HOW DO I BECOME A DONOR WHO MAKES A DIFFERENCE?

CASE STUDY

The Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Center

With so many worthy causes and demands on your resources, it's difficult to know how to focus your giving in order to make a real difference. Where can your contributions have the most impact? Which organizations are most worthy of your support? What giving vehicle should you use? Should you give smaller gifts to many organizations, or larger gifts to just a few? Addressing these questions begins with a process that helps you clarify your values, set goals, and put into place a strategic giving plan.

THE ALEKSANDR SOLZHENITSYN CENTER:

The directors of the Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Center had a passion for the work of the great Russian writer and anticommunist dissident Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Solzhenitsyn, they believed, could change lives, yet too few Americans knew his work, too many of his works remained untranslated, and too many scholars misrepresented his views. How could a new organization help change all of this?

American Philanthropic helped the directors clarify their goals and create a road map for achieving them. We helped them set up a private operating foundation—The Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Center—advancing a better understanding of the life and work of Solzhenitsyn. We helped to write appropriate bylaws, craft a mission statement, and create a concise vision for the Center's programming. We are now helping the Center build a development program and execute its programming—including a major international conference on Solzhenitsyn to be held in Oxford in 2013.

RELATED SERVICES:

• Strategic planning—including clarifying goals, identifying and setting up the correct giving vehicle, donor-intent preservation, and impact assessment.
• Foundation creation and management.
• Landscape analysis.
• Grantee research and evaluation.
• Philanthropic partner research and evaluation.
• Development program creation and management.
• RFP writing and dissemination.