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Submitting Foundation
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Foundation Name:
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California Community Foundation
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Address:
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445 S. Figueroa Street
Suite 3400
Los Angeles, CA 90071-1638
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Phone:
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213-413-4130
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Fax:
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213-413-4130
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Website URL:
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www.calfund.org
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Founded:
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1915
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Submitted By:
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Catherine Stringer
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Title:
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Communications Director
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Direct Phone:
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213-452-6231
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E-mail Address:
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cstringer@ccf-la.org
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Practice Example Details
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Applicability:
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Large community foundations
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Methodology:
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Communications audit
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Standard:
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A community foundation communicates openly and welcomes public scrutiny.
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How does this practice
meet the applicable standard?
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A new CEO and the fact that the California Community Foundation had not taken a look at its communications in several years provided the perfect opportunity for the Foundation to hire a consultant to conduct an assessment of our communications effectiveness. The audit’s purpose was to assess the current perception of our name, key messages and positioning and other brand attributes, such as our logo, across several Foundation constituents. We also tested the effectiveness of different communications vehicles such as publications, advertising, public radio underwriting and the website. The goal was to gather information that would contribute to the formulation of a strategic plan.
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Briefly describe the practice,
including key elements:
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The Foundation hired a consulting firm that conducted 77 in-person interviews which were 30-60 minutes long. The interviews were held with individuals across all constituent groups who were selected by the Foundation and included every Board member, financial advisors, donors, staff, nonprofits, grantees and random people of wealth who were presently not Foundation donors. The firm prepared an executive summary and made preliminary presentations to the Board and staff. Their findings were organized by area of focus and constituent group and are being used in the Foundation-wide strategic planning process.
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What method is used for
monitoring and measuring outcome?
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The outcome of the audit was information that is helpful to the Foundation in integrating communications in the strategic planning process.
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What were the results?
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It confirmed some thinking and gave great feedback about the general attributes for which the Foundation is known. We found the Foundation is different things to different people. Therefore a challenge for us is how to position the Foundation to a broad audience and/or how to use niche marketing to reach different audiences.
The Foundation is still in the process of using the information gathered in the communications audit in the overall planning process but several findings have already led to some changes. For example, we found that nonprofits had a misconception about the amount of discretionary money available for grants based on our large asset size. As a result we have changed the paragraph about the Foundation in our press releases to better describe the assets we hold. We also found that all constituent groups favor on-line communications and we made a small change to accept event reservations by email. We also found that, although we had determined the commercial gift funds as a key competitor, we had other competitors that had more impact on new gift activity.
Most importantly the audit confirmed that communications is a critical tool in our overall planning and on-going work. The fact that the audit was done at the beginning of the planning process insured that it was integrated from the start and it informed the Board and staff that investments in communications are a necessity.
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