Institutional Funding Strategy: Foundations, Government, and the Mix
Deciding what share of the budget institutions should carry, the compliance and restricted-fund routing that government and foundation money require, and how to lead a grants function without letting deadlines run the shop.
Through the Environment lens
Government funding for environmental work often comes with an eligibility wrinkle worth knowing up front: advocacy activity is frequently ineligible for government dollars, which means the routing conversation has to happen at the entity level, 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4), before it happens at the program level. A small number of major conservation or climate funders can represent an outsized share of a land trust or advocacy group's institutional revenue, and a funder's preferred strategy, litigation over legislation, a national campaign over local land work, can pull an organization's tactics in a direction its own board never independently chose.
Continuing education
1.00 points
Leadership and Management · Securing the Gift
Learning objectives
- Set a target share of revenue from institutional sources, with dependency limits, from the organization's mission, cost structure, and risk tolerance rather than from what is available.
- Explain the compliance obligations that come with government and foundation funding, including restricted-fund accounting, indirect cost recovery, reporting, and audit thresholds, and route them to the right people.
- Charter a grants function with clear roles between development, program, and finance, and a pipeline discipline that serves strategy rather than deadlines.
- Assess institutional dependency and concentration risk and build a plan to correct it.
Designed for CFRE continuing education. Not yet accepted; no CFRE points can be claimed.
Lessons
- 20 min
Video lesson
What share should institutions carry?
III Discern · Leadership and Management
- 20 min
Field guide· PDF
Government, foundations, and restricted funds: compliance and routing
VI Accompany · Leadership and Management
- 18 min
Template· DOCX
The institutional funding mix plan and the grants team charter
III Discern · Leadership and Management
- 16 min
Worksheet· XLSX
Dependency and mix worksheet
III Discern · Leadership and Management
This is members-only material.
Members get every lesson, template, and worksheet in all eight tracks, plus the support to put them to work in your shop.
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Capital Campaign Readiness
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Boards, Teams & Leadership
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The average fundraiser tenure is 16 months. Build a team that stays: hiring for the real job, coaching the craft, and career paths that retain.