Tag Archives: Hau’oli Mau Loa Foundation

Oct 28 2013
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Impact & Evaluation, Sara Beggs

Strategic Doesn’t Have To Be a Bad Word

By Sara Beggs, ASF

The fundamental tenets of strategic philanthropy are that funders and their grantees should have clear goals, strategies based on sound theories of change, and robust methods for assessing progress toward their goals.—Paul Brest, former president of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and advocate of strategic philanthropy 

Recent debates among philanthropic thought leaders question whether a strategic approach to philanthropy will indeed create the greatest impact. To process and evaluate the criticisms, Janis Reischmann, executive director of Hau’oli Mau Loa Foundation and member of ASF’s Impact Working Group, worked through the common critiques. Here’s where she landed.

Critique: When we practice strategic philanthropy, we’re closed to new ideas.

I do think there’s a discipline in practicing strategic philanthropy that requires one to stay the course, but that doesn’t mean that within “the course,” new ideas won’t surface and emerge. Also, if there’s a mechanism in place for getting feedback and making mid-course adjustments, we should be innovating and adding ideas regularly.

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Apr 24 2013
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Elaine Gast Fawcett, Janis Reischmann, Leadership

Why We Convene

By Elaine Gast Fawcett on behalf of ASF

ASF member Janis Reischmann shares her lessons learned

ASF member Janis Reischmann shares her lessons learned

When it comes to learning about important issues and moving the needle in the right direction, convening is a low-cost and high-impact leadership tool you can’t overlook. In fact, many consider it to be a funder’s most underrated. In part 1 of a 2-part series on convening, hear how an ASF member foundation uses convening to reach its goals.

The ASF member Hau’oli Mau Loa Foundation (meaning eternal happiness in Hawaiian) started convening 10 partner grantees with two goals in mind: to provide a space where they could share and learn from one another, and to help them feel excited and renewed.

“It started as a way to bring partners together. We thought there would be value in them sharing experiences, challenges they face, and successes they see,” says foundation executive director Janis Reischmann. “Someone reminded us that grantees get caught in the day-to-day of their work, and, if we could do nothing more than to re-inspire and re-energize them, that would serve them well.”

Still, the foundation stepped in with caution.

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Feb 13 2013
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Janis Reischmann, Leadership

Why Do We Call Ourselves Grantmakers?

By Janis Reischmann, Hau’oli Mau Loa Foundation

Hau'oli Mau Loa Foundation
I recently returned to a favorite publication of mine—Small Can Be Effective by Paul Ylvisaker, published first in 1989. I remember thinking it was thoughtful and relevant years ago, and I was particularly taken this time by the discussion of the five roles of small foundations. 

One of the things that struck me was the misnomer we use to label ourselves: grantmaker. According to Ylvisaker, grantmaker is only one function within the financial role of foundations. He wisely adds lender, insurer, investor—and 16 other functions within the financial role alone. That left me puzzling over why we place so much emphasis on grantmaking; on the act of writing checks. There is so much more we can do with our resources. 

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