Sometimes charities are so
wrapped up in their localized, immediate problems they fail to understand what
drives people to help. The current uncertain fiscal and political climate
probably doesn’t help the situation. People feel more personally threatened and
are constantly making do with less, and that affects their viewpoint. Still, it benefits all of us in the nonprofit
sector to examine factors that may drive change.
Recently a client shared a
letter from a major funder. The gist of the letter was that the grantor was
moving on to support social impact organizations that were trying to eliminate
the root causes of problems, rather than supporting local charities dealing
with symptoms of the larger issues.
The nonprofit in question just
received the first installment of a multi-year grant for capacity building, in
the hundreds of thousands of dollars. While they have been offered the full amount
of the grant in a lump-sum payment, they are considering refusing the funds,
since they don’t know if they will be able to maintain services to the larger
population they had been planning to serve. In short, their entire ten-year
strategic plan may need to be seriously revised, or even scrapped and replaced.
There are significant lessons
and clues in this letter. One, the grant maker (a corporate-supported philanthropic
foundation) doesn’t feel that they are “getting the most bang for their buck”.
Two, the funding organization is anticipating reduced revenues due to national economic
and political issues, and they feel powerless to compensate for that. Three,
they truly want the root cause of the situation the nonprofit is addressing to
be solved. Four, they feel that the nonprofit’s focus is too fragmented or too
unrelated to other groups serving a similar population to achieve that change.
Businesses are successful,
and have money to support charities because they don’t spend money foolishly,
with no expectation of results. The corporate mentality is crystal-clear in the
letter. They simply feel that continuing to support local charities is a waste
of their money in relation to what they hoped to accomplish.
Regardless of
whether you agree with their decision, the grantor letter exposes some
weaknesses in the current methods used to address social ills. If you are feeding the same or
greater number of people every year, or rescuing the same or greater number of
dogs and cats, donors may not see that as solving the larger problem.
Businesses
tend to think in terms of identifying a problem, constructing a solution,
implementing that solution, calling the project done, and moving on. The grantor in this situation simply doesn't see an end to ever-increasing need.
Beyond the corporate
viewpoint, plain, ordinary, not-rich people are becoming tired of supporting symptom
solutions. I recently had lunch with a friend shortly after “Super-Storm Sandy”
hit the northeast. I knew that she had sent money to help the victims of Katrina,
so I asked if she was doing the same with Sandy. Her answer surprised me. She
told me she wouldn’t send any money unless it was to a charity that would
support a ban on building in the same areas. I said, “Well, you’re talking
about places like Long Island. A lot of people live there, it’s their home.”
She replied “And it shouldn’t be. Anyone could see that this could happen. Look
at New Orleans. It’s a fish pond. It’s lower than the surrounding land, and
they’re just going right back and building in the same spot. It just flooded
again this year. Why can’t people see that they need to move the whole
(expletive) city to a safer area? I feel like they stole my money, because they
didn’t fix the problem”. She went on to say she felt that charities had no
interest in really fixing problems, because then they would be out of business.
It would be of value for all
nonprofits to review their programs and incorporate more results-driven data in
their proposals. Instead of just sticking your finger in the dike, thereby
being stuck in one place, show how your program(s) will rebuild the dike so
that you can move on. For instance, while nonprofits can’t lobby, perhaps your
organization could implement a program of educating the public on what they can
do to eliminate the bigger issues. Develop a strategic plan that shows that you
recognize donor fatigue and have a plan to address it. Every bank account can
be over-drawn. We might be getting there on a national scale. Before your
organization reaches that point, have a plan to be one of the survivors.
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