For years after the establishment of the Murphy Family Foundation in 1986, its administrators had to deal with a time-consuming round robin of paperwork. They would receive written proposals, review them and pass them on to the foundation’s trustees for their review. Only then would the trustees meet to discuss the grant request. Often, the trustees would want to refer back to previous requests from one organization or another to see if changing circumstances warranted a different decision from the past. But it became increasingly difficult to keep all the information for each grant request readily available.
However, according to Karen Powers, the foundation’s administrative assistant for the last six years, that unwieldy system of operation changed when the trustees decided to find “some sort of software program” that would offer them the capability to store comments on proposals for later reference. Their research led them to a provider of support services far more powerful than the software program they had originally sought: Foundation Source.
“Now,” says Ms. Powers, “Foundation Source has introduced the Murphy Family Foundation to a totally modern and much faster way of working.”
How They Work With Us
Ms. Powers says that “Foundation Source got the Murphy Family Foundation up and running far more quickly than we expected, and we have already started receiving proposals online.”
In addition to providing an online tutorial that enabled Ms. Powers to master the many services offered by Foundation Source at her own pace, Foundation Source also responded to calls for assistance from various charities that wanted to submit grant requests to the Murphy Family Foundation.
As a result of these efforts, Ms. Powers and the trustees of the foundation have realized substantial savings in time and effort needed to process requests for grants, and they foresee an expanding relationship with Foundation Source as the next generation of the family begins to participate in foundation activities.
Their Experience Now
When asked what impresses her most about Foundation Source, Ms. Powers replies, “The responsive service. It surprises me how far their people will go to assist us. Once, one of the trustees called Foundation Source for assistance well ‘after hours,’ because she needed help accessing certain information. She found someone who patiently walked her through all the steps to locate the data she needed. Foundation Source always works hard to make sure that everything works right.”
