A Resource for Lean Funders Responding to COVID-19

One phrase we hear daily in relation to COVID-19 is “we are all in this together.” Exponent Philanthropy is building upon that phrase through hosting live discussions with funders every Friday at 1:00 CT. These weekly calls began March 20th and are designed to connect lean funders around their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and to provoke ideas around your own response. The discussions are open to all funders, whether an Exponent Philanthropy member or not.

In addition, Exponent Philanthropy is compiling and updating relevant resources from the field as it relates to the pandemic.

Access Exponent Philanthropy’s resource page.

Register for Exponent Philanthropy’s Friday afternoon live discussions.

Philanthropy in Motion and the Restaurant Industry Amid COVID-19

The COVID-19 outbreak is wreaking havoc on so many aspects of our economy both nationally and abroad. But one area in which I am seeing a ray of hope is within the restaurant Industry. According to the National Restaurant Association it was anticipated, prior to the pandemic, restaurants nationwide would record $899 billion in sales and employ 15.6 million people in 2020. To bring these numbers a little closer to home, last year in Texas 10% of the state’s employment was in restaurant and food service with some 1,344,200 jobs. Further, every dollar spent at a sit-down restaurant contributed $2.02 to the Texas economy and every dollar spent at a limited service site, such as drive-thru business contributed $1.77 to the Texas economy - nothing to sneeze at.

Given the significance of the restaurant industry to Texas and America’s economies and given the vast majority of jobs within the industry are filled by hourly workers, I am heartened to see philanthropy and innovation intersect in a way to help restaurant workers survive the downturn and to feed others in our communities who are struggling.

This past week I have been collecting examples of what I am calling “philanthropy in motion.” See what you think. Is there a place where you own giving might intersect?

Cafe Momentum E.A.T.s was launched at the same time Dallas began recognizing the impact of COVID-19 in North Texas. Cafe Momentum transformed its restaurant space into a temporary food hub and their interns began putting together meal packs for low-income families. The idea is to build 1,000 kits a week with each kit providing four dinners for a family of four. The effort is supported by the Get Shift Done Fund at the Communities Foundation of Texas. Dollars from this fund pay the interns while Cafe Momentum is seeking donations to to cover food and other costs.

Get Shift Done connects hospitality workers with nonprofits providing hunger relief throughout North Texas including food banks, pantries, and Momentum E.A.T.s. Donated dollars provide wages to hourly workers to fill shifts at $10/hour. Further, the Get Shift Done team is leveraging the Shiftsmart platform to onboard, train, schedule, dispatch, route, and pay assigned workers. Here is a March 29 article in the Dallas Morning News on this work.

Former Dallas Cowboy, Travis Frederick is raising funds to feed families. Ensuring people have food is a cause he has been passionate about for years and is the reason he established the Blocking Out Hunger Foundation. Through the foundation, funds are being raised to provide food to families in low-income neighborhoods during this crisis.

The Furlough Kitchen opened March 25. It is run by Front Burner Group Dining in collaboration with CitySquare and is providing a free meal daily to anyone in the hospitality industry who has been furloughed.

Pecan Lodge is remembering its roots and struggles during the 2008 recession by establishing the Dinner Bell as a nonprofit with two purposes: 1. feed those working on the front lines of the pandemic including healthcare workers, first responders, and their families and 2. raise donations to provide bridge funding to independent, local restaurants so they can participate in Dinner Bell. These dollars are designed to keep qualifying restaurants afloat so they can pay staff and purchase supplies to create meals for Dinner Bell.

This March 25 article in the Dallas Observer offers other examples of philanthropy in motion within the restaurant industry including deferred rent for some restaurants and distributing free boxed meals to those directly impacted by the pandemic.

Let’s keep this positive response moving forward.

Trust Based Philanthropy?

A new year brings new hopes and possibilities for what can and will be accomplished over the coming months. Does the same hold true with your philanthropy? 

Are you approaching your giving with a bounce in your step for uncovering the nonprofits that are doing good work but may struggle with recognition or may struggle with pulling in consistent dollars so their leaders can sleep at night and concentrate on the work to be had? 

Are you looking for a collaborative relationship with nonprofits? One in which there is more listening and learning on both sides?

If you answered yes to any of these questions here is a resource for you. Take a look at the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project. This work was launched two years ago as a peer-to-peer funder initiative by funders from across the country to address power imbalances between funders and nonprofits. 

