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2020-04-27
Partnership for Public Service;
In 2019, the Partnership for Public Service launched a project with X Sector Labs, a management consulting firm that advises executives on cross-sector leadership, and the San Francisco Federal Executive Board, which helps build cooperative relationships among federal, postal and military employees across northern California. The aim was to understand better how organizations in California's public, private, nonprofit and other sectors work together toward shared goals and to explore how to further enhance collaboration, especially with the federal government. Between October 2019 and January 2020, we jointly hosted a series of roundtable discussions in northern California to identify best practices for, and barriers to, collaboration among governments, businesses, nonproft organizations, academia and philanthropy.More than 70 leaders from across sectors - the majority of whom have worked in both government and private or nonprofit roles during their careers - convened for conversations about how organizations can take collective action to address today's pressing challenges. Participants described why organizations partner, shared examples of collaborative efforts that worked well, and assessed potential difficulties around collaboration.During these discussions, participants strongly agreed that when multiple organizations work together, they enhance their ability to address issues and achieve results. Too often, however, individuals and organizations are deterred by obstacles that can hamper collaboration.This paper summarizes key themes from the roundtable discussions, including benefits and potential challenges of partnering across organizations, and outlines actions that could increase the number of effective partnerships in California, especially those involving the federal government. We hope these findings will help boost the ability of all sectors to collaborate with one another more often and more effectively.
2020-12-17
S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation;
This essay describes the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation's approach to evaluation in its Environment Program. This approach was grantee-centric, shaped by the varied needs of nonprofits in the environment field as well as the Foundation's decision to spend down all assets by 2020 – which limited the number of years available to conduct evaluations and put new lessons to use. The Environment Program funded grantees to evaluate work they deemed critical to their missions or to build organizational capacity to conduct ongoing learning and evaluation. Knowledge gained through grantee activities informed their internal improvement efforts as well as the Foundation's grantmaking decisions.Seven examples illustrate the range of nonprofit learning and evaluation efforts supported by the Foundation. These experiences surfaced challenges as well as recommendations, presented later in this essay, that might be instructive to other environment funders who value learning and evaluation as means to greater impact.
2020-02-01
S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation;
The California Conservation Fund was a charitable operating foundation established by Stephen D. Bechtel, Jr. to protect and restore waterfowl habitat. The Fund's primary impact was the conservation of more than 4,000 acres of prime habitat. Its secondary impact, while less direct, was larger in scale: Fund activities yielded insight into the underlying dynamics of wetland and open space management in California and, in turn, deeply influenced S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation Environment Program investments. In the Foundation's spend-down years, its Environment Program focused on systemic issues highlighted by the California Conservation Fund's efforts, and worked toward a California that manages, stewards, and conserves its water and land to support a resilient environment and economy.
2020-08-01
S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation;
The S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation invests in capacity building to enhance the effectiveness of our water and land grantees and enhance the systems and structures surrounding their work.The S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation envisions a California that manages, stewards, and conserves its water and land to support a resilient environment and healthy communities. This snapshot, prepared as the Foundation nears conclusion in 2020, documents a core strategy within its Environment Program.
2020-07-01
S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation;
The Environment Program's water portfolio supports California's transition to a sustainable water system that meets the needs of people and nature. Achieving this transition will depend on effective networks of local, regional, and statewide organizations able to demonstrate solutions and build constituencies of support.The S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation envisions a California that manages, stewards, and conserves its water and land to support a resilient environment and healthy communities. This snapshot, prepared as the Foundation nears conclusion in 2020, documents essential aspects of an Environment Program initiative.
2020-04-20
How Kids Learn Foundation;
Temescal Associates issued a survey on March 25, 2020. As of March 28th, 69 responses were received from which a summary of the preliminary responses was compiled. Includes a narrative summary, detailed charts and listings of the responses.
