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Member Benefits

The Forum is not a traditional membership association; we are a vibrant network that is leading the field by activating the talent, resources and connections of our members in a proactive way. The Forum relies on the active participation of all of our members and leverages the skills and knowledge of each member to benefit all other Forum members and the philanthropy they support.

Key values and benefits include the following:

Partnerships & Collaborations

The Forum will work one-on-one with each national PSO member to design a customized partner plan to help leverage the Forum’s nationwide network of regional and national PSOs to share content and learning through programming, communications and partnerships.

Professional Development

The Forum provides ongoing professional development opportunities to support staff and CEOs of regional and national PSOs in their unique roles. This includes an annual conference, which is the Forum’s signature professional development opportunity for philanthropy’s infrastructure, regular webinars, regional convenings and more.

Networking

The Forum offers a variety of opportunities for the staff and CEOs of regional and national PSOs to network with peers throughout the year. This includes a number of active listservs and regular conference calls focused on different job functions and issue areas, regular CEO calls, and other networking opportunities.

Data & Knowledge

The Forum provides unique data and knowledge to inform the work of regional and national PSOs, including a key metrics report to offer comparable data on PSOs’ staffing, budgets, dues, services, etc.; a compensation and benefits report; regular newsletters and updates; a national calendar for philanthropy infrastructure events; and more. The Forum also maintains a collective knowledgebase of curated resources, where members can disseminate resources, reports and learnings for the field.

Capacity Building

The Forum is continuing to develop programs and services that members can offer as benefits to their organizational members. Members may also take advantage of the Forum’s growing efforts to attract new grant funding that can be re-granted to PSOs to support work on various issues.

Technical Assistance

Members receive ongoing technical assistance from the Forum team in areas such as technology, public policy and programming.

Discounts for Members

Members can take advantage of special rates on many products and services, including software, D&O insurance, subscriptions and more. In most cases, these discounts are also available to your member philanthropic organizations.

Public Policy Support & Engagement

For the past six years the Forum has operated a PolicyWorks for Philanthropy initiative that has had proven success in building the capacity of regional PSOs to engage in public policy. In 2017 the Forum will determine how to best expand this initiative to include our national PSO members who are interested in public policy.

Shared Technology Platform

With nearly 30 members on our collective technology platform including the 3 national PSO pilots, the Forum is expanding its Knowledge Services work to other regional and national PSO members in 2018-19. All interested member organizations are encouraged to contact Val Rozansky for a thorough evaluation of its current systems, staffing and suitability for this project. Our platform offers members both a robust constituent relationship management (CRM) solution built on Salesforce and a sophisticated website content management system (CMS) built on Drupal —for a fraction of the cost compared to independent development, deployment, maintenance and support. Please review the announcement for further details.

A Collective Voice for Philanthropy Infrastructure

Members can take advantage of the Forum’s growing leadership role to lift up the voice of the Forum Network and raise awareness of the value and role of regional and national PSOs to the philanthropic sector.

Contact Courtney Moore, Director of Member Services, at courtney@unitedphilforum.org or 202-888-7428 for additional information about the benefits of Forum membership.