This project reimagines traditional funder-grantee relationships and envisions “a world where relationships are built on vulnerability, transparency, and humility; where community and nonprofit leaders are valued, supported, and trusted; and where funders bring an awareness of power and equity to their grantmaking.” 

Core to this work are six key principles: 

1. Give multi-year unrestricted funding, which is critical in creating healthy, flexible, and effective nonprofits.

2. Do the homework. It is the funders responsibility to learn and understand their grantees and not the other way around. It’s also important to look beyond your usual organizations to discover other agencies aligned with your vision and values.

3. Simplify and streamline paperwork. Limit your questions to those that will get to the heart of your decision making. Consider taking a more informal approach to learning about a grantee’s work such as through phone calls or video meetings.

4. Be transparent and responsive. Be clear about what you fund and don’t fund. Be clear about your process. Be open and honest about your own struggles as an organization. And respond to emails and calls in a timely manner.

5. Solicit and act on feedback. When was the last time your asked nonprofits their thoughts about an issue or the work being done in their field?

6. Offer support beyond the check. Raise up grantees work in your newsletters. Build and nurture peer learning networks. Act as a neutral sounding board.

Is this view of funder-grantee relationships piquing your interest? If so, let’s talk about how you can build these six principals into your grantmaking and the difference it can make in your philanthropy. 

Nonprofit Starvation Cycle - What's That?

Even though temperatures in Dallas remain in the 90s and it feels more like summer than fall, I know cooler days are coming as students are back in school and football season is in full force. With the new season comes a renewed effort on my part to share and create posts I believe are relevant to the world of philanthropy and are appropriate for nonprofits and funders alike.

A passion area for me is opening the dialogue between nonprofits and funders, not just around current programming but around those wild and crazy ideas that just might work. The nonprofits, their program staff, and clients know what it takes to be successful. They have ideas for twists to the “tried and true” but implementing changes takes funding - it also takes a willingness on the part of funders to listen, ask questions, and to walk alongside their grantees on what could be a risky journey.

One place to start this dialogue is for funders to do something they, ironically shy away from - talk about money. Funders should start asking grantees about the true cost of their programs including operations and revenue generation (development) and nonprofits should be calculating these figures. All too often project based funding does not fully cover the cost of the project thus leaving a deficit for the agency to make up.

This deficit situation occurs for three reasons:

1. A reluctance to reveal that program costs don’t fit nicely within the prescribed 70%, 20%, 10% ratios for program, operations, and fundraising that has been considered a “best practice” far too long; coupled with a reluctance on the part of nonprofits to dig through the numbers and come face-to-face with the true cost of their work.

2. A reluctance to fund salaries - if you don’t pay people to deliver a program how else will clients benefit? For most agencies salaries can be as much as 80% or more of their operating budget.

3. The belief that agencies should and can make up this deficit through their general fundraising thus putting a huge strain on the executive director and development staff to supplement programs that are chronically underfunded by donors.

I’m heartened by the recent work of the Bridgespan Group and others to call out what is being termed the “starvation cycle” of nonprofits, a situation brought about by chronic underfunding of indirect costs.

I encourage you to take a look at content prepared by the Bridgespan Group and posted on the 9/4/19 issue of the Chronicle of Philanthropy - it just may change the way you view your grant making and may open new pathways for conversations with grantees.

For Nonprofit ED’s - A Ray of Sunshine

As we head into the summer months many executive directors of nonprofits are heaving a sigh of relief that along with summer comes a time when schedules are a bit less hectic and there may even be a few hours to set aside for planning and building strategy with their staff and board. On the other hand, summer may also highlight the reality that there are never enough hours in the week to cross off all of the items on the “to-do” list. For those who are feeling what can sometimes be overwhelming pressures of the position, this post by Vu Le may offer a boost and reaffirmation of why you said “yes” to this role and its inherent challenges. “10 Reasons why being and executive director is awesome.”

Happy reading - happy summer.

Funders Pool Resources to Provide Capacity Building to Their Region’s Nonprofits

A fine example of how active, two-way listening between nonprofit organizations and funders led to pooled dollars and the creation of local training around capacity building. The details are outlined in the 6/4/19 blog post on Exponent Philanthropy by Leslie Cheu, executive director of The Troy Savings Bank Charitable Foundation in Troy, NY.

Photo credit - Matt Walter.