PLATINUM2022

Unfunded List

Great Proposal? Need feedback? Unfunded List.

Waterville, ME   |  http://www.unfundedlist.com

Mission

Unfunded List demystifies philanthropy with public education and through a twice-annual program of grant proposal review. Twice a year hundreds of experts from organized philanthropy and other fields provide helpful and candid suggestions to grant proposals submitted from around the world. We coordinate a thorough review for each proposal and highlight several in our regular Unfunded List updates. We discuss philanthropy with influential leaders in the field on the highly-rated Open Door Philanthropy Podcast.

Ruling year info

2017

Founder

Dave Moss

Main address

10 Water Street

Waterville, ME 04901 USA

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EIN

81-0954581

NTEE code info

Nonmonetary Support N.E.C. (T19)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

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Communication

Blog

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

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Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

Proposal Evaluation

Unfunded List conducts two rounds of grant proposal evaluation per year. Anyone in the world with a grant proposal can submit to us and we will have it reviewed by appropriately positioned evaluators capable of giving helpful and candid feedback. Each submission receives a customized, comprehensive feedback report and a follow up call to discuss and brainstorm next steps. We always invite resubmissions and will produce multiple reports for organizations with ongoing fundraising operations. We have reviewed 1000 grant proposals since 2015 and helped struggling fundraisers find millions of dollars in grants by reviewing proposals that otherwise would have stayed in the trash can.

Population(s) Served
Activists
Artists and performers

Where we work

Videos

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Number of grant proposals reviewed.

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Related Program

Proposal Evaluation

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

As of November 2022, we have reviewed 1,000 proposals.

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

We educate and include people in philanthropy. Sometimes that means teaching someone how to review their first grant proposal, sometimes that means helping them write their first grant proposal. Ideally, it means helping someone get their first grant proposal funded or helping someone build the skills necessary to work at a foundation or raise money for a cause. Often, it means helping people around the world find answers to their questions about philanthropy.

We manage a twice yearly program of proposal review. We recruit hundreds of new evaluators every year and receive hundreds of proposals to review from proposal authors. We train evaluators on how to provide helpful and candid advice and we provide that advice to everyone who submits a proposal. Our review program has yielded hundreds of thousands of suggestions, thousands of pages of feedback, and has led to millions of dollars in new funding while training hundreds of professionals as experienced proposal reviewers.

We also publish a twice annual Unfunded List Update, regular events both online and in person, and we produce the highly-rated podcast Open Door Philanthropy.

How we listen

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.

done We shared information about our current feedback practices.

  • How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

    To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals

  • Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

    We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently, The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, We are constantly asked to fill out reductivist forms about our feedback collection process.

Financials

Unfunded List
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

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lock

Connect with nonprofit leaders

Subscribe

Build relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.

  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.

Unfunded List

Board of directors
as of 11/29/2022
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Margaret Chapman

JaM Strategies

Jane Moss

Duke University

Peter Williamson

Kettering Family Foundation

Shreya Balhara

John Rose Companies

Jennifer Storm-Jenkins

US State Department

Ashley Bailey Lahoud

Northside Center for Childhood Development

MarQuis Fair

Bold Progressives

Ian Madrigal

Project Truth & Rec

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • Board orientation and education
    Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes
  • CEO oversight
    Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? No
  • Ethics and transparency
    Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes
  • Board composition
    Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes
  • Board performance
    Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? No

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 11/28/2022
info Candid has made improvements to the race and ethnicity options.

Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.

Leadership

The organization's leader identifies as:

Race & ethnicity
Jewish
Gender identity
Male, Not transgender (cisgender)
Sexual orientation
Decline to state
Disability status
Person without a disability

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

 

Sexual orientation

Disability

Equity strategies

Last updated: 11/28/2022

GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more

Data
  • We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
  • We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
  • We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
  • We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
  • We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
  • We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
  • We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
Policies and processes
  • We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
  • We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
  • We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
  • We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
  • We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
  • We measure and then disaggregate job satisfaction and retention data by race, function, level, and/or team.
  • We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.