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
On a chilly November afternoon, I had the pleasure of attending Arc Tank 2.0 at the JFK Presidential Library and Museum on UMASS’s Boston campus. This is the second year of the event, hosted by Northeast Arc (NeArc)¹, and loosely based on the tv show Shark Tank. Organizations that serve people with intellectual disabilities or … 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
In the most recent blog, Megan MacDavey explained how the Small Grants Program will now fit into the Foundation’s “Strengthening Partner Capacity” portfolio. This was done in a continuing effort to streamline our grantmaking. Please refer to Megan’s blog for more information on this change. Today, I really want to focus on the impact that we … 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
PART 2 [This second (and final) installment takes a look at recent Tower grants and their impact on the target population, grantee organization, and the field at large.] Once again, we wanted to take a look at the somewhat broader impact of our grantmaking. On our lessons learned forms, we also scored grants for impact … Continued
PART 1 [This installment of a two-part series looks at the performance of Tower grants when measured against specific project goals; Part 2 will look at the broader impact of the same grants.] Every 18 months or so, we take a look at the latest cluster of closed grants and assess their aggregate effectiveness and … Continued
I couple of years ago I got in the habit of blogging about each conference I attended. It imposed some healthy discipline, forcing me to go over notes and reflect a bit on what I learned at plenary sessions, what I picked up at break-out sessions, and maybe what live music venue I found nearby. … 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
