I'm done being busy

I have a good friend who really wanted a job in philanthropy. When she finally got a position in philanthropy she promised that she wouldn't be like other Program Officer and constantly complain about how busy she was. She reasoned that this was the job that she wanted, busyness shouldn't be an issue. A few minutes after she told me this, I asked her how work was going. She sighed and said "busy".

There are many, many reasons why foundation staff are so busy, but I think that most of those reasons can be boiled down into a few self-created reasons.

• We don't delegate because someone might do it better than us. Fear of being replaceable is a very real but you are more likely to be replaced if you are running around like crazy, trying to be Wonder Woman, Martha Stewart and Michelle Obama rolled into one. None of us can do it alone. Let go a little bit.
• Foundations are process driven places and we often rely on lots of paperwork, rather than a little bit of good judgement to make grantmaking decisions. Maybe if we spent less time requesting duplicate copies of 990's and specialized logic models, we would have a clearer head to figure out if the program is actually a good idea.
• Foundation positions are seen as cushy jobs, so easy that anyone could do it. How hard could it be to give away money, they ask. Very hard actually, but I think many of us have internalized this criticism of the field and insist of telling everyone near and far how extraordinarily busy we are. Lest someone assume that we are expendable. Enough already.

I'm done with it all. I am the master of my outlook calendar and I have a lot of say in how my foundation interacts with grantees. I'm sick of us all being too busy to enjoy the richness of this work and the wonder of what generosity can do to strengthen communities. I'm declaring a moratorium on busyness. Who's with me?

Encouraging Charitable Efficiencies

Ellen Friedman, VP at Tides wrote a recent post  at the Huffington Post asking that individuals find alternatives to starting new nonprofits. From Ellen: The nonprofit sector is a sector of innovation, creativity, and people working for the common good. More than 14 million Americans - 11 percent of American workers - are employed by or volunteer full-time in the nonprofit sector; more than the financial industry and the auto industry combined.

In a recent article entitled, "Charities Rise, Costing U.S. Billions in Tax Breaks," Stephanie Strom of the New York Times raises concerns about an out of control nonprofit sector that is flooding the IRS with frivolous new applications to establish new public charities that will deprive the federal budget of billions of dollars.

There are plenty of reasons for concern about the federal budget, but singling out the nonprofit sector in this way overlooks some important points.

Not only is this sector working on innovative ways to make the world a better place and connecting people with a sense of common good, nonprofits also contribute billions in tax revenue through employee payroll alone.

Moreover, in an age of dwindling public resources, when the role of government in addressing social problems is feverishly debated, the American public is taking matters into their own hands. This heightened wave of community activism, volunteerism and social entrepreneurship needs to be celebrated, not discouraged. In a time when Facebook and Twitter make broadcasting your ideas and passions part of daily life, we should not be surprised that communities are finding new ways to match their values with their time and pocketbooks.

Is there potential waste in creating thousands of new nonprofits every year? Undoubtedly yes, but the problem is not people's motivations. The problem is that not enough people know about the alternatives to establishing nonprofit organizations; alternatives like fiscal sponsorship and donor advised funds that exist to create greater efficiencies and cost-effectiveness for charitable activities.

Read the rest here.

Being Better When They Need It Most

Below is a post from Mary Galeti, who is a fellow member of the Council on Foundations' Next Generation Task Force. I know all of us have beenaffected by the images coming from Haiti and the unimaginable need that is coming from our neighbor. These are the times where philanthropy needs to be at its best to alliviate sugffering and help Haiti develop a better future out of this tragedy. From Mary:

I have been rapt by the devastating images coming out of Haiti. What I have found particularly interesting is the outpouring of support—not only on television, but also on Facebook and Twitter.

Organizers have created opportunities for people to give via text message. People are also posting messages and tweets about what organizations are doing and what events are being organized to collect goods and funds. While these are all good actions, I’ve realized that it’s hard to do good due diligence in such short order.

As the Family Philanthropy Conference approaches, I’m struck by the role that families can play as leaders in moments like these (noting in particular Steve Gunderson’s closing thought in his post “Philanthropy’s Response to Haiti”). Perhaps we, as a field, should think about the best ways to communicate what works, what’s needed and maybe even be a conduit to get the public support to the people and places in need. We can be organizers and leaders during times of trouble and turmoil—connecting those who want to help with key stakeholders on the ground.

Read the rest here.

Where will the money come from?

Many of us find our way into philanthropy because we want to be on the “resource side” of social change - to help get money to where it needs to go. And foundations certainly control a lot of money – The Foundation Center reports total giving in 2007 reached almost $43 billion. But once we start doing this work, it can feel like our grant budgets are never big enough, especially in today’s context. We’re deep in an economic crisis where 50 million Americans are living in poverty. Communities face tremendous need while at the same time foundation giving has declined. Even those of us on the “resource side” of the equation are finding ourselves looking for more resources.

So where will the money come from?

In philanthropy circles, this conversation often moves to one about fundraising. Growing the donor base is critical, and groups like Resource Generation and Bolder Giving are playing a necessary role in this by challenging new givers to not only give more, but to direct that giving to address the root causes of social, economic and environmental injustices.

But in order to make a fundamental shift in the amount of resources available to communities, we also need to bring taxes into the conversation.

 Here are three reasons why the philanthropic community has a stake in the tax policy debates in 2010 and beyond:

1) Tax policy has the ability to increase the dollars available to foundations, since the higher the taxes for high-income and wealthy families, the more money that is given to philanthropic foundations. More progressive tax rates increase the resources available to the nonprofit sector.

2) By the same token, tax policy has the ability to decrease the dollars available to our sector. In fact, it’s happening right now. With the disappearance of the federal estate tax for 2010, we’re likely to see an estimated decline in charitable giving of $13-25 billion. And this is just the latest in a whole series of tax cuts for the wealthy that has shifted the tax burden to wage earners.  

3) Philanthropy can’t be a substitute for what the public sector can provide. In 2009 Congress allocated $54 billion for food stamps (known as the Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program). Without increasing payout, all foundations working together would be unable to meet the funding needs for just this one program. While we can – and should – debate where our federal resources go (and fund advocacy groups that are putting on the pressure!), philanthropy is no match for the government’s ability to fund the safety net, infrastructure, health care, and education.  Our government relies on revenue from taxes to invest in these vital programs and that money should be raised from those with the greatest capacity to pay.  Reversing the Bush-era tax cuts for high-income households is an important place to start – with the potential to raise over $43 billion in revenue a year.

Many people view philanthropy as an alternative to taxes, but our sector is inextricably linked to the tax code. There will be many opportunities in 2010 to work toward more progressive policy. The funding community can’t afford to be absent from these debates.

Alison Goldberg coordinates Wealth for the Common Good and is co-author of Creating Change Through Family Philanthropy: The Next Generation.