What Is EPIC? 

Over ten years ago, the Indiana Philanthropy Alliance organized a group of leaders to develop a product that can be used to effectively manage a community foundation. The result was EPIC - Effective Practices and Ideas Collection.

EPIC is organized into eight units, each of which covers a major functional area in the governance and operation of a community foundation. In turn, these eight units are further subdivided in 47 chapters which dig deeper in various topics.

Each chapter begins with an Assessment. The assessment allows the reader to rate their performance in that category. For example, the By-laws chapter (Unit 1, Chapter 2) begins with five assessment questions to gauge the quality of a community foundation’s system of creating, implementing and revising their by-laws. If the reader can provide positive responses for each of the questions, it would suggest that no further work is required in that area. On the other hand, if the answers to some or all of the questions indicate that certain items are not being followed, more work might be needed in this area.

After each assessment comes a section with Stories. In this section, experienced executive directors have shared some real-life examples of what works and what doesn’t. Sometimes the stories celebrate a particularly good project or idea. Other times, though, they might point out an error in judgment, a bad decision, or something that just didn’t work. Though painful to retell, these are the stories that can truly help us to learn and grow.

In the What I Wish I Knew section, we pass along something we learned along the way that we wish we had learned earlier in our community foundation career. For example, in the Risk Management section one of the “wish I knew” bullets suggests that you have an active relationship with both your legal counsel and your accountant. It’s better to anticipate a problem before it occurs, rather than having to ask your attorney or accountant afterwards to clean up a mess. It’s that type of advice that you will find in this section.

Items of particular note are in the Red Flags section. These are items that should come with a siren and flashing light attached. They are events, conversations or observations that can cause big trouble down the road. For example, in the staff orientation section, beware the new staff member who seems disinterested during an orientation session. Don’t expect that attitude to improve when the real work begins.

Finally, each unit has a Practical Tips section. This section is just what it says: practical tips that can make your job less stressful, your foundation better, or your life easier.

To access EPIC, look for the “EPIC Training” heading on the home page of this website. Move your cursor over the title “EPIC Training”, and select the unit you want to review. A PDF is available, at no charge, for each unit.

Now, here’s the legal part. Remember that this document does not constitute legal or accounting advice. You should consult your own legal and/or accounting counsel for specific advice. Most of these stories are from Indiana. The laws governing community foundations may be different in other states.

EPIC was created by the following community foundation leaders:

David Bennett - Community Foundation of Greater Fort Wayne (Retired 2018)

Steve Borchers - Wayne County Foundation (Retired 2019)

Lisa Floyd - South Madison Community Foundation

Doug Inman - The Portland Foundation

Judy Johnson - Washington County Community Foundation

Ruth Mills - Community Foundation of Randolph County (Retired 2017)

Beth Tevlin - Wabash Valley Community Foundation