Effective Philanthropy

Finding Ways to Do Good Better

For nearly 20 years, Arabella Advisors has been helping philanthropists and impact investors use their assets most effectively and meaningfully in pursuit of the impact they seek.

Clients come to us for expert guidance in a variety of areas: to make more strategic grants, to bring other funders together to augment their combined impact, to develop and implement advocacy strategies, to assess and learn from past philanthropic investments, to develop better governance processes, to launch new initiatives, and more.

We also work with clients who are interested in using return-seeking impact investments to further their social or environmental goals. And we provide a variety of supports to families who wish to work together productively to accomplish philanthropic goals.

How We Help

Advocacy

We enable funders and social entrepreneurs to go beyond grant making, leveraging their positions and voices to advocate for needed policy change.

Governance & Compliance

We provide the expertise and technical acumen needed to launch and run complex nonprofit organizations and projects that operate effectively and are fully compliant.

Grants Management

We work closely with grantors and grantees to create and administer streamlined and effective grants management programs.

Impact Investing

We help foundations, corporations, families, and individuals use return-seeking investments to help drive social impact.

Strategy, Learning & Evaluation

We partner with funders and investors to develop innovative strategies; evaluate programs, portfolios, and organizations; and convert insights into action.

Program & Organization Management

We provide a range of services that enable clients to streamline the management of everything from special programs to their foundation operations.

Before Sunset: Recommendations for Spending Down a Foundation and Extending Impact

Foundations that decide to sunset—to fully spend down their endowments over a set period—have the opportunity to allocate their substantial resources to catalyze change and support sustainable resourcing for organizations and movements. Realizing the full promise of a successful spend down requires thoughtful, strategic, and careful planning. Thankfully, there is a growing wealth of knowledge about spend-down best practices as current and former spend-down foundation leaders share the many of approaches they took to planning their sunsets, partnering with grantees and peer donors, supporting staff members and maintaining internal capacity, and influencing the field. Read the report here.