The United Philanthropy Forum is a national association of grantmakers that grew out of the Forum of Regional Association of Grantmakers, an initiative of the Council on Foundations. ¹

UPF provides a vehicle for the spread of best philanthropy practices, and support tools for its members that assist them in their work in four areas; knowledge management, philanthropic practice, public policy, and racial equity, diversity and inclusion (DEI). ²

UPF is supported by multiple left-of-center grantmakers including the Borealis Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. ³

Background

The United Philanthropy Forum (UPF) grew out of the Conference of Southwest Foundations as the first national membership association of grantmakers. UPF was the first national association of grantmakers, and originally named the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, an initiative of the Council on Foundations (COF) in 1949. ⁴

UPF was established as a separate entity in 1998 and is a network of regional associations that shares best practices in philanthropy amongst its members and provides services for a fee to enable greater effectiveness and efficiency. Funding comes from annual dues from the regional associations, private grantmakers and contributions from COF. ⁵

The organization provides a knowledge management system and education programs, facilitates collaboration among the regional members, and offers members a common voice on public policy, management support, and assessment tools. ⁶

Activities

UPF activities are focused in four areas: knowledge management, philanthropic practice, public policy, and racial equity, diversity and inclusion (DEI). ⁷

Knowledge Management Collaborative

UPF leverages its purchasing power and expertise to create a knowledge-sharing platform based on Drupal and Salesforce’s customer-relationship management tools that supports the collaboration of their philanthropy-serving organizations. ⁸

Philanthropic Practice

UPF provides education for member PSOs that helps them advance their work and produces programs designed to help them educate their members to improve effectiveness. ⁹

Public Policy

UPF’s efforts to influence public policy surrounding the philanthropic community include the provision of a unified voice to advocate at the federal and state levels to secure legislative and regulatory changes that are beneficial to them. ¹⁰

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

UPF encourages and supports PSOs to address disparities in outcomes that are seen along racial and ethnic lines. It bases its work on a Racial Equity Capacity Assessment of its PSO’s and has issued a report on its findings including a call to action based upon them. ^{11 12}

Supporters

UPF is supported by its dues-paying members and fees for use of its systems as well as grants from some of the nation’s largest left-of-center foundations such as Borealis Philanthropy, Ford Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. ¹³ Other funders include the Barr Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation, Funders Census Initiative of the New Venture Fund, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Raikes Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. ¹⁴

The organization lists the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors as partners. ¹⁵

Leadership

UPF’s president and CEO is David Biemsderfer and Amanda Misiko Andere is chair of the board of directors. Biemsderfer has a long history of management in the foundation sector while Andere is also the CEO of Funders Together to End Homelessness and previously was CEO of Wider Opportunities for Women. ^{16 17}

Grants

UPF had not been a grantmaking organization prior to 2020, when it was provided a use-restricted grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to form the Momentum Fund and made 69 grants of $60,000 to $85,000 to small organizations. ¹⁸

Finances

UPF reported 2020 total revenue of $13,259,807, up from 2019 total revenue of $3,391,554. The increase in revenue was tied to a one-time use-restricted grant of $10,688,917 which was made by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It was restricted for use to create the Momentum Fund under which grants were made to organizations centered on racial equity for black, indigenous, and people of color fighting the impacts of COVID-19. UPF also received contributions beyond normal dues from: ^{19 20 21}

• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
• Ford Foundation
• Joyce Foundation
• New Venture Fund
• Newman’s Own Foundation
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• The Annie E. Casey Foundation
• The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation ²²

UPF’s other revenue was generated by $651,908 in dues, $944,661 in user fees and $205,790 from meetings. ²³

The organizations total expenses were $12,437,802, an increase from the prior year’s $2,765,798, due to an increase in grants to $9,155,140. ²⁴

Net assets at the end of 2020 totaled $1,698,419, an increase from the prior year’s $1,876,413.

1. “History of the Forum.” United Philanthropy Forum, July 27, 2017. https://www.unitedphilforum.org/resources/history-forum.
2. “Our Work.” United Philanthropy Forum, November 8, 2021. https://www.unitedphilforum.org/about/what-we-do.
3. “About Us.” United Philanthropy Forum, January 18, 2022. https://www.unitedphilforum.org/about-us.
4. “History of the Forum.” United Philanthropy Forum, July 27, 2017. https://www.unitedphilforum.org/resources/history-forum.
5. “History of the Forum.” United Philanthropy Forum, July 27, 2017. https://www.unitedphilforum.org/resources/history-forum.
6. “United Philanthropy Forum” Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax, (Form 990) 2020, Part III, Lines 4a, 4b
7. “Our Work.” United Philanthropy Forum, November 8, 2021. https://www.unitedphilforum.org/about/what-we-do
8. “Knowledge Management Collaborative.” United Philanthropy Forum, April 6, 2022. https://www.unitedphilforum.org/km.
9. “Philanthropic Practice.” United Philanthropy Forum, January 12, 2022. https://www.unitedphilforum.org/philanthropic-practice.
10. “Public Policy.” United Philanthropy Forum, April 30, 2021. https://www.unitedphilforum.org/public-policy.
11. “Journey Toward Racial Equity Report.” United Philanthropy Forum, March 5, 2021. https://www.unitedphilforum.org/resources/journey-toward-racial-equity-report.
12. “Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.” United Philanthropy Forum, September 15, 2021. https://www.unitedphilforum.org/racialequity.
13. “About Us.” United Philanthropy Forum, January 18, 2022. https://www.unitedphilforum.org/about-us.
14. “About Us.” United Philanthropy Forum, January 18, 2022. https://www.unitedphilforum.org/about-us.
15. “About Us.” United Philanthropy Forum, January 18, 2022. https://www.unitedphilforum.org/about-us.
16. “Our Staff.” United Philanthropy Forum, March 24, 2022. https://www.unitedphilforum.org/our-staff#david-biemesderfer.
17. “Our Board.” United Philanthropy Forum, February 1, 2022. https://www.unitedphilforum.org/our-board#amanda-misiko-andere,-chair.
18. “United Philanthropy Forum”, Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990), 2020, Part II.
19. “United Philanthropy Forum”, Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990), 2020, Part I, Line 12.
20. “United Philanthropy Forum”, Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990), 2020, Schedule A, Identification of Unusual Grants.
21. “Momentum Fund.” United Philanthropy Forum, September 17, 2020. https://www.unitedphilforum.org/momentum-fund.
22. “United Philanthropy Forum”, Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990), 2020, Schedule A, Identification of Excess Contributions Included on Part II, Line 5.
23. “United Philanthropy Forum”, Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990), 2020, Part VIII Lines, 1b, 2a, 2b.
24. “United Philanthropy Forum”, Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990), 2020, Part I, Lines 18, 13.