The field of philanthropy has seen unprecedented growth over the past twenty years. With this growth, the art and practice of philanthropy has also evolved. The Drezner Group keeps abreast of information on effective practices in the field and uses it to help our clients shape their programs and operations.

The range of services we offer to philanthropic organizations includes:

• Organizational assessment, situational analysis and strategic planning
• Facilitating start-up, transitions and changes
• Design and management of grantmaking programs and initiatives
• Community and issue-specific research to define needs and grantmaking strategies
• Capacity-building programs for grantees
• Grantee evaluation and grants administration
• Assessment of grantmaking effectiveness and foundation operations
• Board and staff development
• Executive coaching and search

The firm's principal, Julie Kenny Drezner, is a nationally recognized foundation professional. With her leadership, The Drezner Group has advised an extraordinarily diverse range of grantmakers throughout the United States. Our clients include community foundations, private foundations, health care conversion foundations, corporate funders, family foundations as well as philanthropic support organizations such as the Council on Foundations, the Southern California Association for Philanthropy and the League of California Community Foundations.

We specialize in strategic planning for philanthropic organizations of all sizes and types. Our portfolio of strategic planning clients is extensive. For example, we helped the Council on Foundations develop its far-reaching five-year strategic plan. Also, we were lead consultants to Blue Cross of California in planning The California Endowment and California Healthcare Foundation, now ranked among the largest health care foundations in the nation.

While we have experience with a wide spectrum of foundation issues, we bring a unique set of skills to philanthropic start-ups. Our work with nascent community foundations, as well as healthcare conversion foundations, has involved pulling together all the necessary pieces for a viable, focused and well-organized philanthropic program—everything from researching community needs to designing a grantmaking program to developing/training the board and staff.

At the same time, we have delivered high-impact results for established philanthropic foundations with a range of assignments such as developing grantmaking programs and initiatives focused on issues as diverse as health access, fatherhood, immigrant services and economic education.

The Drezner Group has a special expertise in community foundations. We have provided a range of strategic planning and organizational development services for many community foundations throughout the United States. For the League of California Community Foundations, we designed and led both the Growing Community Foundations Program, providing hands-on training and technical assistance to more than a dozen emerging foundations, and the Community Foundation Learning Network, designing professional development and capacity-building services to all League members—including California's leading community foundations who together serve 97 percent of the state's population.

In these and many other consulting assignments, The Drezner Group has a proven track record for helping foundations grow and evolve to more fully achieve their philanthropic missions. See Family Foundations for more information about special services provided by The Drezner Group to these organizations.

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