It's Time for Offense

I’m more March Madness than Super Bowl fan, but everyone likes a good offense.

It’s time for us in the nonprofit sector to claim a spot on that offensive line.

Public sector support has become unreliable. And unlike previous periods when the government threatened funding cuts, individual giving is on a protracted downslide.

So, let’s set a new course for what we need from foundations. They can’t fill the void, but we can maximize their potential.

Keep Your Eye on the Ball

Over the last few months, I’ve seen most foundations operate in business-as-usual mode. At least, that’s their grantee-facing stance. It’s not acceptable, even as they face their own potential regulatory scrutiny.

We deserve to hear from our partners and their leaders.

We need to be part of the conversation.

It’s time to break out of our nonprofit niceties and have the hard conversations. Together.

Success in this new era requires renewed expectations, including a more direct approach on both sides.

Suit up for a New Game

I’ve sat through too many funder meetings where the nonprofit tone is demure, even passive. That stance doesn’t serve our current reality.

Nonprofits wait months for longtime grant makers to determine this year’s priorities. Or, they complete unique financial forms for each application that makes a similar funding request. Or, they can’t begin projects on schedule due to indeterminate funder deliberations.

These are among the more mundane examples. Others demean nonprofit staff by pivoting from verbal agreements or pushing potential grantees in unwanted directions.

Here’s a new playbook for us:

• Initiate uncomfortable conversations.

• Weigh in when circumstances are dismissive of your nonprofit’s time, expertise, or priorities.

• Remain professional but assertive when key principles are involved.

You can’t do it alone. Before you speak with funders, let your leadership know the importance of pushing on the traditional dynamics between investors and grantees. You need internal allies.

Come to Play

Reach out to the foundations where you have the deepest partnerships, in relational terms, in monetary terms, and in potential. Begin with one-on-one conversations and see where you can speak at meetings for greater impact.

Don’t take a funder’s latest strategic rethinking as an excuse to wait. That is exactly the right time to engage.

Offer to take part in those meetings so that the players can hear from a grantee. Let your contact know that you want to offer ground-level insights to inform future actions. Consider these approaches:

• Identify and support sympathetic or influential program officers who can champion change from within.

• Tell timely stories that don’t minimize your nonprofit’s current hardships.

• Pair those challenges with specific steps your funder can take to help remedy them, such as improvements to communications, application processes, guidelines, reporting requirements, or grant types.

• Challenge foundation staff to roll out the same kind of pilots and tests they encourage grantees to undertake.

Among the ways to get the ball rolling:

• “You and I have an honest relationship. I need to let you in on what it feels like to be inside our organization right now. [Insert vexing element] is causing tangible stress.”

• “I know your foundation values feedback from its grantees, so I want to let you know what we’re experiencing recently.”

• “Let’s discuss how, together, we can innovate on a key part of the grant making process.”

Even if nothing comes of the exchange, you have registered your frustration. Sometimes, that’s all you can do.

If enough of us signal our dissatisfaction, our voices move the power dynamic. That’s exactly what happened when nonprofits and many others spoke out against the proposed stop on federal grants and loans.

No doubt, your nonprofit strives to stand out when applying for grants. Help your nonprofit stand out in a new dimension—via its character.

The Ball Is in Our Court

It gives me no pleasure to call out a sector I’ve worked with my entire career. While it’s unfair to expect perfection, I’m optimistic that things can improve.

Fair or not, progress begins with our own initiative.

I have lived through decades of academics, sector leaders, authors, and media screaming at philanthropy to do the right thing. Even the associations built to convene the funder class push back on their members regularly. It hasn’t worked well.

Grantees wield one of the last remaining megaphones.

Invite your funders into a vision of the world through your nonprofit’s lens. It’s a hopeful future that’s worth uncomfortable conversations, with both of you on the same team.

Foundations love systemic change. Let’s help them begin on their own playing field.