2020-01-02
Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory (RIPA) Board;
California's Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board (Board) is pleased to release its Third Annual Report. The Board was created by the Racial and Identity Profiling Act of 2015 (RIPA) to shepherd data collection and provide public reports with the ultimate objective to eliminate racial and identity profiling and improve and understand diversity in law enforcement through training, education, and outreach. For the first time, the Board's report includes an analysis of the stop data collected under RIPA, which requires nearly all California law enforcement agencies to submit demographic data on all detentions and searches. This report also provides recommendations that law enforcement can incorporate to enhance their policies, procedures, and trainings on topics that intersect with bias and racial and identity profiling. This report provides the Board's recommendations for next steps for all stakeholders – advocacy groups, community members, law enforcement, and policymakers – who can collectively advance the goals of RIPA. In rendering these recommendations, the Board hopes to further carry out its mission to eliminate racial and identity profiling and improve law enforcement and community relations.
2020-05-01
S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation;
Recognizing teachers as the single most important contributor to student achievement, the S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation invests in high-quality models of math teaching and learning in California's K-8 classrooms through full implementation of the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics (CCSS-M).The S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation envisions children and youth developing the knowledge, skills, and character to explore and understand the world around them, growing into caring, informed, and productive adults. This snapshot documents essential aspects of the Education Program's math portfolio.
2020-05-01
S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation;
The S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation invests in California's protected lands network to enhance local communities, preserve wildlife habitat, and provide recreational opportunities for all. In tandem, the Foundation works to increase conservation on private and unprotected lands throughout California.The S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation envisions a California that manages, stewards, and conserves its water and land to support a resilient environment and healthy communities. This snapshot, prepared as the Foundation nears conclusion in 2020, documents essential aspects of the Environment Program's land portfolio.
2020-04-01
S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation;
The S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation sought to advance the durability and relevance of California's protected lands network to support a resilient environment and healthy communities.As the Foundation pursued this goal across the decade beginning in 2009, its work built on increasing awareness of the opportunity for cross-jurisdictional partnerships to steward protected lands at large scale -- and on the need to rethink management of California's spectacular state parks system. The state parks came under significant threat as the state faced a budget crisis in 2009; the Foundation became a major funder beginning in 2013 when that system's future remained in question. The Foundation's protected lands strategy would come to be defined by these twin approaches -- investing in partnerships to steward large landscapes in California, and in transforming the California Department of Parks and Recreation, the agency responsible for state parks. These elements overlapped and were integrated over time. The strategy also featured capacity-building grants to key organizations, with a particular focus on land trusts.The Foundation approach was facilitative and adaptive, continually enhanced through learning. Grantees were encouraged to identify the supports that would make the greatest difference based on their respective circumstances, assets, and aspirations. Foundation strategy drew on available evidence to combine bold thinking with pragmatic practices. Overall, the Foundation's work was relationship-centric, with program staff spending substantial time with grantees as well as other organizations and groups important to stewarding public lands in California.This reflection includes background on Foundation investments in the protected lands portfolio. It further describes context and strategy for the work of the Foundation and its grantee partners. It concludes with key takeaways, formulated by Foundation staff, that might benefit other funders, policymakers, and organizations pursuing effective, large-scale stewardship of protected lands.
2020-06-10
Sanford Institute of Philanthropy at John F. Kennedy University;
With the rapid acceleration of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, it was imperative to understand the immediate impact on local nonprofits in the East Bay and the communities they serve. The East Bay's diversity is one of its strengths. However, the COVID-19 pandemic threatens residents who have built community, but not wealth, for generations. It also threatens to further erode a strained and fragmented nonprofit ecosystem. Maintaining a healthy and viable nonprofit community is essential to create a Bay Area in which all can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential.
2020-07-01
WestEd;
As leaders of the teams that implemented and evaluated a six-year statewide effort known as the California NGSS Early Implementers Initiative, the coauthors of this paper have had a front-row seat for implementation of the California NGSS since their adoption in 2013. Coauthor Kathy DiRanna was also strongly involved in the new collaborations formed among science organizations that will be described in this piece. We document this story to attempt to capture the spirit and strategies behind the remarkable collaboration that is bringing forward a new era in state science education practice. We hope this account informs and encourages educational leaders, policymakers, funders, and all who are doing the hard but crucial work of advancing the NGSS and the Common Core.
