Tools to Get You Started
We have chosen three different tools to help you think about community leadership at your foundation.
Each of them offers you something a little different in terms of the starting point, the scope of inquiry, the setting in which it is appropriate and the kinds of tools provided for you. The descriptions below will help you get a sense of which tool is the best for your foundation, depending on your capacity, your interests and your needs.
We welcome your feedback; please feel free to email us at cvtoolkit@cfc-fcc.ca.
"On the Brink of New Promise" Toolkit
The publication of "On the Brink of New Promise: The Future of US Community Foundations" in 2005 was a significant event in the movement, for it poses key questions about the opportunities and challenges the movement will face in the future, and how we have to change in order to adapt to a new environment.
This tool is useful if you want to look at your CF and your community leadership work within the larger context of the broad demographic, economic, philanthropic and social changes we face, and how we respond, as CFs, to these changes.
CFC has adapted the main Powerpoint presentation and the accompanying Guides for Canadian CFs, to help you look at your community, the changes it is undergoing and the roles your foundation can play in this process of change. All of the original American materials, published by Monitor Group and Blueprint Research and Design, are also available.
"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 provided here, or identify your own) to see how effective you are and where you might want to make changes.
It is a useful tool if you are trying to understand the perceived performance of your CF across core functional areas, and compare them to one another, creating an overall perception of the well-being of your CF.
This toolkit consists of a Powerpoint presentation that outlines the Balance Wheel and how it works, and a downloadable Excel document that provides you with an interactive exercise through which you can better understand your CF.
CFLeads Framework for Community
This report provides a set of ideas, or a framework, for thinking about community leadership within a community foundation. It is based on 4 pillars: values, relationships, resources and skills.
If you want to understand the ideas, values and concepts of community leadership, and the degree to which they are (or are not) present in your CF, then you should have a look at this tool.
It is an opportunity to reflect on the internal capacities and values that underlie community leadership within community foundations.
The original American version has been adapted for Canadian CFs, and we have a Powerpoint presentation with a Presenter's Guide for use. The full set of American materials is also available here.