Last week, I had to inform my staff of two decisions—that will be the first of more, I am sure—that I never would have expected to make when I took this position almost a year ago.

As we hired staff earlier this year—filling several positions that had remained vacant in anticipation of my arrival—we planned to take over some additional space in our building to accommodate everyone comfortably.

We have put that decision on hold.

Times are different now, and with predictions that more than 100,000 nonprofits nationwide could close in the next two years, we’re considering all of our operational spending very carefully, and doing what we can to ensure that despite the downturn, we’ll be able to maintain—if not grow—our grantmaking over the next few years.

Our mission is to support our region’s nonprofits as they work to change the lives of women and girls.  Many of the organizations we support are small, or just starting to establish themselves. They have lean staffs and do their programmatic work on a shoestring budget.

So, rather than making sure that we have enough space behind our doors during these tough economic times, we’re turning our focus to doing what we can to help our Grantee Partners keep theirs open and providing critical services throughout our region.

This is a time when strategy, smart investing and sacrifice are going to be required of foundations, just as they are of individuals, to ensure that the impact of our giving is as meaningful as possible.

To that end, the staff at The Women’s Foundation recently completed a strategic retreat to reflect on our priorities, goals and how we can meet them as efficiently and effectively as possible during this economic cycle.

Last week , we sent out an email asking staff to bring their own lunches to the retreat, as food and beverage costs for meetings and other events are another way that we’ve identified to cut costs and keep the focus of our spending on our work.

It may seem like a small gesture, but over time these decisions will add up and allow us to focus resources where they are needed most—with the women and their families who are being disproportionately impacted by this economic downturn.

This is similar to our strategy of increasing the impact of gifts—whatever their size—by combining them with the gifts of others so that when we give, we give more and your dollars go further.

In many ways, applying The Power of Giving Together in every way we can has never been more important.

Phyllis Caldwell is president of The Women’s Foundation.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 2:59 pm and is filed under Blog, Economy, Our Foundation, Philanthropy, Women. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.