Staff post guidelines. Organizations apply. Staff review requests. Staff ask clarifying questions. Staff invite full proposals from organizations. Board approves or declines proposals. Repeat. We are a well-oiled grantmaking machine. We’ve switched things up here and there over the years (e.g., reduced the number of questions we ask, added a clarification call, tightened the timeline), … Continued
I am reminded daily by the amazing grant partners I get to work with that there is huge demand by nonprofits to build their capacity to be stronger, more sustainable organizations, but that there are not enough resources to do so. Ninety-five percent of the organizations that responded to a Tower Foundation survey in 2016 … Continued
What applicants thought about applying to the Tower Foundation in 2018 I can’t say it enough: we love feedback. Don’t get me wrong – some of it is not easy to hear. But we truly appreciate feedback from applicants and grant partners in all its challenging, validating, and sometimes surprising forms. It helps us … Continued
The Peter & Elizabeth Tower Foundation is pleased to announce that it recently awarded nearly $1.4 million in grants to 14 organizations in Erie and Niagara Counties in Western New York, as well as Cape Cod, Nantucket, and Essex County in Eastern Massachusetts. “We are delighted to support this recent group of grant partners. This … Continued
We love getting to know the communities we work in, learning about the organizations located there, and talking to the people who see what’s happening there every day. Holding office hours at local coffee shops in your neighborhood is one of our favorite ways of connecting. Unfortunately, it’s not always feasible to carve out that … Continued
Our newly-launched “Strengthening Partner Capacity” grant guidelines for 2019 mark the beginning of a more streamlined approach to capacity building funding at the Tower Foundation. The Foundation’s Trustees and staff are committed to supporting the organizations, and their leaders, responsible for advancing our goals across the four fields we fund (intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities, mental … Continued
This is the third in a multi-part blog series. Catch up with Part I here and Part II here. In the adaptive leadership framework, “getting on the balcony” is the idea that, when met with complex challenges, you leave your world on-the-ground – your deadlines, to-do list, and distractions –and look at the big picture … Continued
This is the second in a multi-part blog series. Check out part one. The organizations we fund are essential to our work, and because of this, we are paying attention to the shift to Value Based Reimbursement (VBR) which we think will have a huge impact on many of our grantees. As a refresher, VBR … Continued
System Redesign and Why It Matters We here at The Tower Foundation have been paying attention over the last couple of years to the big changes happening in the health care delivery system. Why? Well, a few reasons. First, changes to the health care system mean big changes to not only the health care providers … Continued
A screening call? A clarification call? Which is it? WHAT is it? I just toiled over a preliminary application for you — what more could you possibly need from me??? What is this, torture? Hey there. Yes, you with your head on your desk. This is not a trap! We like screening calls a lot (which we have … Continued
