Organisations would be forced to make significant cuts in their staff and reduce salaries, impacting their ability to achieve programme goals, and retain and attract the talent it so desperately needs.
I witnessed this kind of consequence first-hand in one of the organizations I work for, when funding of around $20k that ACE had been giving us annually for 4 years was not renewed.
On an organization-wide scale, one solution would have been to make a greater effort to diversify our funding. The obstacle to this is that funders tend to want to allocate their donations to the project itself, and not to diversification fundraising efforts. What’s more, as funding is scarce and competitive, the amounts allocated are frequently lower than the amounts requested, which means that we can barely afford to run the project, and not actually develop the overall capacity of the organization to fundraise.
So we find ourselves relying on the same funder(s) every year, with no time to look for new ones. When we asked ACE if they would be willing to support us in our fundraising diversification efforts, we were told that they generally consider it a “risk strategy” (without ruling it out). I can hear that, but I still think it’s essential for the future of the movement to diversify its funding sources to avoid the pitfalls you describe so well in your post.
Perhaps the current funders of EAA, aware of their monopolistic position, should agree to bet more on this “risk strategy” by explicitly and publicly expressing their interest in funding monitoring, evaluation and fundraising positions in grantee organizations?
I am sorry to hear that. I hope you find the necessary funding for your efforts.
I agree that more fundraisers are needed. But unfortunately without more alternative funders, fundraisers might also fail to achieve their goals. Perhaps one short term improvement might be funders being more transparent about their expectaions and their plans so that grantees can adjust themselves to potential outcomes. Being more communicative might also help. Most grantees contact funders only on grant application periods which provides only limited feedback opportunities.
Thanks for this post!
I witnessed this kind of consequence first-hand in one of the organizations I work for, when funding of around $20k that ACE had been giving us annually for 4 years was not renewed.
On an organization-wide scale, one solution would have been to make a greater effort to diversify our funding. The obstacle to this is that funders tend to want to allocate their donations to the project itself, and not to diversification fundraising efforts. What’s more, as funding is scarce and competitive, the amounts allocated are frequently lower than the amounts requested, which means that we can barely afford to run the project, and not actually develop the overall capacity of the organization to fundraise.
So we find ourselves relying on the same funder(s) every year, with no time to look for new ones. When we asked ACE if they would be willing to support us in our fundraising diversification efforts, we were told that they generally consider it a “risk strategy” (without ruling it out). I can hear that, but I still think it’s essential for the future of the movement to diversify its funding sources to avoid the pitfalls you describe so well in your post.
Perhaps the current funders of EAA, aware of their monopolistic position, should agree to bet more on this “risk strategy” by explicitly and publicly expressing their interest in funding monitoring, evaluation and fundraising positions in grantee organizations?
Thanks for the comment!
I am sorry to hear that. I hope you find the necessary funding for your efforts.
I agree that more fundraisers are needed. But unfortunately without more alternative funders, fundraisers might also fail to achieve their goals. Perhaps one short term improvement might be funders being more transparent about their expectaions and their plans so that grantees can adjust themselves to potential outcomes. Being more communicative might also help. Most grantees contact funders only on grant application periods which provides only limited feedback opportunities.