The Good People Fund identifies Good People doing great work — on a personal scale — and introduces them to our donors who are seeking creative ways to help people in need. Our grantees, primarily in the United States and Israel, are small, grass-roots, under-the-radar efforts run by dedicated individuals, or Good People as we describe them. Unwilling to accept the status quo, they've found inventive means to ease poverty, hunger, disability, social isolation and more — with very low overhead and inspiring results. Our goal is to nurture their commitment and ability to achieve meaningful results, one community at a time. Grants range from small gifts to relieve urgent needs identified by our trusted sources, to seed money that leverages innovative solutions. We pre-screen and evaluate every organization to ensure that donors' funds are used for their intended purpose. We also provide significant management guidance and support to our grantees to help them grow their great work.

To identify new programs we make periodic site visits to Israel and various locations in the US where potential new programs may exist. The most important aspect of our work is the personal relationship with the grantee. We take our screening and vetting process very seriously. At the outset we engage in serious conversation with the founder to understand the root of their passion and the story that led them to pursue their work — usually this is a deeply profound and revealing conversation. Once we determine that we have discovered a dynamic visionary open to our mentorship and guidance, we take a close look at their financial status. We ask for budgets, 990s and any other documentation that shows financial health. We look for a budget below $500,000 and no full-time professional development staff. Potential grantees must demonstrate an ability to maintain low overhead, that the majority of expenses go towards programs and that the impact of our grants will be significant. Many of our organizations are in the nascent or emerging stages and we like to see the potential for growth. Though we have no precise formula, years of experience enable us to identify the right fit when we see it. We work with the grantee to determine their greatest needs and where our funds will have the most impact. Our opening grants, often matching challenges, generally range from $1,000 to $5,000 and are directed to a specific purpose. We then begin an ongoing mentee-mentor relationship, providing guidance and expertise in all aspects of non-profit management. We stay in touch with our grantees on a rolling, as-needed basis. Our written documentation is simple; we do not find layers of paperwork an effective assessment tool. Ultimately, we build personal, professional relationships with each of our Good People, to nurture their great work, monitor progress and ensure accountability.

It is really the human capital that has built our organization and that keeps it going at a strong pace. We are fortunate to have an Executive Director with over two decades of experience identifying and mentoring modest-size, nascent-stage organizations. Her ability to vet these organizations combined with her expertise in the management and running of small non-profits has allowed us to grow our model. Our Executive Director is supported by a very involved and highly capable Board of Directors that each brings a unique skill set to the table. In addition, the Good People Fund maintains a small part-time consultant staff that covers public relations and marketing as well as a Jewish Educational Consultant to interact with Jewish educators and produce educational materials. (most positions are covered by grants specifically awarded to cover their costs)

There are several metrics to assess our progress. On the grantee-front: a healthy balance of programs based in the US and Israel; investment of time and resources necessary to find new Good People-led programs; and a steady flow of programs that “graduate" from the Good People Fund family as their budgets grow. On the donor front: a steady increase in both the number of donors and the total donations received since inception. Our growth in this area has far exceeded our expectations largely because we help donors do a maximum of good with each dollar spent by connecting them with the Good Person whose work best realizes their personal philanthropic goals. As long as we stand by our promise to maximize the impact of every dollar spent while creating tangible, immediate results, we expect our growth trajectory to continue in a very positive direction.

Since 2008, we have raised over $13,000,000 and granted over $11,000,000 to more than 185 small organizations, mentoring them as they grow. Several have outgrown us as their budget grows beyond our rough cut-off of $500,000. Through our work with small organizations as well as our Human Needs/Self-Sufficiency work, we know that more hungry people have been fed, more homeless people have found shelter, more at-risk youth have discovered supportive outlets, more elders have overcome the isolating effects of aging, more disabled people have found meaning in their lives and more people caught in the cycle of poverty have achieved some stability. We have built a strong organizational base with solid infrastructure, proper governance, financial oversight, active sub-committees and a committed board that meets regularly and have grown our staff to include consultants who assist in our work. To do: increase our audience; assure our sustainability and continue to identify worthwhile programs.