Tools to Get You Started: Balance Wheel Toolkit

The "Balance Wheel" is a perception based, self-assessment tool for community foundations. It helps you look at 6 areas of organizational performance (you can use the 6 areas already here, or identify your own) to see how effective you are and where you might want to make changes.

Using this toolkit

This tool enables you to get input from a number of people, either individually or in a group setting, thus producing an overall picture of your foundation's perceived effectiveness in the 6 areas you have chosen. It is interactive, so you can collect and aggregate data from a group and present it back to the group 'on the spot' in graphic visuals.

It is useful to gain input from multiple stakeholders and groups, and for looking at community leadership activity in comparison to other core areas within your CF. Use it with Board members, staff groups, advisors and Committee members, ideally as part of a strategic planning or similar exercise.

The toolkit includes discussion questions to stimulate further thinking. The results can be compiled for year to year comparison, so you can chart change and progress.

The toolkit includes the following two elements, which have been especially prepared for our Canadian audience:

Powerpoint - A brief (18 slides) overview of and orientation to the Balance Wheel, to be viewed individually or by a group. Includes The Winnipeg Foundation as a case study.
Balance Wheel Final.ppt

Excel document - An interactive set of instructions, exercises and worksheets that move you and your group through the Balance Wheel assessment process. Includes formulas built into the tool so that you can get your group results right in a workshop setting.
Balance Wheel Final.xls