About the Community Toolkit Development Process
There is a growing community of LIVESTRONG Foundation grantees, including past and current recipients. Grantees often seek financial support from the Foundation. However, they also request technical guidance, capacity building information and education. The Foundation has previously provided support through various contacts and online support systems including MY.LIVESTRONG, quarterly teleconferences, email communication as well as an annual conference.
Based on feedback received via surveys of the Community Program Grantees and evaluations from conference attendees, the Foundation determined that a larger need for support continued to exist. In response to this need, the Foundation developed this toolkit. Its purpose is to provide further technical assistance that can enhance the knowledge, experience and confidence of LIVESTRONG Foundation grantees.
The goal of this toolkit is to provide an opportunity to share best practices related to program development, implementation and evaluation as well as information related to grants, advocacy, marketing and fundraising efforts. The topic areas were selected based on an identified need for information, materials and resources to support the success of non-profit cancer-related organizations.
The toolkit also provides an opportunity to enhance collaboration among partners in the cancer community by encouraging a resource-sharing mechanism. These benefits will ensure that duplication of services, products and programs will be minimized. It will also increase the amount of high-quality education and informational materials available to organizations and the cancer survivors they serve.
The Community Toolkit could not have been developed without the extensive help of a panel of experts made up of previous LIVESTRONG Community Program Grantees. For six months, the expert panel worked with Foundation staff to brainstorm, guide and provide feedback and support in the development of this project. The expert panel members included:
