Proposals for Grant Funding

In 2004, the Independent Sector Board of Directors unanimously endorsed a statement to “opt for general operating support over project support when feasible and when the goals of the two organizations are 'substantially aligned.'

Further, they encouraged funders, when providing project support, to pay 'the fair proportion of administrative and fundraising costs necessary to manage and sustain whatever is required by the organization to run that particular project.'

And now a recently issued report from the Foundation Center notes that, not only has foundation giving increased by 14.6% in 2006, but foundation grants for overhead costs grew by 6.7%. Likewise, the Center for Effective Philanthropy, after surveying 20,00 grantees and 79 foundation executives, noted that foundations 'should make larger, longer-term operating grants' of unrestricted funds that can be used to support the organization and its overall mission, not just specific projects or programs.

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