Many nonprofit organizations are obliged to find avenues through which they can sustain themselves and their beneficiaries by pursuing funding from existing as well as new donors (Hopkins, 2005).
Consequently, these organizations are often in constant need of knowing how to contact donors who could provide them with services and funding, and of knowing how to fill the applications and present them in a credible manner to access the funds (Ruben & Schulpen, 2009).
This knowledge can be found in the official websites of the donor agencies and foundations, and in other mediums – print and electronic. It is the aim of this paper to review the official website of the Rockefeller Foundation, with a view to understand how foundations operate and how they could be a good source of funds for organizations.
A lot of information can be extracted from the review of the Rockefeller Foundation’s official website. For instance, one will get the information about the Foundation’s areas of operation and the projects they fund. This information is critical in the fund application process because organizations requesting for funding must be operating in the stated geographical areas to be considered.
Information about the Foundation’s areas of focus and scope of funding can also be extracted from the website. To mention a few, it is evident that the Foundation funds nonprofit organizations and other institutions engaged in ensuring basic survival of the underprivileged, global health, climate and environment, urbanization, and social and economic security (Rockefeller Foundation, 2011).
The bottom line revolves around the fact that the Foundation funds organizations and projects that contribute to one or more of their initiatives as stated in their critical areas of focus.
According to Hopkins (2005), foundations are good sources of funds for nongovernmental organizations due to their long-term commitment, credibility and accountability in the funding process.
Having known the basic requirements for funding as stated by the Foundation (e.g., money cannot be given for personal aid to individuals; written proposals are not allowed, etc), an organization can always use the funding inquiry form to request for funding.
It is clear that any form of funding must reflect one or more of the foundation’s critical areas of focus. This information is essential for an organization in need of funding as it enables it to design the project around the philosophy of the funding agency (Ruben & Schulpen, 2009).
Other requirements, such as the need for the grantee organization to be credible and the need for collaboration with other agencies (Cravens, 2006), have been clearly spelt out in the website, making it easier for an organization in need of funding to develop policies and institutions that meet the Foundation’s requirements.
The recent grantees list, also contained in the website, not only serve as an important source of information to the critical areas that are mostly funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, but contain other important resources that could be of immense importance to the grant seeker. Indeed, this section provides links to other agencies and foundations that could be approached for potential funding (Rockefeller Foundation, 2011).
In recent grantees list, it is clear that organizations dealing with the transformation of health systems stand a better chance of receiving funds from the Rockefeller Foundation in line with its primary responsibility of providing funding to organizations that contribute to one or more of their initiatives as underlined in the key areas of focus.
Overall, the review of this website proves that with the requisite knowledge, foundations can be a good source of funding for organizations.
Reference List
Cravens, J. (2006). Basic tips for small fundraising for small NGO’s in developing countries. Web.
Hopkins, B.R. (2005). Starting and managing a nonprofit organization: A legal guide. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Ruben, R., & Schulpen, L. (2009). How to allocate public funding to nongovernmental development organizations. Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 38(2), 287-306.
The Rockefeller Foundation. (2011). Web.