The day before the White House declared Covid-19 a federal emergency, Dan Cardinali issued a challenge to nonprofits: This was the moment, he said, for organizations to win back the trust of Americans after polls showed a disturbing erosion in confidence.
It might have been easy to miss that call to action in our online edition. After all, the day we published it, many of you were doing the same thing as all of us at the Chronicle — making last-minute preparations to work remotely or otherwise adapt to the pandemic for what we thought would be a short few weeks. (We had classes so everyone could learn how to hold Zoom meetings, which seems quaint now that it rules our days.)
But Dan, who heads Independent Sector, the coalition of nonprofits and foundations that has long worked to advance civil-society organizations, had the long view — and early signs are that he was right. A poll taken by Campbell Rinker for the nonprofit consultants Dunham & Company found that donors are becoming more confident in charities, with 60 percent now saying they do “good” or “excellent” work, compared with 48 percent in 2018. The Edelman Trust Barometer’s spring update reported a similar finding, as our op-ed columnists Leslie Lenkowsky and Suzanne Garment reminded us in an article we posted the day we sent this issue to our printer.
The rise in trust is not surprising, they say, now that food-bank operators, health-care workers, and so many other nonprofits on the front lines are being hailed as the heroes keeping communities going.
Still, that doesn’t mean that controversy and skepticism have subsided entirely, especially when it comes to the work of big philanthropy. That point was driven home in the response to two articles we published online at philanthropy.com in recent days.
Two scholars, Kathryn Moeller and Rebecca Tarlau, raised questions after New York State announced the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation had been enlisted to help reimagine public education for the coronavirus era and beyond. Judging from the number of people who viewed or commented on the article, their assertion that philanthropy was seeking to gain greater influence and thwart democratic principles touched a nerve.
So, too, did an in-depth report by veteran journalist Marc Gunther, who examined questions about priorities and spending at the NoVo Foundation, the philanthropy of Warren Buffett’s son Peter. NoVo, known for its feminist politics and support of activist groups like Black Lives Matter, announced just a few weeks ago that it was laying off half its staff and ending two programs that benefit women and girls. Peter Buffett told Marc that the shift had been in the works long before coronavirus hit.
NoVo’s priority now, he says, is to demonstrate effective ways to rebuild faded towns like Kingston, N.Y., where he lives. And he vowed that the foundation would give more in 2020 than it did last year.
That drew anger from Rajasvini Bhansali, executive director of Solidaire, a network of progressive donors. “It’s his money, and he can do what he wants,” she told Marc, but “you have to be accountable to others and not just play in your backyard.” But it was the long-term impact that had Bhansali worried, that “this is now going to set a terrible standard for philanthropy at an extraordinary time of great need, when so many people are fighting for their lives.”
Whether we’re reporting news, editing opinion articles, or seeking advice from experts to share with you, we’ll keep documenting what organizations can do to ensure that confidence in the nonprofit world is high — and what puts that trust at risk. Your support as a subscriber makes it possible for us to do meticulous research and seek out knowledge that will help nonprofits and foundations nationwide. We appreciate your trust in us more than ever as we seek to provide the essential journalism the nonprofit world needs in this moment.
Stay well and stay strong.
