To the Editor:

Jim Rendon’s article “Where Did the Funding Go?” (November 20), on the status of nonprofits and their funding, really resonated with me. Unfortunately, November 15 was my last day of work as the executive director of the Latino STEM Alliance, a Boston-based robotics education nonprofit that just went through the same financial problems the article describes. It was heartbreaking. After two years of trying to manage funding challenges, the board voted to dissolve the organization.

I served as executive director for six years, and like many nonprofits featured in the article, we saw our largest budget and success at the height of the pandemic. But in the last two years, our funding slowly declined. We tried to merge with another STEM organization, but that fell through because the nonprofit’s board was concerned about our fundraising.

I‘m struggling now with the grief of losing the organization. This isn’t about my job or a paycheck. It’s about the loss of important programs that help young people, especially Latinx youth. My hope is that the teachers, school leadership, and community organizers we partnered with will continue the work without us.

Rendon’s article helped me understand that I’m not alone in contending with one of the toughest challenges a nonprofit can experience — a problem that is widespread and deserves more attention.

Karen Chacón
Former Executive Director
Latino STEM Alliance

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To the Editor:

I read Jim Rendon’s articleWhere Did the Funding Go?” (November 20) with both interest and alarm as it so clearly illustrates the financial crisis facing nonprofits.

In my 60 years of fundraising for organizations such as AIESEC, Save the Children, Plan International, and International Federation of Red Cross, I’ve never been so worried about the state of nonprofit fundraising. With both the number of donors and retention rates decreasing, many charities see big donors as the solution. But as Rendon’s article shows, big donors may be unreliable for consistent support and hard to access for most charities.

Adding to the challenges, trust in all institutions has declined precipitously, with only 39 percent of the public saying they trust nonprofits. Given that, I’m worried nonprofits aren’t doing enough to both demonstrate their trustworthiness and convey the results of their work to current and prospective donors. Why would donors want to give money to organizations they don’t trust or haven’t proven their effectiveness?

When I was a member and board chair at InterAction between 1986 and 1994, nonprofit leaders often blamed funding challenges on external factors. But addressing internal problems is also important.

For example, nonprofits can ensure they’re following ethics guidelines — and establish their trustworthiness to the public — by conducting regular ethics assessments, developing procedures for complaints, and spelling out consequences when guidelines aren’t followed. They can also conduct evaluations of programs to demonstrate their long-term impact, and regularly communicate with donors about what their money has accomplished. This should go beyond fundraising appeals and general reports about the nonprofit’s activities.

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As nonprofits consider the best way to address their financial challenges, more articles such as Rendon’s will help the sector recognize and contend with these serious and ongoing problems.

Ken Phillips
Nonprofit Consultant and Author
NGO Futures LLC