Foundation Development & Stewardship
Instrumental work deserves strong foundations — literally.
Donors trust your foundation with their generosity. We build the structures that honor it.
Rural foundations — hospital, health, community, and nonprofit alike — do work that is instrumental to their communities, with passion, care, and deep local devotion. Our practice exists to support and augment exactly that: the policies, structures, and counsel that let a foundation accept any gift with confidence, honor every donor's intent, hold campaign funds properly, receive grant funding in its own right, and grow a permanent endowment for its mission.
One page, one through-line: everything here is about holding money well — building the structures that receive and protect it, then providing the steady counsel that keeps them strong. What this page doesn't cover is raising the money — that's its own discipline, our Capital & Fundraising Campaigns practice, and the two pair beautifully. The work comes as three separate engagements — each scoped and priced on its own. Some foundations need one, some two, some eventually all three. You choose what yours needs.
1 — Foundation Development
The build: the complete policy and governance suite that lets your foundation receive, document, and disburse every kind of gift properly. A standalone engagement — many foundations start and stop here.
What You Get (including, but never limited to):
Assessment & development roadmap: a collaborative review of what you have, strengthened to standard — with the build prioritized and phased.
Gift acceptance policy: including non-cash and complex gifts, with acknowledgment and receipting procedures.
Restricted fund & donor intent management: documentation, tracking, and disbursement — including campaign funds the foundation holds — built with the Kansas Donor Intent Protection Act in view.
Grant management policies aligned with 2 CFR 200: positioning the foundation to receive and manage grant funding as an applicant in its own right.
Governance policies: conflict of interest, whistleblower, document retention, and donor privacy — the set your Form 990 asks about.
Controls & templates: disbursement and expenditure controls, gift and pledge agreement templates, and a donor recognition framework.
Drafted for review, built to adopt: every policy and agreement goes to your counsel and CPA for review before your board votes — our drafting, their sign-off, your adoption. That's the process, by design.
Training & adoption support: working sessions for your executive director, plus presentation-ready materials for board adoption.
2 — Endowment Architecture
The permanent engine: the structures, policies, and agreements an endowment must have before the first gift arrives — because endowment commitments are forever. A standalone engagement — with or without the development build.
What You Get (including, but never limited to):
Board alignment survey: a structured survey of your board's investment philosophy, risk tolerance, spending expectations, and priorities for the funds — so the architecture is built on your board's actual convictions, not a consultant's defaults.
Fund structures: permanent and board-designated funds — and when to use each.
Launch strategy: seed funding approach and a named-fund menu aligned to your community's priorities.
Spending & distribution policy: built on defensible standards under Kansas UPMIFA — the state's prudent-management law for institutional funds.
Investment policy coordination: committee structure and the policies that govern it.
The hospital–foundation MOU: how funds move between the institutions, in writing.
Naming, recognition & launch materials: the donor-facing pieces that open the program.
Planned giving, handled seriously: because rural endowments grow on bequests and estate gifts.
3 — Ongoing Stewardship as Capacity Builds
The relationship: standing counsel that keeps the structures strong after the build — steady, modest, sized for foundation budgets. Available after any build — or on its own, for foundations whose structures already exist.
What You Get (including, but never limited to):
Restricted-fund & stewardship reviews: periodic checks against your adopted policies.
Annual policy refresh: the suite kept current as rules and needs change.
Gift agreement support: as new donors and new structures arrive.
Standing advisory access: for your executive director and board.
Opportunity identification & board education: funding leads and governance sessions through the year.
If those lists read like a lot — that's exactly what the roadmap is for. Every engagement starts with an assessment and a prioritized plan, and most foundations phase the work, building at the pace that fits their board, their budget, and their year.
Your Foundation May Be Your Best Applicant
Many funders give only to a 501(c)(3) — which routes opportunity through your foundation. Whether the foundation is registered and governed to receive that funding properly is a strategic question worth examining early. We examine it in week one. And while hospital foundations are our home ground, this practice serves rural community and nonprofit foundations as well — the machinery of holding money well is the same.
Why Endowments Deserve Architecture
An endowment is a perpetual funding engine — and endowment commitments are, by definition, forever. Kansas law raises those stakes: under the state's Donor Intent Protection Act, a donor's documented intent is enforceable — which makes clean gift agreements and disciplined fund management not just good stewardship, but legal protection. We design the complete program before the first gift arrives, so every future gift lands in a structure built to honor it permanently. Rural endowments grow on bequests and estate gifts; planned giving gets treated accordingly.
This practice pairs naturally with Capital & Fundraising Campaigns. And everything we build is designed to route through your counsel and CPA on its way to board adoption — that's not a disclaimer, it's how good governance gets made.
How Fees Are Structured
Every service carries one clear structure — quoted up front, agreed in writing, and priced with rural budgets in mind. Grant fees are never a percentage of your award, and you'll know exactly what an engagement costs before any work begins. The full breakdown, service by service, is one click away.
"The McLeod Group has helped my organization secure grants from small to large. We have worked together now for several years and his expertise in grant writing is exceptional. The best part of all is that Mr. [McLeod] knows our hospital well and has a local presence. It is nice to have a consultant who is proactive and brings me opportunities that I never know are available. You cannot go wrong when The McLeod Group is a part of your team!"
Rod Landrum, Executive Director, Labette Health Foundation (retired)
"We have had a great deal of success in working with Nick [McLeod] on grants . . . focused on improving lives in SEK and Kansas."
Brian Williams, CEO,
Labette Health
"The Pratt Health Foundation has retained the grant writing and administrative services of the McLeod consulting group. The principal, Nick [McLeod], understands the private and federal grant landscape as well as providing wise administrative assistance. He has written successful grant applications and provided excellent counsel for the Foundation. I would highly recommend his services."
DeWayne Bryan, Executive Director,
Pratt Health Foundation (retired)
"I have worked with Nick on three different grant proposals regarding Integrated Care through embedding a behaviorist into a primary care facility. Through Nick's effort and skill, we were successful in receiving a planning grant, an implementation grant, and a continuation grant. Nick is very thorough, thinks of great questions, anticipates questions from grant sources, writes skillfully, and is a pleasure to work with. I would recommend him and his services to anyone."
Matthew Atteberry,
Executive Director,
Labette Center for Mental Health Services
"Since having The McLeod Group come on board with us, the Pratt Police Department has received over $175,000 in funds from grants that Nick has found for us! The Pratt Police Department and the citizens of Pratt, KS are very fortunate to be able to have the McLeod Group helping the efforts of keeping this great community safe!"
Chief Nate Humble,
Pratt Police Department
(retired)
"Mr. [McLeod] put my vision for my school into a professional proposal from A to Z, no detail was left to chance. After multiple attempts on my own, Mr. [McLeod] was successful the first time in obtaining a $400,000 grant for my school, the largest to be awarded in our county to date."
Mikel Ward, Principal,
Service Valley Charter Academy (retired)
Testimonials
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Since 2007
The first conversation is free — and it's an honest one. Bring your objectives, your questions, or the project you've been trying to fund. If we don't believe it's a go, we'll tell you right there — no engagement, no pressure, no charge. And if it is, we'll tell you exactly how we'd help.