FFOG Member Activities
FFOG has more than 350 members from 200 foundations in the United States. FFOG also has members in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany. FFOG members are investment and financial staff from large private foundations, who come together to exchange ideas and develop their professional expertise.
What Does FFOG Offer Its Members?
Semi-annual Meetings
These are hosted by member foundations in cities across the United States, and occasionally abroad. Meetings generally take place in April and October, last two days, and feature noteworthy speakers, panel discussions, member roundtables, and time to meet and get to know other members.
FFOG Website
The website is the primary medium for member communication outside of the semi-annual meetings. The website features opportunities to:
- Research
Members can browse and search a wide variety of foundation resources. Resources available on the site include publications and documents, results of past FFOG surveys on investment, financial and administrative topics, links to websites of interest to members, and sample policies on foundation administration, employee benefits, and investment guidelines that members can use as models for their own policies.
- Connect
Members can browse and search through a comprehensive directory of members and member organizations, and connect with peers who share their professional interests, foundation objectives, geographical area, and more.
- Collaborate
Members can form online groups to collaborate on subjects of mutual interest, exchange ideas, share documents and more.
- Discuss
FFOG members can ask questions and share information about investment and financial matters unique to private foundations. Both the questions and answers are recorded under topic headings so they are useful for future reference. Members are notified of new postings in their areas of interest via e-mail.
The website also features information about current events, upcoming FFOG meetings, and other information of interest to FFOG members, as well as an job and resume posting area.
FFOG Surveys
FFOG conducts three major surveys annually and one-day surveys monthly.
Major Surveys
The three major surveys provide comparative information for foundation management and focus on: administrative, compensation and investment. Participation in each survey is considered an expectation of all member foundations; usefulness depends on full member participation. The surveys are developed and conducted through the volunteer efforts of the FFOG Research Committee.
Administrative Cost Survey
The Administrative Cost Survey, with 2002 as its first year of focus, is designed to answer questions that we as foundation managers ask ourselves every day regarding reasonable operating standards. The survey covers six areas of interest -- 990PF information, board costs, staffing information, benefits costs, occupancy costs and accountability/governance/transparency.
Investment Survey
The Investment Survey has been conducted since 1992 and provides information about foundations including total assets size, calendar year end asset allocation, long-term target allocation, investment managers employed, consultants utilized, and investment issues that foundations are facing. The survey also provides investment returns in the aggregate.
Compensation Survey
The Compensation Survey includes both the salary and benefits of all W-2 employees. The intent of the compensation survey is to provide information to FFOG members sufficient to assist in the development of position descriptions, compensation targets and compensation ranges that comply with the IRS "reasonable compensation" standard for nonprofit organizations.
The major surveys are conducted on-line, and the results are compiled into databases, allowing for customized benchmarking and inquiries. Members have found the surveys to be valuable and timely sources of reliable, relevant information. Members are willing to share such survey information because they understand the confidentiality of all shared information. FFOG members may only use the results of the administrative cost and investment surveys strictly within their own foundation. However, FFOG members may elect to retain a compensation consultant of their choice and grant them limited access to the compensation survey to advise on their own foundation only. Only participating foundations have access to survey results.
Training on the use of the major survey databases is offered at both FFOG semi-annual meetings and on periodic webinars.
One-Day Surveys
One-day surveys are short, one-topic surveys, typically generated by a question or concern common to the membership. Any member may suggest a topic for a survey.
Each Regular Member receives an email with a link to the survey. If that member is not right person to address the questions in the survey, they are asked to pass it on to someone who is. The one-day survey generally takes only a few minutes to answer.
The survey closes after a few days and the results are reported in the following month's FFOGHorn. In contrast to the major surveys, there is no requirement that members participate in the one-day surveys. Occasionally, surveys are requested by members to address a particular question. The results of these surveys are normally shared only with the requesting party. An example of this would be a sampling of the membership by a FFOG Meeting Host Committee about activities or possible program topics.
A Confidential Forum, Free from Commercial Solicitation
In all activities, FFOG stresses a culture where members regard all communications as "between members only." This engenders an atmosphere of mutual trust and willingness to share expertise and experiences. While noteworthy investment professionals are often asked to speak at FFOG conferences, FFOG provides a forum free from solicitation by commercial interests.
FFOG Member Activities
About the FFOG Website
The FFOG website was initially funded and implemented at the initiative of FFOG members George Vera and Ed Diener with the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. It was launched in October, 1999.
Since April, 2001, the website is supported through FFOG dues and managed by its officers and the Website Committee. All FFOG members contribute to the content on the site.