LEARNING COMMUNITIES

In 1997, as an experiment, we agreed to put a sizable portion of our grantmaking budget into two regional clusters – one in the Deep South and one in the Southwest. We hoped this cluster approach would allow us to focus our limited resources in a more strategic fashion. We also believed the cluster approach would result in a deeper level of involvement with our grantees and a better understanding of the substantive change they could bring.

Over time, we have sought to change our grantmaking process for the remainder of the country to reflect the immersion we have experienced in the regional clusters. From our discussions of this process, we evolved the idea of forming three learning communities – one for each regional cluster and one for our grantmaking in the remainder of the country. Each learning community operates under the leadership of a staff person with membership open to Needmor Board members and Stranahan family members who support The Fund. Each learning community selects proposals and engages the board in a discussion of them. The proposals reflect the vision, policy, and strategic directions set by the board. Membership in a learning community requires attendance at meetings of the community, along with attendance at a site visit or foundation retreat, and some additional reading.

The learning communities are still new to us and continue to evolve.

The Southeast Cluster The Southwest Cluster