In(c)ights | Está todo sobre la misión
The Foundation Center’s recent publication of Guía para escribir propuestas, a Spanish-language edition of its popular Guide to Proposal Writing, might seem to make little sense, given that most foundations want their proposals submitted in English. But according to Janet Camarena, director of the center’s San Francisco office, who oversaw the translation, the expansion of resources and training services to Spanish speakers is part of a larger, longer-term strategy to engage with audiences that might not be aware of how it could help them.
"A central piece of our strategic plan a few years ago was to start reaching out to the underserved and underresourced," Camarena told me a couple of weeks ago. "We’ve continued that in the current strategic plan. … One of the biggest barriers to audiences using us is them learning that we exist and that we have free services for them to use around the country. That barrier becomes magnified when English is not their first language. … My own parents emigrated from Mexico. I was born in a household speaking Spanish. It’s a personal and intellectual challenge for me — how to reach communities I know are in need that don’t have access to philanthropic capital that can be very beneficial to them."
That personal stake aside, Camarena points out that the Foundation Center’s decision to launch its Spanish initiative in California makes good demographic sense. The effort will eventually reach the rest of the center’s locations across the country, and what I like about it is its tie to the organization’s mission.
"A lot of people don’t realize the Foundation Center is a nonprofit," she said. "A big part of our mission is public service. There are many different audiences, and they each have different needs, and this is one of them.
"People often wonder why we’re offering proposal writing in Spanish if the majority of foundations in this country will only accept proposals in English. We see the main audience of the training and the book we’re doing as a bilingual audience. The intent of the book is not necessarily to reach monolingual Spanish speakers, but to reach those that are Spanish-dominant. It would facilitate the learning process to have it in their native tongue. Proposal writing is hard enough to those of us who are native English speakers. This is one way to demystify the process." | 501(c)
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POSTED IN: Foundations, Fundraising, Mission
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