Today’s demand for philanthropic dollars is chaotic. The need for resources is overwhelming and it is affecting both large and small nonprofits. Many non-profits believe that foundations such as the Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina are going to be the “quick fix” to their current financial challenges. Unfortunately, it does not work that way.
Most foundations move very deliberately and purposefully. They don’t make quick decisions nor do they “knee jerk” to crisis needs. The one common denominator is that foundations do have dollars to spend and nonprofits need dollars to spend. Other than that, every foundation has a different set of giving principles, goals and desired outcomes. Often times, an organization will apply for and expect funding from a foundation simply because the organization has a similar mission to the foundation’s mission. But more and more, foundations are looking “inward” at what they want to accomplish, than looking “outward” at what others want or need to accomplish.
In other words, foundations are becoming more intentional about their grant giving. Foundations have their own set of indicators that determine whether or not they are successful or meeting their own mission. Sometimes it aligns with a nonprofit and sometimes it doesn’t. For example, the Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina has limited resources which force us to make extremely difficult decisions about how and where the Foundation does its social investing. It is just the way it is. Equipping families with the resources to live out of poverty is ambitious and a very difficult hill for us to climb. It is our goal to have the greatest impact on reducing poverty, mostly through addressing causes rather than consequences. That is not to say that we don’t invest in consequences but it is not our priority. We are going to dig deeper and invest more strategically to influence change that defines who we are and the goals and outcomes we, as a funder, must achieve.
This may require fewer grants to fewer organizations but the organizations that are funded will clearly align with our mission, focus, desired outcomes and key indicators. We will be looking for more defined partners to help us meet our goals. It is the only way we can be truly effective and measure the changes we are able to affect in poor communities and neighborhoods. Some funds will continue to be directed towards meeting basic needs. A lot of individuals and families are struggling and we cannot, in good conscience, ignore that. However, true change in the lives of those living in generational poverty will require more of our attention and resources as we move “further upstream” to find the answers and create greater impact.
Our hope is that future consequences of poverty will be less severe because needed prevention, intervention, learning, skill building and life style changes have occurred on the front end. There is no doubt that many nonprofit organizations are trying to do good work in communities across South Carolina. Unfortunately, we can only choose a few and align with them to further our goals and mission of lifting families out of poverty.
Tom Keith is the president of the Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina
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