March 2011
1 post
Youth Programs on Block Grant Cutting Board
The Congress over the years transferred basic commitments in public services from infrastructural funding included in the annual budget to Block Grants. By doing so, it made all kinds of programs vulnerable to the whims of political callousness. We are now seeing the fruits of this trend. The money is a small part of the federal spending. These cuts defund programs that are productive and...
September 2010
2 posts
From blue avocado: "Ten Things I Learned About...
If you are not familiar with the blue avocado blog, here is a good reason to get to know it. This article was published back in May. When I finally got to it, I realized it was a treasure. Jan Masaoka brings points forth of real value, even if you are not a woman executive of color. It also created some controversy but that indicates the issues are real.
I like the very first paragraph of her...
Guidestar Reports Lingering Downward Trends for...
The venerable and respected Guidestar reported recently that the hard times of 2009 might be even worse for 2010 already. More than 7000 organizations responded to the survey. I took it on behalf of my own organization and know it to be a well constructed collection of data. The trends we found in the SOS survey of community organizing groups are verified by what the non-profit sector in general...
July 2010
4 posts
Poverty, Economic Distress and Challenge in NC
While not directly related to our discussions of sustaining organizing, a report released earlier this year in North Carolina certainly has serious implications for communities. The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation supported the production of Documenting of Poverty, Economic Distress, and Challenge in North Carolina. It was submitted by the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of...
Resilience and Commitment At a Price
Another study (Recession Pressures on Non-Profit Jobs) shows the sector is doing more for less. Bruce Trachtenberg writing in the Nonprofit Newswire describes a national survey by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Civil Society Studies. The report updates a previous study begun during the early days of this recession.
“Organizations have shown enormous resilience and commitment to...
Foundation "Disinvestment" Will Have Long Term...
Lisa Ranghelli, director of Grantmaking for Community Impact Project, and Julia Craig, research associate at the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) report in the NCRP Blog that they were so alarmed by the findings in research they are doing that they could not wait until their report is done. They are sounding an alarm on behalf of NCRP in The Cost of Foundation...
Churches and Non-Profits: Oil Spill Collateral...
It is clear that a manmade or natural disaster disrupts the ecology of an entire community, not just individuals. The BP Gulf Oil disaster has produced a lot of collateral damage that does not get much recognition. We know about jobs, tourism, fishing, and animals lost. Beyond those essential parts of a community, there are faith-based and non-profit organizations that depend on people to sustain...
June 2010
5 posts
Release of Sustaining Organizing: A Survey of...
Historic Moment Workshop at US Social Forum in Detroit: The DataCenter and the National Organizers Alliance released a report at the U.S. Social Forum in Detroit entitled: Sustaining Organizing: A Survey of Organizations During the Economic Downturn (download pdf). The report was presented at the end of a workshop called Historic Moment for Funding Social Justice Organizing in the 21st Century...
"Cognitive Dissonance" in Corporate Giving 2009
Giving USA’s annual report on charitable donations is almost the holy grail for many who watch philanthropic institutions. As a comprehensive examination, it tells us about trends as well as recent moments. Some of the results for 2009 were a surprise and even controversial, to the point that Indiana University’s Patrick Rooney has had to explain the numbers and the record of Giving...
Florida Law Blocks Transparency in Foundations
Florida may be alerting the world of philanthropy to a new front in conservative legislative initiatives. Emmett D. Carson is chief executive officer of Silicon Valley Community Foundation, in Mountain View, California. Carson writes in an opinion piece in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, “A new Florida law heralded by its supporters as protecting the freedom of private foundations has done just...
CEP Reports Foundations' Failure to Communicate
Many foundations came forward with positive messages of support to grantees and communities at the beginning of the current economic crisis. But the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) concludes “that nonprofits do not perceive funders to have communicated their responses to the economic downturn clearly, if at all. They also report that funders have offered them little useful help in...
