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Strategic Approach

NCRP has served as philanthropy’s critical friend and an independent watchdog since 1976. As we celebrate our 50th anniversary in 2026, NCRP’s long-standing calls — for funders to dedicate more resources to movement strategies for democracy, equity, and justice and to focus on building power in partnership with communities — are as relevant as they have ever been.

How we work: 

NCRP seeks to be a bold truth-teller, critic, and provocateur: bringing problems in the sector to light, sparking important conversations, and building internal desire and external pressure to drive improvement in philanthropy.

We elevate the expertise of frontline nonprofit groups and validate their calls-to-action for funders with research that provides actionable insight. NCRP also uplifts the work of exemplary organizations and individuals within philanthropy who are challenging the status quo and showing that it is possible to do things differently.

We do this through:

  • Research that provides insight into the history and present of philanthropy, including how philanthropic resources are (or aren’t) moving to different types of organizations, strategies, and communities.
  • Field efforts to gather and share information, to influence funder attitudes and behavior, and to develop resources that support philanthropy in improving its practices.
  • Communications efforts and commentary to inform sector conversations and drive narrative shifts.
Target outcomes:

In 2025, NCRP identified four mid-range programmatic outcomes that are important to our long-term vision of a future where philanthropy is a means to truly share wealth and power and to create a more equitable and democratic society.

Our programs are successful when they contribute to one or more of the following outcomes:

  • Frontline organizations who use movement strategies to advance justice and build power for marginalized communities receive more and better resources from funders, while also gaining greater power and influence over the direction of philanthropic resources.
  • Funders wield their power and influence to support values of diversity, equity, and inclusion and to protect civil society institutions, movement groups, and marginalized communities under threat.
  • Philanthropic funding for efforts to undermine democracy and reverse progress on racial, gender, and economic justice is exposed and scrutinized, reducing bad actors’ influence within the sector and galvanizing more funders to counter its harm.
  • Philanthropy reckons with its relationship to historical and ongoing harm, acknowledges how it perpetuates the concentration of wealth and power, and supports transformative changes to the policies and norms that guide it.