As we all return to work after the winter holidays and celebrating the advent of a new year, many of us have likely made resolutions that we think will help us improve our lives.
Resolutions are important to us personally and they are also important for the nonprofit sector. As we start our myriad endeavors for 2014, now is the time for philanthropy to consider making some resolutions that will bolster our sector and empower grantees in implementing the important work they do to improve the lives of those with the least wealth, opportunity and power.
In Smashing Silos in Philanthropy: Multi-Issue Advocacy and Organizing for Real Results, we showed how truly strategic grantmakers look to the entire ecosystem of interactions that best supports the nonprofit sector and raises the probability of realizing the impact that they wish to see in the world. One of the most viable ways to do this is by investing in multi-issue advocacy and organizing that fosters social capital.
So here are seven things that foundations can do in 2014 to effectively support cross-issue efforts that can help maximize impact in the coming year and beyond:
1. Begin with your values and work from there. This is more frequently practiced by social justice funders with a focus on underserved communities, but it is not only social justice funders that provide grants for multi-issue advocacy and organizing. Social change needs specific leadership skills, focus and accountability. Clarifying the issues and constituencies you care about is a good starting point to begin considering supporting cross-issue efforts can complement your current strategies to increase the chances of “winning” in your focal area.
2. Diversify your portfolio. Diversification is the foundation of any investment strategy. Philanthropies are fortunate in that they have significant freedom to test out new strategies and tactics and engage with a range of actors in our sector including advocates, organizers and infrastructure groups.
3. Nurture the grassroots. If a grantmaker hopes to contribute to effecting sustainable change to the complex problems our communities confront, it is imperative to ensure that the base, those closest to the communities we care about, are well taken care of. Professionalized advocacy is important to this process but social movements must be guided by those who stand to gain or lose the most. This does not imply abandoning social service provision; often, service organizations have the ability to organize and mobilize the constituents they serve.
4. Provide unencumbered, flexible and long-term support. Providing grantees with substantial core support and multi-year funds of more than two years is essential to their fiscal stability and their ability to respond to opportunities that arise unexpectedly. Knowing that funders are invested in their work for the long-term allows grantees to engage in advocacy and organizing, two of the most impactful means to achieving shared goals with their donors. Additionally, grantmakers can experiment with providing core support grants in addition to program grants to facilitate relational power among organizations, leaders and constituents.
5. Add grants for cross-issue work to your portfolio and continue providing funds to your preferred issue simultaneously. Similar to the suggestion of adding multi-year operating support to existing program grants, grantmakers can continue funding within their issue while testing the waters of engaging in multi-issue organizing.
6. Model the collaboration that you fund and hope to see. Building relationships among peers, i.e., other grantmakers offers real potential for being able to reconsider strategy and break through issue silos. This can be done through regional meetings, systemically combined conferences and convenings and building coaching circles. Learning from successes and failures in such environments offers program staff at a foundation to identify the needed tools to demonstrate to their trustees the value of engaging in multi-issue work.
7. Engage with your grantees as true partners. Our research and interviews for Smashing Silos in Philanthropy found unanimous agreement that the relationship between funders and grantees involved in multi-issue work is fundamentally different than in other work. Grantees engage in an iterative process to craft strategy along with their funders because they are more often than not much more attuned to the most pressing issues our communities face. As some have contended, strategic philanthropists must learn to cede some control and trust their grantees while not abandoning mutual accountability. Trusting grantees and involving them in strategy development and decision making are among the fundamental building blocks of a relationship that mirrors a partnership.
Will you make a resolution to engage in multi-issue advocacy and organizing in some way suggested above? We know that institutional change is difficult, but you can start by committing to experiment with at least one or two of the recommendations that will help achieve your mission and move the needle on issues you care about.
Niki Jagpal is director of research and policy at the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP). She frequently blogs about philanthropy, race, class and social justice.
Image by freedigitalphotos.net/StuartMiles.
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