Joni Lynne Celiz’s Post

In our team meeting today, we were lamenting the common practice of foundations asking nonprofits to measure the impact of their work. As strategic planning consultants, we constantly confront this need to measure and yet have seen few nonprofits that can produce compelling data. Meanwhile, because foundations keep asking for it, nonprofits are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on new staff, new software systems and new practices to chase this ellusive goal. Then, our friend John B. posted this amazing blog post interviewing Aaron Horvath who has done some amazing thinking on this very topic. He puts it better than we ever could: "At the simplest level, demands for reporting and measurement take up time and resources for organizations that are often understaffed, overworked, and don't have the time and resources to be doing these things. To put it very reductively, but probably crisply, the decline of civil society fed this more technocratic approach to trying to grasp civil society. We started trusting each other less and trusting the numbers more. I often think of the phrase, 'if a tree falls in the forest, and there's no one there to hear it, did it make a sound?' I think in a similar way it’s like, 'if a nonprofit had an impact, and there was no one there to measure it, did it make a sound?' You ask the nonprofit director, they'll probably say, 'well, hell yes we did.' But if you ask the people funding them and demanding the evaluations, they'd be like, 'nobody measured it.'" 

This excellent guest post by Carlos J. Muñoz-Cadilla of The Boston Foundation addresses issues that Inside Philanthropy has been covering for a few years now. To whit: "The high demand for nonprofit services, low salaries and compensation, and the impacts of racism and economic inequality have contributed to a nonprofit workforce crisis. Burdensome government-nonprofit contracting policies, restrictive grantmaking practices and limited philanthropic investment in the nonprofit sector’s infrastructure further strain nonprofits’ ability to effectively support their workers. We can’t keep doing what we've always done and expect positive change." Their answer about what to do differently? "Increas(e) unrestricted general operating support for nonprofits to hire and retain front-line staff while simultaneously funding initiatives that address worker burnout and support wellbeing will help mitigate the workforce crisis." Please, #foundations, pay attention. #nonprofits #workingconditions #nonprofitwork #livingwage

We're feeling uplifted by these six inspiring examples of innovative grantmaking from 3BL. 🙌 These real-life stories showcase the transformative power of philanthropy in action: https://lnkd.in/gpbERvra "It can sometimes be difficult to understand that even with good intentions, funder/grantee relationships can have negative impacts on individuals and the community." ☝ This message in particular resonates with us, and underscores the importance of mutual respect, equitable power dynamics, and a responsible off-boarding process in funder/grantee relationships. In our pursuit of nonprofit sector transformation, it's imperative that we recognize the potential for unintended consequences and actively work to mitigate them. #InnovativeGrantmaking #Collaboration #NonprofitSector

Recognition and support for multiculturalism and diversity are growing.

"[We need to learn] to balance an insistent call for racial equity with a persistent focus on common pool resources. For some foundations, there is a near-obsession with “winning the middle,” something that can suggest the need to ignore race and racism as divisive issues. By contrast, innovators in the social change sector are working to shift where the middle is (or more accurately, help people with conflicting positions on issues make meaning of the world) through deep canvassing, narrative power, fact-based journalism, and power analysis that identify where to build relationships across differences into multiracial majorities and which, critically, change people’s “common sense” of where their interests lie and how they can pursue those interests in common with others." Hear. Hear. Sulma Arias

With so much fuel for change and so much money to spend, what’s coming up short in philanthropy, and what needs to be done? This terrific article by Sulma Arias and Manuel Pastor USC Equity Research Institute explores this question and shares important directions for the way forward (including examples of philanthropies like the JPB Foundation and Deepak Bhargava, Edgar Villanueva and Decolonizing Wealth Project, The California Endowment, Liberty Hill, California Black Freedom Fund, and others). Please repost and share.

Another article about how the adoption of #trustbasedphilanthropy practices leads to focusing the expertise of local nonprofits who can lead the way to more effective grant making. Trust-based philanthropy will help us give more to the right people, but even more importantly can help shine a light on the flaws in our delivery of human services. The Movement Innovation Collaborative is stressing the importance of 'interconnected networks' to create sustainable change. When we don't have consistent funding, collaboration and scale then systems change becomes all the more difficult. This new collaborative focuses on some of the very same principles that C-IMPACT (Chris Swanson - John Farley) espouses as its core tenets; coordination of efforts, infrastructure, funding, capacity building....all leading to collective impact. It's not just about changing how we fund, it's addressing the issues uncovered when we include the right leaders and fund them in the right way. #philanthropy #csr #socialimpact The California Endowment

Strong nonprofit leadership is an essential ingredient to a healthy society.

'Given the current Productivity Commission inquiry into philanthropy,' writes Dr Alexandra Williamson, 'it’s worth revisiting the fact that there have already been many inquiries into Australian philanthropy and related issues.' In almost thirty years, 15.5 million words across almost 50,000 pages have been generated in total by government inquiries. The not-for-profit sector has written over 4,500 formal responses generating about 29,000 pages. But how many report recommendations have been implemented? How many are still relevant today? In this month's Research Roundup, Dr Alexandra Williamson highlights a recent Working Paper by Myles McGregor-Lowndes that identifies and summarises the major recommendations from six national inquiries, noting the government response at the time, and assessing the current implementation status of the recommendations. Fascinating reading for anyone in the sector.

Discussions around funding accountability and coherence is apt especially at a time when there is a lot of disgruntlements among key ecosystem actors including donors, beneficiaries, governments and project implementers.    Donors need to build suitable synergies between key players if the overall effectiveness of aid effort is to be achieved and sustained. Additionally, they must carefully layer the different funding instruments and programming used if the needs of the targeted beneficiaries are to be met sustainably.   Such measures are instrumental in addressing longer term drivers of vulnerabilities and crises particularly in emerging economies ultimately accelerating delivery of United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.