Edwards Mother Earth Foundation

The Challenge:

Established in 1997, Edwards Mother Earth Foundation now involves 12 family members spanning three generations. Since most board members have limited time and energy to devote to the foundation, Sonia Baker, the founder’s daughter, serves as Executive Director, handling most of the organizing and administration. This includes communicating with the charities, reading and summarizing 30 to 40 grant proposals a year, and handling all due diligence for a growing number of organizations.

Over time, it had become a tremendous amount of work for one person. Further, with no shared understanding of what projects were appropriate to fund within the foundation’s broader mission, granting tended to be based on personal interests rather than broader foundation objectives.

How They Work With Us:

Foundation Source provided immediate and significant relief to Ms. Baker by taking over the administrative requirements of the Foundation. Next, Foundation Source facilitated a two-day strategic planning session that helped the family define the program areas it would focus on within its mission: enhancing the environment, protecting natural resources and promoting education on biodiversity issues. After the meeting, specific family members took responsibility for each program area, including charity research, due diligence and summarizing their findings for the board. Foundation Source worked with Ms. Baker to change the process for accepting and evaluating grant proposals, which included using Foundation Source Requests to move the paper-based application process to one that is completely online and automatically filters out applicants that do not fit the foundation’s funding criteria. Through Foundation Source Online, each family member has access to all the information they need to evaluate grant requests and participate fully in grantmaking decisions.

Their Experience Now:

“Foundation Source takes the tedious, dull work out of running the foundation,” Ms. Baker says. “Now when we gather for foundation business, we are far more productive and really enjoy being together as a family. We’ve been through many strategic planning sessions in the past, but never one as well done as with Foundation Source. Because we are more focused now on what we want to accomplish, The Edwards Mother Earth Foundation actually supports fewer organizations; however, we are able to make a real impact with the dollars we give.  Foundation Source gives us the guidance and tools to experiment with new approaches to granting, such as capacity-building grants and multi-year grants, which we would not have considered before. And I know that whenever I have a question, all I have to do is pick up the phone, and Foundation Source is there with an answer.”