The mission of the rapidly increasing number of conversion foundations in the United States is to enhance quality of life of their service community, usually via grant-making. Community assessments that are guided by known best practices appear to be ideal mechanisms for informing funding decisions. This case study illustrates how we attempted this with one conversion foundation. One component of the assessment—investigation of community perceptions—was deemed most important by foundation directors. This component and the implications of the overall process for other nonprofit organizations, community practitioners, and researchers are discussed.
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