Building a Collaborative Media Campaign
by Peter Brach, Ed.M.
If we can build a media campaign to change how funders think about giving away money, it will make a huge difference.
Let me give you a few examples to illustrate my point: The END Fund is a nonprofit dedicated to eradicating neglected tropical diseases across the globe. One forward-thinking funder decided that rather than focusing on helping one program, he would galvanize his colleagues to improve the functioning of the entire organization. Within two years, The End Fund grew from $57 million to $108 million in annual revenue which, to the best of my knowledge, has remained steady since. This focus on organizational growth, rather than just supporting programs, unlocked far greater capacity to help many more people with neglected tropical diseases.
Another funder provided the Worldwide Initiative of Grantmaker Support (WINGS) with additional staffing during the early months of the Covid-19 crisis. This gave WINGS the time needed to work with the European Union and secure a one million Euro grant, the largest in the organization’s history. As a result, WINGS established a campaign asking foundations to commit to combating climate change. Today, more than 500 foundations have taken the pledge, many of whom were not previously committed to this cause; this is a tremendous example, considering that many of these institutions have endowments over $20 million, and the catalytic grant was under $70,000.
We Must Inspire a Future-Facing, Growth-Focused Approach Toward Giving
When Catalyst 2030 surveyed 1,400 members consisting of nonprofits and other social impact initiatives about the changes they most wanted to see, changing the funding paradigm topped the list. Today, most private donors believe the rule of thumb is that the more money that goes to programs, not overhead or building strong, resilient organizations, the better.
I respect every funder’s choice to give away money as they see fit. However, the problem is that a vast portion of the general public believes that minimizing money going to nonprofits is the gold standard for smart charitable giving. Millions upon millions of people are unaware that this is one approach, not the only approach. In fact, some of the largest foundations focus considerable portions of their giving toward what is referred to in philanthropy as nonprofit capacity building. The media has heavily reported on scams and exorbitant salaries. While these do happen, they rarely report on the countless worthy nonprofit leaders who work evenings and weekends on small salaries without receiving the funding needed to get off of this unending treadmill.
Can you report for them? Can you commit to writing at least one opinion piece in your local paper or post one video on your Youtube channel to inspire better ways to give away money? What about simply agreeing to pass forward what others publish? Help us get 30 great articles, blogs, or videos, written and disseminated by July 15, 2023. Together, we can inspire funders of all kinds to engage in more impactful ways to bring about change.
Who We Are
We are a growing network of more than 30 active philanthropy, nonprofit, and social impact support organizations. Campaign participants include WINGS, The Philanthropy Workshop, Synergos, Nexus Global, Generation Pledge, the Millennium Campus Network, Catalyst 2030, TechSoup, National Council of Nonprofits, and others. We will soon launch Propel Philanthropy to increase appreciation, understanding, and funding for support organizations. We need people like you to help nonprofits, other social impact initiatives, and those amplifying the progress of entire sectors attract growth funding to achieve the next level of impact.
To join this effort, please get in touch with Peter Brach through LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterbrach/. Make sure to let him know that you wish to be kept in the loop about Propel Philanthropy’s Collaborative Media Campaign.
