How Getting Clear on Values Helped One Foundation Show Up for Its Partners

The Center for Effective Philanthropy’s new research snapshot, “Foundation Governance Today: How Boards and CEOs Are Navigating Risk, Accountability, and a Shifting Landscape,” reveals that many foundation CEOs feel their work has become more challenging in this time of compounding crises, such as rollbacks in public funding, vilification of the vulnerable, and heightened scrutiny of civil society. CEOs reported difficulties leading in an environment rife with fear, anxiety, and uncertainty, and balancing responding to crises with pursuing the long-term work of the foundation.

CEP also learned from CEOs that these challenges intensify when there is a lack of internal alignment with their board members, particularly when there is a range of experiences, perspectives, and political affiliations across the foundation.

Like many foundations, the board and staff of the Jacob and Terese Hershey Foundation have wide-ranging backgrounds and points of view. We’ve recognized, however, that we share a set of core values — a recognition that has transformed the way we work, enabling us to sharpen our focus, think more boldly, and act more nimbly. In particular, we’ve found that leaning into these values during times of crisis helps our team clarify our purpose and align around actions that are consistent with our mission and support community needs.

For example, because we value equity and justice, we aim to partner with those disproportionately burdened by environmental and health challenges. As a result, many of our grantee partners are emerging, resident-led groups that may not have the internal capacity of larger nonprofits. Reflecting on this value inspired us to offer a set of supports early last year to these smaller, frontline grantees to enable them to strengthen their administrative processes and systems.

For example, we offered a free cybersecurity assessment to evaluate how secure their technology systems were and recommend ways to address vulnerabilities. Similarly, we offered a stipend to assist with the first-time purchase of Directors and Officers liability insurance or to upgrade their policy to include staff. We followed this with an offer for quick-turnaround, flexible mini-grants to implement measures to help navigate the evolving circumstances.

We were struck by the wide range of requests for these mini-grants. For example, one grantee partner requested resources to combat a targeted cyber-attack that was underway, another requested support to hire a bodyguard to accompany staff in more volatile environments, and yet another requested funds to engage a development consultant to help address resource gaps due to cuts in federal funding.

Like many funders, we’ve heard that our grantee partners are feeling exhausted, overwhelmed and burned out by the realities of the times. Because we value the dignity, experience, and worth of every person, we were inspired to offer additional funds to our grantee partners late last year to provide healing and wellness supports to their teams.

The creativity demonstrated by our grantees in using these funds was matched only by the care shown to their people — offerings included stipends for staff members to access mind-body practices like yoga and massage, team retreats that allowed time for fellowship in nature, and additional paid days off around the winter holidays. One grantee provided Texas State Parks Passes to their team members — we loved that! We’ve been especially gratified to hear that several grantees plan to budget for these wellness activities going forward, elevating the well-being of their teams to an organizational priority.

And then we value bold action, believing that taking risks can lead to transformative change. Reflecting on this value inspired us to take steps that we believe meet the moment in ways that are true to our Foundation’s mission and goals.

One such step has been increasing our annual spend in order to ensure that critical work continues. For example, a longtime grantee partner learned last year of the termination of a $3 million federal grant intended to support the expansion of AirMail, an innovative tool that notifies residents of newly-filed industrial permits in their communities and provides steps for action. In response, we stepped in to provide support over and above our planned grantmaking budget to enable this partner to press forward with the expansion, ensuring that more Texans have access to information and tools to participate in decision-making that impacts their health and environment.

Beyond filling important gaps, this value inspired us to consider how we can empower more Texans to participate in civic life and strengthen our democracy. We have long supported nonpartisan groups that lead with the issues we care about to motivate folks to get involved, whether it is participating in a town hall, submitting comments on a proposed rule, or casting a ballot, though this was a relatively small part of our grantmaking. Considering our commitment to acting boldly inspired us to more than quintuple our investment in civic engagement over the next three years, a multi-million-dollar initiative that comes on top of our ongoing grantmaking.

Given these turbulent times, it makes sense that foundation CEOs feel challenged, particularly when there is a lack of alignment with board members on what can be sensitive, divisive topics.

I’ve found that our foundation’s values serve as a beacon, offering our team clarity, direction, and solidarity. They connect us to our belief that a commitment to partnership extends not only to the easy times but also to the hardest times. I encourage peers to consider their values as they navigate these times, and hope they light a path toward bold action.

Elizabeth Love serves as CEO of the Jacob and Terese Hershey Foundation. Find her on LinkedIn.