To make your vision a reality, donors need to find doers with the right goals, skills, and resources. Sometimes the most effective action is to sustain or expand existing community programs. At other times, a donor will want to sponsor the creation of entirely new programs.

In either case, the donor must communicate his vision and priorities to potential recipients and then screen responses judiciously. Does the recipient organization have the needed programmatic skills and resources? What about their management and financial capacity? Early attention to these issues can spare both donor and grantee conflict later, while building a sound foundation for effective change.

Cambridge Consulting helps donors prepare requests for proposals (RFP's) and evaluate potential recipients. We help with screening of requests as well as site visits.

An individual philanthropist might want to improve city schools. Cambridge Consulting might help the donor narrow the initial focus to curriculum enhancement at one school. We would help organize teacher, parent and community involvement in a pilot project that could be easily monitored by the donor, then expanded to other schools.