There are two types of nonprofits. The first type is highly visible, able to launch multimillion-dollar capital campaigns, and can even run spots on TV. The second type operates on a shoestring and helps to form the backbone of our communities.
In my town alone, I see places like COPE (which helps folks in recovery), Jazz House Kids, Toni’s Kitchen, Outpost in the Burbs, Human Needs Food Pantry, PAWS … The list goes on.
There are a lot of small nonprofits. How small? Nearly half of U.S. nonprofits have budgets of less than $500,000; many have budgets under $100,000.
They’re doing amazing things, but these organizations often struggle. A lot. I’ve seen their struggles firsthand through my Nonprofit Leadership Lab.
I asked leaders of a few small groups to tell me what they need most in 2021. Here’s what they said, in their own words.
Could you offer a more streamlined grant-application process for organizations with fewer than X full-time staff? Please stop treating us as if we have lots of paid staff. We do meaningful work, and we are proud of it, but we only have 1.25 staff members and a posse of volunteers. I write the grant proposals and pay the bills. I would love to have the resources to build a strategy and a vision to meet each foundation’s requests, but I just can’t dedicate the time needed to adhere to lengthy proposal requirements.
If you believe in our work, invest in it with sustained, unrestricted grants. If you must restrict how the money is spent, consider requiring it be spent on infrastructure rather than a new program that requires infrastructure we don’t have. Or require us to spend it on building our “engine,” by which I mean hiring a bookkeeper or buying a database. Think of it this way: If my entire organization’s budget is equal to the salary of one of your staff members, it’s a good bet that we don’t have pricey software or a computer less than five years old.
Help us pay for a compensation analysis to make the case for pay equity. Once you see the results of the analysis, consider joining our board and leading efforts to raise the money to make our salaries equitable.
How about organizing a group of retired folks in the community with skills and experience we need? A merry band of retired folks could bring skills most small nonprofits need, and they could make a six- to 12-month commitment to work pro bono on strategy, digital marketing, branding, project management, HR — or even help us get a database up and running and train us to use it.
We are community partners. We make communities compassionate and caring. We do vital work (just think about 2020).
You know the College Common App? Can we build one for the nonprofit world — and get every foundation to use it? Foundations could have supplemental questions included (like colleges have supplemental essays), but the most common data would be stored universally, saving untold hours of data-entry time.
Grant makers, please do not assume we get health insurance from our spouses. Many of us don’t have health insurance, yet boards wonder why we can’t recruit great talent (or retain them if we are lucky enough to recruit them). Multiyear, unrestricted grants could help us remedy this problem. Also, can I please have a gigantic coffee machine and a supply of snacks? This may sound like a joke, but it is a legitimate request. We work tirelessly, need caffeine, and sometimes forget to eat.
Could community foundations advocate for donors to give more than the minimum requirement from their donor-advised funds? More than $140 billion is sitting in DAFs. If every community foundation had a nonprofit relationship manager who knows us, how important our work is, and sees our challenges and opportunities, he or she could help match DAF donors to nonprofits working in areas they care about. The goal: Drive more money from the DAFs into the community in ways that work for donors and charities.
Can I suggest a mind/heart shift? This is a big request. Can we stop using the word “grant”? It feels patronizing. We are community partners. We make communities compassionate and caring. We do vital work (just think about 2020). We do what businesses and the government can’t or won’t do.
If you brag about nonprofits and feel they’re part of what makes your community special, please go to our website and make a donation. You may not realize how cash poor we are.
The workers whose pleas appear above address some our communities’ greatest needs. They deserve a fighting chance. It’s time we invested in them. It will make all our communities stronger and more equitable.
