Convenings: Why a Non-grantmaking Strategy is So Important

Grantee convenings have been an important non-grantmaking strategy for Marguerite Casey Foundation since its inception in 2001. Convenings provide grantees an opportunity to collaborate, enable grantees to build stronger networks and improve their capacity to contribute to Movement Building. Five regional grantee convenings were held in 2006 and early 2007; this report presents an overview of the proceedings and the key lessons learned about Movement Building. Click here

Formative Papers

In July 2002, the Foundation concluded a four-month long nationwide information gathering process intended to provide the basis of its grantmaking strategy. This comprehensive fact-finding program was designed to help the staff and Board solicit advice from many of the nation’s leading thinkers in the fields of child and family welfare and consisted of four key elements:

• Forty “Thinking Papers”
• Six Listening Circles
• Phone interviews with more than a dozen experts throughout the country
• An environmental scan of relevant private funder initiatives

Throughout its information gathering, the Foundation’s leaders sought to challenge common assumptions about healthy families and the factors that threaten them. The findings of this research are summarized below.

• Findings of Thinking Pieces (150kb)
  Despite the disparate experiences and viewpoints of the many authors of the commissioned thinking pieces, several ideas and concepts appeared again and again in the papers. Marguerite Casey Foundation asked Imagio | J. Walter Thompson to summarize the findings of the 40 plus thinking pieces, and distill the best ways to support families.
  
• Listening Circle Report (278kb)
  This report was commissioned from the T.L. Hill group to document the ideas generated at Marguerite Casey Foundation’s Listening Circle forums. The Listening Circle gatherings occurred in six cities across the nation and brought together a unique mixture of families, community leaders, state and city officials and activists, all of whom shared their insights on improving the lives of children, youth and families.
  
• The Economic and Family Situation of Children in the U.S. and Selected States: 1990 and 1997- 2001 Executive Summary and Overview (772kb)
  An overview of poverty, family, work and parental presence in the homes of children for major race/ethnic, immigrant generation, and age groups around 1990 and the late 1990's, focusing particularly on the nine states of California, New York, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Mexico, and South Dakota. Written by Donald J. Hernandez, Ph.D.
  
• The Economic and Family Situation of Children in the U.S. and Selected States: 1990 and 1997 – 2001 Final Report (877kb)
  A detailed report discussing the demography of children during 1989/1990 and 1998/1999 and the demography of young adults during 1998/1999 regarding their chances of living in (1) poor or near-poor families, (2) working-poor or working-near-poor families, and (3) two-parent or one-parent families. Results are presented for the U.S., and for the states of California, New York, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Mexico, and South Dakota. Written by Donald J. Hernandez, Ph.D.

The Earned Income Tax Credit: Analysis and Proposals for Reform

At the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on October 18th, the Foundation released "Different Incomes, Common Dreams", the most comprehensive study that looks at the attitudes of Americans, particularly low-income families' attitudes, before and after Hurricane Katrina.
Survey Findings

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