By Jenna Wachtmann, Ball Brothers Foundation

We’ve all been there: a mountain of proposals to read, voicemails blinking with messages, board meetings with packed agendas, and the frenzy to get grant checks out the door. In the midst of the commotion of day-to-day operations, it can be easy to lose sight of investing board and staff time in the deeper how’s and why’s of foundation work.

Amidst never ending to-do lists, how can we keep our perspectives centered on the core principles and values that drive our operations? How can we help ensure that board and staff members alike remain well-versed in the philosophies that inform decision making? How can we help to provide additional context for big discussions?

In 2015, Ball Brothers Foundation (and our 4-person staff) added a new “tool” to our communications toolbox to do just this. In addition to communicating with our 13-member board via quarterly newsletters, social media, and our board portal, we initiated a quarterly information piece in the form of a letter that we call “OnTopic.”

OnTopic letters are brief: just one page. Written by our president/COO, they are topical in nature, covering a range of practical and philosophical issues. We often compare our foundation with like-sized foundations using benchmarks from surveys like Exponent Philanthropy’s annual Foundation Operations and Management Report. As we orient new family members to the foundation, these “OnTopic” letters provide invaluable context for the work we do. And they provide a valuable check-in for board and staff who have served our organization for years, providing a powerful opportunity to reconnect with our core values.

What subjects have we covered with OnTopic? Here’s a quick description:

• Mission statement—A look back at how our mission statement was crafted, a review of key documents capturing donor intent, and stats comparing BBF to similar foundations
• Succession planning—A summary of why succession planning matters, a review of our existing succession plans, and a note about how we compare with other foundations
• Engaging next generation family members—A history tracing the evolution of next gen engagement efforts at BBF and a preview of future programming
• Perpetual vs. sunset—An overview of our donors’ intent with rationale for why BBF is a perpetual foundation and a summary of how our status as a perpetual foundation impacts our grantmaking and investing
• Social media—An overview of how and why we use Facebook very strategically and stats about other foundations’ use of social media

Future editions of OnTopic are scheduled to cover strategic planning, legal topics (like self-dealing), an overview of our investment policy statement, and more.

The reaction to OnTopic has been overwhelmingly positive. Board members have appreciated the check-in, staff members contributing to the content-writing have been challenged to dig deep into our founding documents, and our family foundation now has written documentation that we can return to time and again.

I’d love to hear how your foundation keeps the how’s and why’s of your work front and center. Please share your innovations in the comment box below.

Jenna Wachtmann is a program officer with Ball Brothers Foundation, a family foundation based in Muncie, Indiana. She is a graduate of the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.