The Forbes Funds

What it reported doing in 2024

The fund sits at the intersection between philanthropy and the nonprofit community. Building upon our 40 plus year history of supporting our region, the fund has shifted towards a systemic, ecosystems development approach to drive transformative change. The mission of the fund focuses on improving and empoweringthe management capacity and impact of human services and community-based nonprofits both as individual organizations and as a unified coalition of leaders, funders and advocates working collaboratively throughout southwestern Pennsylvania. Continues on schedule o over the past six years the fund has aligned its traditional programming to increase engagement with the fund's regional partners and to identify where gaps and overlaps of services and investments exist. Today, the fund has convened thought leaders within the nonprofit sector through the greater pittsburgh nonprofit partnership ("gpnp"), learning and education , executive-in-residence ("eir"), management assistance grants ("mags"), catalytic community cohorts ("c3"), the commons, and large and small agency cohorts, the fund works with nonprofit organizations in allegheny county and southwestern Pennsylvania and is building a growing network of partnerships across the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the nation, and the globe. In 2020, the fund's board of directors (the "board") approved a racial justice equity framework.. This framework includes investing in diverse leadership, increasing the capacity of minority-led organizations, developing scenario planning and increasing collaborative capacity of regional organizations. This has led to the development of an international anti-racism institutional cohort ("arc") and the transformative leadership cohort. The fund works with the regional nonprofit sector to not only help organizations survive the pandemic but to prepare for the changes that will likely occur including changes to funding cycles, philanthropic priorities, and an increase emphasis on collaboration. This has led to the launch of various learning cohorts with nonprofits on topics such asartificial intelligence, human resources, equitable entrepreneurism, fundraising and advocacy, revenue diversification, succession planning, operational reserves, and scenario planning. The fund has worked with a group of skills practitioners, educators, doctors, scientists, and philanthropists to address the impact on the pandemic on resilient communities around the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This work was in collaboration with the pa secretary of health and is focused on addressing current health and healthcare inequities, equipping federally qualified health centers with resources like contact tracers, and supporting workforce and social sector investments for essential workers who are more likely to contract the disease.the fund has also partnered with technology companies to support nonprofit adoption to emerging technologies like assisted intelligence. The fund now aligns all services with the social determinates of health ("sdoh") and united nations sustainable development goals ("unsdg") to show the local and global impacts of the region. This new approach to ecosystems development requires leveraging partnerships and tools to establish shared goals. The goal is to not only improve organizational capacity of nonprofits but to ensure that the populations served by organizations the fund supports will benefit as well. The premise is that individuals served by the organizations the fund supports are oftentimes dealing with more than one issue, and a holistic, collaborative approach involving the input of multiple organizations is necessary. The fund's work is centered around more than transactional relationships and approaches; the aim is to foster transformational partnerships and to optimize how the nonprofit ecosystem interacts with funders, government, private sector and others in the pittsburgh region. Currently, the fund is exploring co-designed approach

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
• Program expense ratio: 71.7%; rating input score 72
• Fundraising efficiency: $4.32 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 19th percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
  • Compensation committee: Pass
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Pass
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: Limited
• Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: No; rating input score 0

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 75%; rating input score 75; 16th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: -37.8%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.23; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 32.2%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 1.1% per year; rating input score 100; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 2.1% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 3% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings