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Strengthen the partnership that fuels your institution’s future.
Institutionally related foundations face rising demands both from their institutions and an increasingly competitive philanthropic landscape—often without the structure or strategy to keep pace. To meet this moment, foundations must be prepared to respond on both fronts while unlocking new opportunities for innovation and growth.
AGB Consulting helps your board make better decisions, operate more strategically, partner effectively with your leadership team, and maximize your foundation’s impact.
Grounded in deep experience working with foundations and institutions, our experts—former foundation CEOs, presidents, and board members—work alongside your board to strengthen governance, align with institutional leadership, and turn strategy into results.
Strengthen Governance and Leadership
Find opportunities to strengthen structure, culture, or leadership relationships and improve how your board operates.
Build Capability
Equip your board and leaders with the knowledge, alignment, and confidence to lead effectively.
Drive Strategy
Guide your institution through complex decisions about strategy, sustainability, and the future.
Strengthen governance and leadership.
When governance challenges limit your effectiveness, AGB helps strengthen how your foundation board functions and how it partners with institutional leadership.
Foundations work with AGB to evaluate and assess.
Conduct a Comprehensive Board Assessment: Identify strengths and gaps, resulting in a board development roadmap.
Use the Board Performance Survey: Complete your complimentary annual check-in. Understand short-term board needs with a brief self-assessment, best conducted between comprehensive board assessments.
Evaluate Your CEO’s Performance: Ensure their ability to lead into the future through an impartial 360-degree assessment. Prepare for contract negotiations, identify ways to support your CEO, and build on leadership strengths.
We also help foundations address governance issues.
Review Governance Practice: Not sure what’s wrong, but know something isn’t right? Engage in a structured, neutral, third-party evaluation to improve overall governance.
Foster Effective Committees: Evaluate whether you have the right committees doing the right work to achieve the foundation’s goals and support the institution’s mission.
Update Your Governing Documents: Get expert advice to improve your governing documents, including bylaws, committee charters, affiliate MOUs, and more.
Build capability.
When foundation board members need a clear understanding of their governance and philanthropic responsibilities, AGB helps your board get aligned and prepared to act.
Boards often start here:
Design a Retreat: AGB tailors support for your foundation board that covers the topics you need, led by a facilitator with just the right expertise. Invite your institution or system’s board and leadership to maximize impact.
Plan a Principles of Trusteeship Workshop: Strengthen your board members’ understanding of their fiduciary and philanthropic duties to help them succeed as your institution’s biggest supporters.
Conduct a Higher Education Landscape Workshop: Help board members learn your financial model, your institution’s role in the higher education landscape, and ways your foundation can support your institution’s mission.
Ongoing advisory support includes:
Chief Executive or Board Chair Advisory Services: Regular advisory sessions with a board chair or chief executive with expertise in foundation leadership.
One-Hour Governance Consultation: Complimentary, once per year. Seek outside perspective on a governance challenge from one of AGB’s experts.
Drive strategy.
When foundations need to do more than support—to truly drive institutional success—AGB helps align strategy, resources, and leadership.
Boards partner with AGB to lead foundation success…
Host a Strategic Retreat: Engage foundation and institution/system leaders on aligning strategies and resources. Create a shared vision and conduct scenario plans for emerging futures.
Engage in Strategic Planning: Achieve the mission and serve the public while supporting financial sustainability.
Assess Foundation Performance: Align the board on key performance indicators across the foundation, measuring the effectiveness of the revenue model and monitoring success.
…And maximize the value of partner engagement.
Align Foundation and Institution Strategy and Operations: Ensure the foundation and its institution share a strategy and operational model that maximizes outcomes.
Consider Foundation Restructuring Opportunities: Work across the institution’s foundations to identify opportunities to integrate missions, shift or share operations, and better coordinate around shared goals.
Start a conversation with us.
Talk with an AGB expert about what your board is facing and what steps could help you move forward.
Complete this form to get started.
Or begin with tools included with AGB membership.
Many boards start here before engaging in deeper consulting work.
One-Hour Governance Consultation
Get an outside perspective on a governance, leadership, or strategy challenge. In a focused, one-on-one conversation, an AGB expert will help you clarify the issue, share relevant leading practices, and identify practical next steps.Learn more →
Board Performance Survey
Understand how your board is performing today. This short assessment highlights strengths, surfaces areas for improvement, and provides a starting point for conversations about your board’s effectiveness.Learn more →