Funders and Nonprofits Come Together to Respond to Economic Crisis

On January 8, TSNE cosponsored a gathering of nonprofits and funders convened by Associated Grantmakers (AGM). The convening brought together over 400 nonprofit leaders and funders to identify short, medium and long-term action steps that will best help the nonprofit sector weather the economic maelstrom we are facing and emerge from this period stronger than ever. 

Living Through Extraordinary Times

The morning kicked-off with a panel discussion moderated by Anthony Everett of Channel 5’s Chronicle. Other panelists were:

• Hubie Jones, community leader, activist and scholar who currently presides over the Boston Children’s Choir and is the Social Justice Entrepenur in Residence at City Year
• Kristen McCormack, director of the Public and Nonprofit Management Program at Boston University
• Diana Pisciotta, executive vice president of Denterlein Worldwide
• Gregory Torres, president of MassInc 

All panelists agreed that we are living in extraordinary times that are fraught with challenges as well as opportunities for systemic and transformative change. Following are some of the ideas that panelists discussed and advice they had for nonprofit leaders and the sector:

1. Educate the public-at-large about the purpose, breath and depth of the nonprofit sector in terms of its contribution to local economies and the well-being of residents.
2. Harness and organize our collective political power.
3. Encourage philanthropy to increase the percentage of assets allocated to grantmaking.
4. Create an entity that reliably gathers, analyzes and disseminates information regarding community needs for improved planning and funding allocations.
5. Engage youth and the new generation of nonprofit leaders fully in designing and implementing future strategies.
6. Focus the collective attention of nonprofits on the revenue side of governments’ budgets and advocating for additional tax revenues.
7. Acknowledge the need for collaboration and even mergers given the explosive growth in the nonprofit sector in the previous decade. 

In order to tap into the collective wisdom, experience and expertise assembled in the room, and to begin taking more concrete steps towards collective action, participants engaged in conversations at their tables where they discussed specific technical assistance and capacity building needs as well actions steps for the short and long-term. 

TSNE is working with AGM to synthesize the wealth of information generated by the participants to post by early February 2009.