The Washington Forrest Foundation focuses our efforts on strengthening the relationships we have with our grantee partners. We believe that our partners are the experts in serving their clients and community. Understanding your work and how we can support you is central to our approach.

Our partners are organized into “portfolios,” each with an assigned Grants Manager, to allow for more focused and consistent interactions. We have developed a Partner Experience Cycle which identifies “Pathways for Engagement” to show  the types of support we provide and the relationship we want to have with our grantee partners.

Our goal is to construct an equitable partner experience across all of our grantmaking. The Board and the Staff are committed to ensuring that each grantee partner has the opportunity to connect with the Foundation on their terms and in an authentic way.  The objective is to respect an organization’s time, as well as fulfill our need to engage our Board and family in this important work.

1. Connection– Fostering a deeper connection through Foundation understanding of our partners work. These connections will be developed individually with each organization so that the relationship is driven by what the partner needs in addition to strengthening our board members’ engagement with the organization
2. Communication– Ongoing general and specific communications between the partner and the Foundation to foster sustained connections on community issues, events, advocacy, organizational news and updates
3. Evaluation – Includes conversations and outreach about the application and its content as well as engagement with a staff member pre and post submission of the application, including possibly during the Board review meeting
4. Award – Announcement of the award, discussion with the partner, opportunities for recognition and to leverage the award by sharing with selected constituencies