Whether your philanthropy quest is to end homelessness, fight poverty, enable gender and racial equality, lower teen pregnancy rates, or provide a path to college for disadvantaged youth, government funding and policy are bound to affect your results. This is especially true in today's climate of fiscal austerity and political polarization.

As an example, consider work towards ending homelessness. Chances are that any homeless shelter you would choose to fund draws most of its revenue from government and is seeing that revenue steadily decline, which puts more pressure on its already unsteady finances. Even if a particular nonprofit has foregone government funding, as some do, it will now be seeking private funding in a much more competitive philanthropic market as peer organizations seek to backfill shrinking public funds

Since success in philanthropy often depends on working with or around government, we've put together advice on how to approach these collaborations. The first section covers some promising approaches to how philanthropy can work in partnership with, or to accelerate the work of government. The second discusses how some innovative city leaders and their partners are using data to make headway on social progress and ways philanthropists can help. The third discusses community collaboratives, through which leaders from government, nonprofit, philanthropy, and business are truly moving the needle on challenging social issues—and how they're making that happen.

This report contains three sections:

Three Approaches to Working with and Around Government
Geek Cities: How Data is Fostering Social Progress
How Some Community Collaboratives Are Moving the Needle on Change

The National Network of Fiscal Sponsors (NNFS) promotes the understanding and professional practice of fiscal sponsorship.  The NNFS is led by a Steering Committee comprised of fiscal sponsors from across the country.  The website includes best practices, guidelines for funders, resources for learning and more.

From the Collective Impact Forum and FSB, this report provides practical guidance for planning and implementing evaluations of collective impact initiatives.  Leaders of collective impact initiatives need an approach to performance measurement and evaluation that is as multi-faceted, responsive, and flexible as the initiatives themselves. This three-part guide offers detailed advice on how to plan for and implement effective performance measurement and evaluation activities in the context of collective impact.

LearnPhilanthropy is the field-wide hub for grantmaker learning, built by professionals working in the field. They believe that by strengthening grantmaker learning, it can help to increase the effectiveness and impact of philanthropy. LearnPhilanthropy seeks to be that central hub, a place for the community of learners and learning providers to find and share resources, ideas, and insights on good practice.  LearnPhilanthropy is powered by the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University. The team works in close collaboration with multiple stakeholders, professionals, organizations, and experts to develop this premier professional learning hub.

This self-assessment is a tool for philanthropic organizations to determine where you are in your work with tribal communities, Native organizations, and Indigenous peoples, and to identify areas that can be strengthened as you move towards equity and effectiveness.