Volunteerism Increases
Conventional wisdom has it that when the economy is down, volunteerism follows. But the Corporation for National and Community Service’s annual Volunteering in America shows a rise of 1.6 million volunteers in 2009. The usual picture is that people with jobs and home owners tend to be the source of most volunteer hours.
“63.4 million Americans volunteered through a formal organization...
May 2010
3 posts
Innovation More Difficult in Time of Restraint
Johns Hopkins University has a useful web resource section called the Listening Post Project.
In “Nonprofits, Innovation, and Performance Measurement: Separating Fact from Fiction”, writers Lester M. Salamon, Stephanie L. Geller, and Kasey L. Mengel of Johns Hopkins discuss how the economy is influencing innovation in non-profits. While creativity continues and response to current...
Reading Your Non-Profit Weather Report
The State We Are In, is an exclusive series by The Nonprofit Quarterly (NPQ). Examining 21 states, Rick Cohen and Ruth McCambridge conclude that how a non-profit is doing in the recession and recovery is the non-profit’s location. Comparison is included on the NPQ website looking at the problems faced by nonprofits given fiscal difficulties of state governments. “So, in NPQ’s...
Good News on Foundation Giving
Some good news has been coming from recent analysis of giving by foundations. A new study from the Philanthropic Collaborative reports that foundations were “flexible and targeted in their response to the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression”
You can find the document Responding in Crisis online. An example of findings: “As unemployment became a larger economic...
April 2010
5 posts
Increasing Funding for Advocacy, Community...
Melissa Johnson writes in NCRP Roundup, April 2010, about how research and writing on the benefits of advocacy, community organizing and civic engagement is having an impact: ”Well under way, the Grantmaking for Community Impact Project (GCIP) is making progress toward increasing funder understanding and demonstrating the impacts of nonprofit advocacy, organizing and civic engagement. When...
Uphill Needs, Downhill Revenues
The Nonprofit Newswire is a valuable source of news tracking trends among community based organizations. In this item, they link to the Modesto, California Bee for its article, Long Road Back: As Need Grows Modesto-area Non-Profits Forced to Make Cuts by Kevin Valine: “Agencies that feed, clothe and shelter people and counsel them when they are in crisis have laid off staff, not filled...
It Could Be Worse
The Foundation Center has released its study of foundation growth and giving. It projects that 2010 will be flat in giving but that this may be good news. “The worst economic crisis since the Great Depression resulted in the biggest reduction in U.S. foundation giving on record. In 2009, the nation’s more than 75,000 grantmaking foundations cut their giving by an estimated 8.4 percent, or...
Raising Less But Optimistic
Holly Hall writing in the Chronicle of Philanthropy: Fifty-seven percent of charities raised less money last year than in 2008—or had flat returns—according to a study released today by the Association of Fundraising Professionals at its annual meeting here.” Fundraisers remain optimistic about the future. On the other hand, there are many vacancies in development positions.
Economy...
Executive Director Turn Over
In 2006, Daring to Lead was published. It was a national study of non-profits conducted by CompassPoint and the Meyer Foundation, showing that three-quarters of Executive Directors plan to leave their jobs in the next five years. Based on nearly 2,000 surveys from eight metropolitan areas, the report provided data on executive turnover, compensation, career plans, and retirement. It also explored...
March 2010
6 posts
America's Nonprofits Brace for Tough 2010
The Nonprofit Finance Fund has the results of its survey of non-profits leaders summarized online. The report describes the conditions expected and strategies to handle them. Key findings include:
Nearly 90% expect 2010 to be as difficult or more difficult than 2009; only 12% expect 2010 to be financially easier for their organizations.
80% of nonprofits anticipate an increase in demand for...
1.2 Million Charities and Foundations
If you wonder about the growth of the 501(c)(3) sort of non-profit, you might be interested to know that this category, so much the norm today, has increased by 90% since 1996. Today, there are 1.2 million of these groups, according to the IRS. These numbers do not reflect the number of voluntary associations and ad hoc groups that exist outside of IRS defined structures. Nonetheless, the numbers...
