Learn what’s happening at the Foundation and in the communities where we work. Hear from staff and partners about their accomplishments and lessons learned along the way.
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We asked our current grant partners to tell us about the challenges to their organization stemming from the COVID-19 crisis. Responses to the survey were timely, detailed, open, and sobering. Across the board, providers are working tirelessly to maintain as much continuity of care as they can. Some of the reported issues are captured here. Rapid … Continued
Back in 2012 the Foundation’s Trustees and staff adopted a Results-Based Accountability (RBA) approach to understanding our grant making impact on the fields and communities we serve. As part of adopting RBA, we identified a total of 19 community-wide goals across the issue areas we support (if you’re curious, you can find them on page … Continued
Our guest blogger for this post is Leah Bartlo of the Learning Disabilities Association of WNY According to the Erie County Health Department, thousands of children under the age six are diagnosed with an elevated blood lead level (EBLL) each year in Erie County and thousands more are exposed to lead hazards in their home … 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. This analysis represents 44 grants that were closed between June 2018 and December 2019.] Once again, we wanted to take a look at the somewhat broader 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.] About every year and half or so, we take a look at the latest cluster of closed grants and assess their aggregate … Continued
The Peter & Elizabeth Tower Foundation is pleased to announce its recent grant awards totaling more than $850,000 to eight organizations for projects benefitting Eastern Massachusetts and Western New York. According to Tracy Sawicki, the Foundation’s Executive Director, “These awards recognize and celebrate the creative energy and dedication of our grant partners. Our communities are … Continued
Our guest blogger for this post is Coreen Brinckerhoff, CEO of CORD (Cape Organization for the Rights of the Disabled, Hyannis, Massachusetts). We are incredibly proud of our Bridges to Success program. Although built from the bones of a previous federally-funded vocational rehab (VR) program, we feel it is unique and special in so many … Continued
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
Over the past year or so, we’ve been exploring Human-Centered Design (HCD). At a super-high level, HCD is a process of developing products or programs that places the end-user at the center of the process. It involves a deliberate set of stages and activities that helps designers get closer to end-users to get a better … 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
