Philanthropy This Week

Alicia Devine, Imagn

Good morning.

The big news for the nonprofit world this week came in two pieces of fresh data that show us how foundations and charitable organizations are doing in this time of turbulence. The unexpected and welcome news is that nonprofits have recovered the jobs lost to the pandemic. From our conversations with nonprofit leaders, we know that the real challenge is filling all the jobs that have been created.

The other news came in a new tally revealing that foundation assets plummeted by nearly 20 percent last year. That comes after several years of small gains in endowments — so many grant makers will have to make some tough choices as they decide how much they want to give.

You can read more about that news later in this newsletter, but we want to call attention first to Drew Lindsay’s reporting on the efforts by organizations with a racial-equity or racial-justice focus to beef up fundraising in the past two years.

Like progressive nonprofits whose giving swelled after former President Donald Trump’s election in 2016, Black causes experienced a moment after the police murder of George Floyd put a spotlight on the need for their work.

Fundraisers at the United Negro College Fund, for instance, raised $450 million in the two years after the racial protests — this when giving previously ran about $100 million annually.

To help sustain that wave, the organization accelerated plans to create its first major-gifts team. It now has six frontline fundraisers working with donors — many of them new to the organization — who made gifts of $5,000 to $100,000. “We’re making sure we get deeper with them,” says Diego Aviles, the group’s vice president of development for the Northeast.

Regardless of their fundraising strength, equity-focused organizations are battling strong headwinds, Drew notes. Issues of equity and justice are being crowded out by news and crises related to gun violence, abortion, Ukraine, climate change, politics, and more. “People still care but they’re distracted.”

Here’s what else you need to know:

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The Bill & Melinda Gates plans to give $8.3 billion this year, a 15 percent increase over 2022.

In his annual letter, the foundation’s CEO, Mark Suzman wrote that the 15-percent jump in giving is the result of global failures to respond to the spread of infectious diseases, reduce poverty, promote gender equality, and address the effects of climate change, writes Alex Daniels.

Suzman also used the letter to counter criticism that the grant maker’s wealth and power enable it to set the global agenda and stifle opposing views: Its strength and influence, he wrote, give it the ability to advocate for novel approaches that companies and elected governments cannot because it doesn’t have to make money or deal with term limits.

“It’s important that we be more proactive and forthright in explaining that model and approach to try and prevent some of the misunderstandings and sometimes outright misrepresentation of what we do,” he told Alex. “We’re often just seen as a kind of big black box.”

Nonprofits now employ 107,000 more people than they did before the pandemic, more than bouncing back from a 13.2 percent drop in their work force during the crisis.

Nonprofits probably recovered last October and have likely added jobs since December, writes Sara Herschander about the study by the George Mason University Nonprofit Employment Data Project, which bases its estimates on the assumption that nonprofit job losses were proportional to the share of nonprofit jobs in each cause.

The recovery has been uneven, though. Health-care groups fared best, adding 84,123 jobs, although groups that employ nurses are still down 9 percent. Education and social-service groups also recovered well. But arts organizations have 29,000 fewer workers than in 2017, and religious, grant-making, civic, and career-related organizations as a group are down 12.6 percent.

The tight job market could be tough on nonprofits, the report noted, because “nonprofits have faced unique challenges in attracting workers in a highly competitive employment market.”

Getty Images

The last election brought large numbers of progressive young candidates and candidates of color to elected office at every level of government who now need to learn to navigate the halls of power to fulfill their campaign promises (opinion).

They bring with them enormous potential, write Tom Perriello of the Open Society Foundations and Karundi Williams of re:power Fund. But at the state and local levels, “the vast majority receive no formal training on how to do their jobs and quickly discover that the skills of campaigning for office don’t seamlessly transfer to the skills required to govern.”

Philanthropists who pour money into key states during election years often disappear until the next round of elections, as if it’s all about winning, not what comes after. Grant makers can remedy that by supporting groups that provide training after elections and that bring together networks of like-minded officeholders.

“Foundations can also use their convening powers to help all these groups get to know each other’s work,” they write, “and collaborate to bring the promises of the campaign trail to the policy-making table.”

We hope you have a great weekend and get plenty of time to read and recharge.

— Marilyn Dickey and Stacy Palmer

WHAT WE’RE READING ELSEWHERE

Amid cost-cutting, Amazon is winding down its Amazon Smile charity-donation program. (CNBC).

A nationwide, three-digit mental health hotline that launched six months ago has seen record demand for its services. (New York Times)

Harvard University has backtracked on a decision to deny a fellowship to a leading human rights advocate who criticized Israel, touching off a controversy about donor influence. (New York Times)

The Biden administration is launching a Peace Corps-like program that will allow ordinary citizens to sponsor refugees in their communities. (New York Times)

As part of a national movement to address the mortality crisis among Black women giving birth, nonprofits are training doulas, a profession more often associated with affluent white women. (New York Times)

NEW GRANT OPPORTUNITIES

Your Chronicle subscription includes free access to GrantStation’s database of grant opportunities.

Nursing health care. The Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation is providing grants to support nursing-driven interventions to improve the health and health care of marginalized populations. Letters of intent will be accepted from January 17 to February 28.

Domestic violence. The Legal Assistance for Victims Grant Program of the U.S. Justice Department supports efforts to increase the availability of civil and criminal legal assistance for 11- to 24-year-old victims of domestic violence, dating violence, stalking, or sexual assault by providing funds for comprehensive direct legal services to victims. Priority areas for funding include advancing racial equity as an essential component of such crimes and improving outreach, services, civil and criminal justice responses, prevention, and support for survivors, particularly LGBTQ people and immigrants. The grants.gov deadline is February 21. Applications are due to JustGrants by February 23.