Weekly Reads
“Nonprofits that spend more on information technology, facilities, equipment, staff training, program development and fundraising tend to be more successful than those that scrimp on these ‘overhead expenses.’ But many donors are reluctant to support groups that spend heavily on those priorities because they associate high overhead costs with wasted money and bad management.” [more]
Hala Altamimi, University of Kansas, Qiaozhen Liu, Florida Atlantic University, for The Conversion
“Inclusion within an organization means accepting and valuing each and every colleague’s talents and qualities—without imposing conformity. … Here are seven small actions you can take to be a more inclusive colleague and help foster a comfortable and safe work environment for everyone.” [more]
Nikita and Grace Lordan, Harvard Business Review
“I think that there’s growing confusion in our business about the role foundations, donor advisors, donors, and funders should play in movements for justice. Philanthropy and movements are different things. Related, but very different. … And, perhaps most importantly, that in centering ourselves we lose sight of our actual job and role in movements for justice, which is to listen to their leaders and to give them the money they need to do what movements are supposed to do, which is to move—we hope in the direction of a country that looks vastly more like the one we want than the one we have. Our job is not to fight. It’s to listen and to fund.” [more]
Carmen Rojas, PhD, Marguerite Casey Foundation, for Stanford Social Innovation Review
“It remains too common for organizations, including funders, to approach their data strategies from the perspective of ‘what can we collect?’ This has led to a lot of data collection without a purpose and this extractive approach is a wasteful burden on the organizations that generate these data. It is encouraging to hear funders starting from a ‘what can we learn?’ entry point, but we should go further to start with questions that will enable organizations to better achieve their missions. Data collection should serve the people creating and sharing the data first and foremost.” [more]
Woodrow Rosenbaum, GivingTuesday, for Candid
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