Breeding philanthropies: New incubator will hatch foundations. (Nonprofit Assets).

Michael Chertok needed directors and officers insurance for the new Silicon Valley foundation he heads, but was not sure how much to buy. So, he asked his officemates in a new incubator that aims to hatch new philanthropies.

"In five minutes in the incubator, I was able to speak to people from three different foundations about their experience with this," said Chertok, managing director of the Global Catalyst Foundation in Palo Alto, Calif. "It was good to have different perspectives."

The foundation, formed by partners in Global Catalyst Partners, a venture-capital firm in Palo Alto, was the first tenant in The Foundation Incubator. Modeled on nonprofit business incubators throughout the United States that provide a home and technical support for startup firms, the Palo Alto-based Foundation Incubator is believed to be the first designed to harvest emerging philanthropies.

The incubator, which has five tenants, was formed by 18 foundations and three corporations that want to improve the odds for new foundations to succeed. "Starting a foundation is complex, it's time-consuming and it's isolating," said Elizabeth Bremner, the incubator's executive director. "For many of the foundations we're working with, this is a whole new industry."

The incubator targets foundations created with new wealth generated through the New Economy and high-tech sector, or with wealth transferred between generations.

Silicon Valley alone has given birth to more than 200 private foundations in the past 10 years, according to Foundation Incubator estimates.

Research commissioned by the incubator and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation in Los Altos, Calif., found that most new philanthropists need to develop their skills, and many want to learn in a "person-to-person, just-in-time manner from the best," Bremner said.

The incubator aims to help young foundations "learn the business of philanthropy and have access to the expertise of the field," she said. And, its focus is "just-in-time learning," she said, giving tenants access to the information, resources and experts they need, when they need it.

"The model of the incubator is all about collaboration," she said.

Consider the Global Catalyst Foundation. Endowed with stock in privately held firms, the $10 million-asset foundation seeks to improve the lives of people outside the United States through information and communication technologies. The foundation practices what it calls "engaged philanthropy," working closely with groups it funds.

"We work hard to find ways to do things to help them advance their work beyond just providing funding," said Chertok.

The foundation, which has made 23 grants totaling nearly $1 million, has found at the incubator the type of technical support it wants to give its own grantees.

"We really are committed to doing this kind of engaged philanthropy," Chertok said, "but to do it well, we really need to have the ability to have knowledge and connections and be able to provide something of value to the groups we are working with."

In addition to office space designed to encourage tenants to learn from one another, the incubator connects tenants to experts who can help them, including officials of foundations investing in the incubator, Chertok said.

He and another member of his five-person staff have talked to colleagues at the Hewlett, Kellogg and Packard foundations, all incubator funders, and at the Ford Foundation, "to understand how we can do our work better." Topics range from setting up a foundation to helping grantees build effective programs.

A big issue for the foundation, for example, has been finding financially sustainable business models for "telecenters" in developing countries that offer telecommunications services ranging from computers and printing to photocopying and Web access.

After a Ford officer told Chertok that Kellogg was working on a telecenter in South Africa, Tom Reis, a Kellogg program officer and incubator board member, hooked Chertok up with the telecenter. And when Chertok later visited South Africa, the Kellogg officer there arranged a visit to the telecenter.

Lorna Lathram, executive director of The Omidyar Foundation in Los Gatos, Calif., and an incubator board member, said the collaborative environment the incubator fosters helps tenants learn from other foundations' trial and error. "Others have been there before," she said. "You can ask the questions. You can brainstorm with people. You have the opportunity not to work in isolation."

In teaming up with other foundations to plan the incubator, the startup Omidyar Foundation -- created by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar -- found itself part of an informal network akin to an incubator.

"It gave us access to people in all sorts of foundations of different sizes and different stages of growth," she said. "You want to be able to have access to organizations going through a similar process or even a little ahead of you."

In selecting tenants, the incubator looks for foundations that will work closely with other foundations. Three tenants, for example, are talking about teaming up to fund emergency medical support for Afghan refugees.

Bremner expects 60 percent of the 11,000-square-foot incubator, with room for about 25 foundations employing roughly 60 people, to be filled by March. The incubator has hired BTW Consultants in Berkeley, Calif., to evaluate its impact on its foundation tenants, and to document its work as a model for other regions.

"I feel pretty certain we will see other incubators cropping up around the country," she said.

Latino philanthropy

Helping Latino nonprofits do a better job is the focus of a new initiative of Hispanics in Philanthropy.

The Council on Foundations affinity group, based in Emeryville, Calif., near San Francisco, wants to raise $16.5 million over five years to boost giving in Latino communities and nonprofits by organized philanthropy. So far, the group has raised $7.2 million from 34 funders.

Most of the money raised by the initiative, the Funders Collaborative for Strong Latino Communities, goes to strengthen the internal operations of Latino nonprofits in the United States, with some support in five Latin American countries.

"We're focused completely on organizational development," said Magui Rubalcava, director of programs for Hispanics in Philanthropy.

The mission of the affinity group is to expand Latino philanthropy and the number of Latinos working in philanthropy. The collaborative uses funds from national foundations -- with major support from Ford, Kellogg and Rockefeller -- to match funds for the project raised by local foundations.

Committees representing local and national funders oversee the process of requesting and approving grant proposals from Latino nonprofits, which must have annual operating budgets of less than $1 million.

Rubalcava, based in St. Paul, Minn., said the initiative aims to better connect Latinos and funders. "If you don't have access to philanthropy, if you're a nonprofit and you don't know how to approach foundations, it's very hard to get funding."

The initiative is particularly interested in foundations that don't yet fund Latino causes, she said. "The goal is not just to bring more money to the Latino community," she said, "but also to educate funders."

RELATED ATRICLE: Foundation Still Cooking Despite Thomas' Passing

Throughout his life Dave Thomas was known for his hamburgers, the "Joe Regular" image he emanated in his television commercials and a passion for adoption advocacy.

When the Wendy's founder and pitchman died on last month from liver cancer, his Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption was left without its figurehead and heart. Nevertheless, in the coming months the foundation foresees whipping up donations faster than a Frosty Dairy Dessert.

"When a great person like Dave. Thomas is associated with an organization and that person passes on, people are frequently motivated to donate to the cause ," said Rita Soronen, executive director of the Dublin Ohio-headquartered foundation. "We will probably be seeing donations coming not only to the foundation but we're hoping that it generates out to local adoption partners across this nation. There will be that immediate impact folks wanting to help the cause with which he was most passionately associated with."

Preceding Thomas's untimely death was the beginning stages of new endowment campaign. According to Soronen, the discussions now move toward the question of what portion of that endowment campaign will contain particular emphasis on memorial donations.

Craig Causer

Todd Cohen is editor and publisher of Nonprofitxpress, an online newspaper at www.npxpress.com. He can be reached at [e-mail]