The Foraker Group

“The best laid plans.” We generally say this when things go astray from our original intention. We say this with the assertion that we had a plan in the first place. We have all sorts of plans in our nonprofit world. We have big picture definitions of success like strategic plans and theory of change, and annual plans that address budgets and operational priorities. And we have plans that are both strategic and tactical like fund development or communication plans. Planning can get a bad reputation in our sector both from our own team and from those outside our organization with whom we partner. The root of those concerns generally falls into four categories: What exactly is a plan? What difference will the plan make? Who is responsible for creating… Read more »

This election has been difficult for our country. We wake up this morning more aware than ever of deep divisions among us. For many, emotions are raw and the future uncertain. Personally, I am recommitting – to our work as a sector and to our mission at Foraker. And I invite you to join me because what we do is important. Volunteer. Donate. Use your voice. Focus on your mission, your community, and the people you serve. Gather together to work together.  We are capable of doing the difficult work, with compassion. That’s what we’re about as nonprofits. Let’s find our path to move forward together. Laurie Wolf President/CEO… Read more »

We are pleased to let you know that we have restructured the Alaska Funding Guide, which lists funders who support Alaska nonprofits and projects. It also includes a few helpful grant writing tips. The guide is a great complement to our grant writing book and the classes we offer at Foraker. Most important, you can continue to search for funders by areas of sector and project interests. You also still have the ability to save and print your searches for your own planning. In the past we included a large amount of information in the guide that is duplicated on the websites for funders. That research took a lot of staff time and we had to charge a subscription fee to cover our expenses. That’s changed. We have reduced the… Read more »

There are days when I am confronted with a blizzard of data. It can leave me feeling either disorganized or stuck. And I sometimes see others caught in this storm – some contending with heady emails or a commissioned report, or others with a friendly offering from a mission partner or a trusted source. I see it in boardrooms in piles of spreadsheets or board packets the size of days-gone-by phone books. The intentions are good. More data means more information, right? But if we are in the blizzard and don’t know what to do with this data, is it helping us? Have you been caught in this storm? Do you find yourself knowing that you are supposed to do something with it, but what? There is also another kind… Read more »

As part of its 2016 Salary & Benefits Survey, Foraker gathered data on pay equity in Alaska’s nonprofit sector, This is the first time such data has been compiled for our state. The report highlights the results for the top-level employees in the nonprofit workplace. We understand that this issue is much deeper and wider than simply the pay of those employees. To that end, we encourage everyone reading and using this report to consider the best and emerging practices we offer in the closing section and apply them to every job classification in your workplace. Our goal is to find pay equity across all job classifications throughout the sector. Fair and equitable pay is the law in our country, and yet we have more work to do, both in and out of the nonprofit sector, to achieve pay equity. Alaska is no different…. Read more »

Alaska Nonprofits Count!  And Alaska nonprofit votes count!  When Alaska nonprofits use our voting power we advance our missions by making our voices heard.  When we vote we make change for the better – for our organizations, our communities, our state and the world. On November 8th Alaskans will join millions of Americans who will be voting for their state legislatures, the U.S. Congress and the President and Vice President of the United States. It has never been more important to make sure that nonprofits board members, staff, volunteers and constituents register to vote and get to the polls on Election Day. HERE ARE THREE THINGS TO DO NOW TO MAKE OUR VOICES HEARD THIS NOVEMBER: 1) Register to Vote 2) Spread the Word and 3) Inform Yourself 1) REGISTER… Read more »

One of the more fun and rewarding parts of our work is watching the sheer joy of nonprofit board and staff members when things “click” for them. Literally we see light in their faces and relief in their smile. More and more we have been experiencing this around the sometimes dreaded, sometimes feared, responsibility of fundraising. I have focused for a long time on taking the fear and mystery out of this work and doing all that we can to make it fun and accessible, while still incorporating the science of the profession. Yes, fundraising is an art and a science. The art is our organizational culture and core values and the way we talk and think about the work. The science is rooted in a growing field of evidence-based… Read more »

The 2016 Foraker Group Salary & Benefits Survey© is now available for purchase. We’re pleased that this year we have more organizations represented in this report than at any time in the past. Through this research we are able to provide valuable information to nonprofit leaders to help as they make decisions on compensation. The results in this report include salary data, which is aggregated for the state as a whole and is also broken down by region, budget size, and number of employees. You’ll find tables that summarize a variety of benefits offered by participating organizations. And, for the first time this year, we also report on findings related to gender pay equity in Alaska’s nonprofit sector. You can purchase the survey on our product’s page here. If your organization participated in the survey,… Read more »

It’s back-to-school time, and families all over Alaska are shifting their schedules, settling in to new routines, and preparing for the fall and winter. At Foraker we are getting into our fall routine with the launch of our new training schedule. We are also watching the leaves turn just as fast as we are noticing our fall and winter days filling up with board and staff planning retreats. We anticipate this routine every year, and we are ready. Like most back-to-school conversations, we thought we would share what we did over the summer and what’s in store for the new “school year.” This summer, we went on three different kinds of expeditions. The first was our regular hiking trail. This is the route we have traveled with minor adjustment for… Read more »

Earlier this year, Foraker and the funding partners of the Pre-Development program placed a hold on accepting new projects. We used that time to fulfill a major commitment to complete deferred maintenance that was critical for every domestic violence shelter in Alaska. During this time, too, the funding partners looked at options for moving forward with new construction projects during this time of economic challenge. The good news is that after a close analysis Foraker and the funders have determined that Pre-D still fills a gap in services to the nonprofit sector. We also determined that we were ready for a slight adjustment to the way we operate the program. As a result, we have made two changes in the program structure. First, the Denali Commission, a founding funder of… Read more »