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| Reports and Monographs |
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Written and developed in partnership with the Blueshield of California Foundation, The Power of Partnership features four case studies showing how integrative forms of collaboration have enabled domestic violence organizations—and their partners—to capitalize on their strengths, develop new solutions, and more effectively serve the community Read the Executive Summary. 
Funded by the Deaconess Community Foundation and St. Luke's Foundation, this summary report, by Heather Gowdy, Jo DeBolt, and Melissa Mendes Campos, describes the Human Services Strategic Restructuring Pilot Project in Cuyahoga County. The pilot project brought together a group of 18 grantmaker organizations that were motivated by a common desire to offer struggling nonprofit with support "beyond a grant check." Their initiative attracted leaders from 76 nonprofits throughout the county. The year-long pilot project provided 17 organizations with readiness assessments and helped 8 organizations develop restructuring plans, culminating in four nonprofit restructurings (including a program transfer, two parent-subsidiary relationships, and a common board and management structure). This summary describes the powerful scalable impact of collaboration and how a funder initiative can serve to transform the social sector. Download the PDF.
Written by La Piana Consulting and published by Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO) in November 2010, Due Diligence Done Well: A Guide for Grantmakers has updated information to reflect new learning about effective due diligence and is accompanied by a new supplemental online toolkit for GEO members with detailed research questions, assessment criteria and more resources for grantmakers. The guide is based on The Due Diligence Tool, written by La Piana Consulting and published by GEO in 2004.
This case study is one in a series of snapshots about The Collaboration Prize 2009 Finalists. Written by Melissa Mendes Campos, with Jo DeBolt and Robert Harrington, this resource describes the merger of Crittenton, Inc. and The Women's Union, into Crittenton Women's Union. The Collaboration Prize is designed to inspire cooperation among nonprofit organizations. La Piana Consulting managed the design and implementation of the 2009 Collaboration Prize for the Lodestar Foundation.
Funded by the James Irvine Foundation, this report, by Heather Gowdy, Alex Hildebrand, David La Piana, and Melissa Mendes Campos, explores La Piana Consulting's reseach initiative NonprofitNext and the key trends driving the future of the nonprofit sector. The trends include generational and other demographic shifts, the rise and impact of social media and other technological advances, the growing importance of networks as a means for effecting change, the role of volunteerism and civic engagement in society, and the blurring of sector boundaries. For more information and to join the conversation, check out the NonprofitNext blog.
This case study is one in a series of snapshots about The Collaboration Prize 2009 Finalists. Written by Lindsay Vignoles, with Jo DeBolt, Melissa Mendes Campos, and Robert Harrington, this resource describes Ready, Set, Parent!, a joint programming effort of EPIC-Every Person Influences Children and Baker Victory Services. The Collaboration Prize is designed to inspire cooperation among nonprofit organizations. La Piana Consulting managed the design and implementation of the 2009 Collaboration Prize for the Lodestar Foundation.
This case study is one in a series of snapshots about The Collaboration Prize 2009 Finalists. Written by Lindsay Vignoles, with Jo DeBolt, Melissa Mendes Campos, and Robert Harrington, this resource describes the Administration Consolidation of the Hunter Museum of American Art, the Creative Discovery Museum, and the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Collaboration Prize is designed to inspire cooperation among nonprofit organizations. La Piana Consulting managed the design and implementation of the 2009 Collaboration Prize for the Lodestar Foundation. Written by Liza Culick, Kristen Godard, and Natasha Terk and published by Grantmakers for Effective Organizations in November 2004 — provides grantmakers with a complete guide to the pre-grant due diligence process. The Due Diligence Tool includes worksheets and interview questions grantmakers can use to create or refine their own due diligence process. Written by David La Piana, Liza Culick, Kristen Godard, and Bill Coy and published by Grantmakers for Effective Organizations in June 2003 — is designed for use by funders assessing a grant application from a startup nonprofit. It includes suggested interview questions and worksheets to supplement funders’ regular due diligence of startup organizations. After five years of research, training, and consulting in the area of strategic restructuring, Strategic Solutions and Chapin Hall Center for Children, a policy research center at the University of Chicago, offer In Search of Strategic Solutions: A Funders Briefing on Nonprofit Strategic Restructuring, written by David La Piana and Amelia Kohm, and published by Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO) in January 2003. This report revisits the questions first posed in Beyond Collaboration, and addresses them by drawing on findings from our recent national study on strategic restructuring, as well as learnings from other Strategic Solutions research and consulting activities. Real Collaboration is a guide for grantmakers — written by David La Piana in January 2001 at the request of the Ford Foundation — that makes recommendations on how program officers can make better, more effective use of collaboration among grantees. The James Irvine Foundation — sensing an increased interest among nonprofit sector leaders in partnership opportunities — commissioned a study by David La Piana of the future role of strategic restructuring. That study led to Beyond Collaboration: Strategic Restructuring for Nonprofit Organizations, published by the National Center for Nonprofit Boards in 1997. The study offers an analysis of restructuring efforts among nonprofits and describes several strategies that funders might develop to support activity in this arena. A follow-up Revised Second Edition was released in March 2000, with an expanded reference section demonstrating the considerable advancements made in the field of strategic restructuring over that three-year period.
In 1999, La Piana Associates, in collaboration with the Chapin Hall Center for Children (a policy research institution at the University of Chicago ), conducted the largest ever national study on strategic restructuring in the nonprofit sector. The study was funded by the Nonprofit Sector Research Fund of the Aspen Institute and the Lilly Endowment. Phase II of the national study was completed in 2002. It involves in-depth case studies of six strategic restructuring partnerships, as well as a survey of a random sample of nonprofits in two different cities to look at the prevalence of strategic restructuring in those areas. In addition, the research team conducted interviews with 20 national leaders in the nonprofit and philanthropic sector, asking them to share their reflections on the implications of the preliminary results for the future of the sector. The findings of this research are included in a book — Strategic Restructuring for Nonprofit Organizations: Mergers, Integrations, and Alliances — by Amelia Kohm and David La Piana, published by Praeger Publishers in November 2003. The book provides nonprofit managers, board members, consultants, and foundation executives with research-based information to use in making tough decisions about whether and how to pursue a range of organizational partnerships — from jointly managed programs and consolidated administrative functions, to full-scale mergers. Strategic Restructuring for Nonprofit Organizations is available for purchase at Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com Download a PDF copy of the Phase 1 report from the Chapin Hall Center for Children website http://www.chapinhall.org |
Tool for Assessing Startup Nonprofits: A due diligence supplement for grantmakers 
In Search of Strategic Solutions: A Funders Briefing on Nonprofit Strategic Restructuring 
Real Collaboration, A Guide for Grantmakers 
Beyond Collaboration Strategic Restructuring of Nonprofit Organizations 
Strategic Restructuring for Nonprofit Organizations: Mergers, Integrations, and Alliances