Charities Must Focus on Multiple Ways to Reach...
Conducted by Edge Research, a survey study for Convio and Sea Change Strategies has been released. It examines a poll of how members of different generations learn about charities, interact with them, and support them. “More than 1,500 people who contributed to nonprofit groups in the past year responded. Generation X (those born from 1965 to 1980)—now make up more than half of the pool of...
California in Crisis
It is difficult to understand the full scale of the continuing economic crisis upon community organizations without seeing how government fiscal decisions are operating. Community groups are called upon to fight for better conditions while also facing a political system that is broken. The large scale fiscal crisis in the public sector in California cries out for reform but is hamstrung by...
Economic Stimulus Better for Whites - Blacks &...
Boston, MA A new report released by United for a Fair Economy (UFE) finds that African Americans and Latinos are continuing to disproportionately experience economic hardships, and that targeted economic policies are required to address the racial economic divide in the US. The report, entitled State of the Dream 2010: Drained, Jobless and Foreclosed in Communities of Color, is the seventh annual...
A New Reports Finds that Advocacy Funding DOES...
The Los Angeles Times reported on a new study by The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy that found ” that spending on advocacy and organizing can yield major benefits for the communities that donors want to help.” The report notes that funding to advocacy work is low. It “would encourage foundations to consider investing at least 25% of their grant dollars in...
November 2009
4 posts
3 tags
New York Groups Ensure Stimulus Brings Opportunity...
The Open Society Institute announced this month a $500,000 grant to the New York Stimulus Alliance to monitor stimulus spending, encourage public participation in state-level decisions, and advocate for an equitable distribution of recovery funds .
“In the past, the government’s solutions to economic crises have often overlooked low-income communities and communities of color,” said Sondra...
3 tags
Five Trends Help to Create "Nonprofits of the...
Chronicle of Philanthropy reports on a new report by La Piana Consulting that explores five trends that are hastening the emergence of a new non-profit landscape. “The nonprofit field isn’t going to simply bounce back a few years from now to the state it was in before the recession.” The trends include shifting demographics to younger workers, using technological advances like social...
3 tags
Is Foundation Giving Going to Get Worst?
From the Chronicle of Philanthropy: “A new report suggests that grant makers will cut back their giving this year more than previously expected. In January the Foundation Center estimated that foundations would reduce their grant making 8 to 13 percent, but a new survey from the New York research group indicates that “the decline will be on the steeper end of that range.” While the stock market...
SOS Survey Launched
The Sustaining Organizing Study has launched a survey this week and is looking for local, regional and national organizations engaged in community organizing or resource/intermediary organizations that support organizing work to take the 30 question survey that will explore their programs, the impact of the economy on their organizing work and their experience of fundraising. The survey is part...
October 2009
3 posts
60 Articles on the impact of the economy on...
This past summer, we began with a literature review of studies and report from the past two years that document or discuss the impact of the economy on non-profit organizations. As all research projects begin, we wanted to know what’s already been done. You can read a summary of the literature review as well as short blurbs written for each of the articles. Over 60 articles and reports paint a...
Sustaining Organizing Blog Launch
The DataCenter and the National Organizers Alliance launched the Sustaining Organizing Study (SOS) to assess the impact of the economy on movement building and organizing work. Using surveys, interviews, online spaces, social networking tools and local convening, the goal of the project is to document the story of how groups are struggling and surviving as well as create dialogue and a shared...
Project Details
The Sustaining Organizing Study [SOS] Project:
A Strategic Social Justice Movement Assessment
by DataCenter & National Organizers Alliance
About the Project
Since the economic downturn, there has been a growing need to understand what the short term and long term impact will be on the non-profit sector and the communities they serve and support. Research done thus far clearly shows that the...