Blue Ridge is
an engaged grantmaker. We work extremely closely with the leadership
and staff of the organizations we fund. Since most of the organizations
we support actually work out of our offices, our interactions
range from water-cooler conversations to formal capacity-building
programs and quarterly accountability meetings. We strive to
move each grantee from concept through execution, and ultimately
to independence from our support.
Support that we offer to our grantees includes:
Funding to
create, launch, and operate a new organization, including
salaries for core project staff;
Strategic assistance
in critical areas of organizational capacity (fundraising,
strategic management, board development, etc) to support
grantees' long-term sustainability;
A grantee community
that allows the staff of our grantees to build the relationships
critical for trading ideas, forming partnerships and tapping
the expertise of their fellow social entrepreneurs in our
network; and,
Back-office support
to address administrative and operational challenges and
ensure that grantee staff can focus adequately on substantive
program-related activity.
