Why Glasspockets?

Writing for PhilanTopic blog, Foundation Center President Brad Smith asks: Where do those of us who care about philanthropic freedom and diversity fit in an increasingly polarized debate that tries to impose a false choice between the two?

• Diversity vs. Philanthropic Freedom?
  6/25/10
• Philanthropy's Digital Divide
  5/3/10
• Transparency: One Size Does Not Fit All
  2/9/10
• Foundations Need to Be More Transparent
  1/29/10

Writing for PhilanTopic blog, Janet Camarena, director of the Foundation Center's San Francisco office and project lead for the Glasspockets initiative, discusses the importance of working with partners in the development and continuing evolution of Glasspockets.

• Transparency, Partnership, and Glasspockets
  3/2/10

With Glasspockets, the Foundation Center and its partners are working to:

• Inspire private foundations to greater openness in their communications.
• Increase understanding of best practices in foundation transparency and accountability in an online world.
• Illustrate how institutional philanthropy is relevant to the critical issues of our time.
• Highlight the many stories of philanthropy that show how private wealth is serving the public good.
• Illuminate successes, failures, and ongoing experimentation so foundations can build on each other's ideas to increase impact.

About our partners:

Center for Effective Philanthropy: The mission of the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) is to provide data and create insight so philanthropic funders can better define, assess, and improve their effectiveness and impact.

Communications Network: Formed nearly 20 years ago as a volunteer group, the Network today operates as a stand-alone 501(c)(3), dedicated to helping advance, promote, and encourage the adoption of effective communications practices in philanthropy.

Global Philanthropy Forum: The Global Philanthropy Forum aims to build a community of donors and social investors committed to international causes, and to inform, enable and enhance the strategic nature of their giving and social investing.

Grantmakers for Effective Organizations: Understanding that grantmakers are successful only to the extent that their grantees achieve meaningful results, GEO promotes strategies and practices that contribute to grantee success.

One World Trust: The One World Trust is an independent think tank that conducts research, develops recommendations and advocates for reform to make policy and decision-making processes in global governance more accountable to the people they affect now and in the future, and to ensure that international laws are strengthened and applied equally to all.

About the Foundation Center:

Established in 1956 and today supported by close to 550 foundations, the Foundation Center is the leading source of information about philanthropy worldwide. Through data, analysis, and training, it connects people who want to change the world to the resources they need to succeed. The Center maintains the most comprehensive database on U.S. and, increasingly, global grantmakers and their grants - a robust, accessible knowledge bank for the sector. It also operates research, education, and training programs designed to advance knowledge of philanthropy at every level. Thousands of people visit the Center's web site each day and are served in its five regional library/learning centers and its network of more than 450 funding information centers located in public libraries, community foundations, and educational institutions nationwide and around the world. For more information, please visit foundationcenter.org or call (212) 620-4230.

Contact us:

For information on Glasspockets, please contact:

Janet Camarena
Director, San Francisco Office
The Foundation Center
jfc@foundationcenter.org

Glasspockets in the News

Why would a foundation tweet?
PHILANTHROPY 2173: The business of giving
2/22/2011
Lucy Bernholz writes: "Information on foundations use of social media can be found at www.glasspockets.org - a Foundation Center initiative. Check out their cool new heat map."

Transparent Philanthropy and the
Foundation Center
Aidinfo.org Blog
International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI)
12/10/2010
The Foundation Center already hosts a reporting system, eGrant, which enables foundations (at the moment almost 600) to easily share data on their grants... grant makers now have the option to have their grants information pulled directly from their websites or feeds, through Grantsfire and its innovative hGrant format. Recently, the Foundation Center received a grant from the Hewlett Foundation to develop a common reporting standard with IATI "to foster greater transparency and accountability, and provide leaders with the information resources they need to be more strategic, purposeful, and effective in their work." We at aidinfo welcome this exciting work between the Foundation Center and Hewlett.

Foundation Center Offers Help for Nonprofits
Lifestyles
The Culpeper Star-Exponent
10/11/2010
Jim Charapich, President/CEO of the Culpeper, Virginia, Chamber of Commerce writes: "One of my favorite aspects of [Glasspockets.org] is that it aggregates the foundations that push information out thru Facebook and Twitter. It is easy to find the foundations that you are interested in and then tune into their style of giving. They call this Foundation Transparency 2.0—very cool!"

New Study: Social Media Use By Foundation Leaders
Beth's Blog
9/17/10
In addition to the [social media] report, the Foundation Center has an extremely useful aggregation site called Glasspockets that among other features let you quickly browse the social media presences of 66 foundations. What I really like is that you can compare different social channels across foundations pretty easily. For example, you can browse Facebook profiles at once. This was so useful, I added it to my Social Media and Foundations wiki.

A Higher Bar for Transparency, Accountability
Philanthropy Journal
9/14/10
CEP Vice President for Research Ellie Buteau reports: "The types of information Glasspockets lists... ranges from the most basic... to what I would argue is the most fundamental — 'a comprehensive assessment of overall foundation performance and effectiveness that measures progress toward institutional mission and goals.' One of the great virtues of Glasspockets is that it makes this public."

Additional Transparency and
Accountability Resources

• The Association of Small Foundations
  The Association publishes the Primer Series to help foundations establish best practices and efficient operations.
• BoardSource The organization's web site includes resources on nonprofit boards, such as Ten Essential Responsibilities of Foundation Board Chairs and Conflicts of Interest at Foundations.
• The Center for Effective Philanthropy The organization has developed the Grantee Perception Report to help foundations compare their performance.
• Council on Foundations The Council has developed resources related to accountability and governance issues as part of its Building Strong and Ethical Foundations program.
• Forum of Regional Association
  of Grantmakers The Forum’s Web site provides accountability education resources and lists regional associations that have adopted guiding principles for grantmakers.
• One World Trust The organization has developed a database of more than 300 civil society self-regulatory initiatives across the globe.