On Funders
Posted on | March 12, 2009 | 1 Comment
Funders fund their own mandate, not yours. And therein lies the challenge.
While I’m working at a fortunate time … there are now more funding streams available to not-for-profit activities and projects than ever before … there are also some pretty tight strings attached to said funds, forcing many organizations to try and make a square peg fit a round hole.
In the corporate world, businesses are able to access large amounts of capital during various phases of their growth and – while there may also be strings attached to that funding – they typically put together a product or service, approach potential investors and say “Here’s what we’ve got, we need this amount of money to move forward … who’s interested?”
Not-for-profits don’t have that option.
Instead, a funder releases information about a funding stream or calls for applications - describing in excruciating detail exactly what they want – forcing organizations to create a program or project that meets both funding criteria and fits the organizational mission.
If successful, an organization is awarded enough money for a year or two to do what the funder decided they should do. At the end of the day, funders want to leave their mark on what they feel a program or service should be.
So let’s approach this differently … since organizations are expected to form partnerships when responding to funding requests and delivering services, why isn’t there a corresponding coordination of resources from funders? If a project evolves that piques the interest of several funders, why couldn’t one fund the start-up, with another funding the growth phase? Why are so many funders, funding projects one nth of a degree different from one another?
Coordinating resources at both ends of the table makes perfect sense, but then the larger question remains … what types of processes would we need to actually make this happen?
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Tags: capacity > coordination > fund > funder > fundraising > mandate > rural > rurban
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May 1st, 2009 @ 12:35 pm
[...] to my thoughts on funders, I was delighted to learn several major grantmaking agencies and organizations from Alberta met [...]