Cleveland Foundation

Established in 1914, the Cleveland Foundation is the world's first community foundation and the nation’s second-largest today, with assets of $1.8 billion and annual grants of $80 million to $85 million. The foundation improves the lives of Greater Clevelanders now and for generations to come by building community endowment, addressing needs through grantmaking and providing leadership on vital issues.

FSG has helped the Cleveland Foundation to:

• Align its governance structure with its mission. The Foundation was considering expanding its Board and altering its committee structure with the hope of delegating more responsibility to program staff and enhancing community engagement. FSG surveyed best practices among other large community foundations, and developed a framework for the new governance structure based on these learnings.
• Establish goals and performance indicators. FSG developed a unified foundation-wide operating plan that helped to strengthen links between different departments and to enable more effective performance management.
• Enhance sustainability. FSG's cost-revenue analysis helped the Foundation to better understand the costs it incurs in providing products and services to donors - and the development of an Interactive Strategy Model offered the Foundation a chance to understand the impact of potential strategic and operational changes on its long-term sustainability.