M University…. Read more »

So often the end of the year is a time of reflection – looking back in order to look forward. Loving traditions, I don’t have to look any further than November 30 to seize my lessons for 2019. There were so many gems to choose from. I could take with me the stories of courage, determination, and sheer devotion to mission. I could draw strength from the stories of individuals around town leading in selfless acts with compassion – or stories of generosity like those of the Girl Scouts who I’m told ran out of community service badges because so many girls stepped up to lend a helping hand in the days after the initial quake. And with every aftershock in Southcentral Alaska, I am reminded that our sector –… Read more »

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