Foundations excel at breaking the exact things we say we want to fix. I know, because the private foundation I’ve managed for six years used to break what we thought we were fixing, too.
Westword recently covered an open letter to foundations by Jami Duffy, the executive director of Youth on Record, in which she reiterated what many foundation executives continue to ignore: pleas from nonprofit leaders across the field to provide unrestricted, multi-year funding and to quit wasting their time with extensive applications, reports, meetings and requests for information. To Duffy’s voice, I’d add the voices of twenty local nonprofit organizations led predominantly by leaders who are Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC). They are making the same requests for foundations to quit wasting their time and requiring that they serve us, often taking priority over serving the communities we are actually trying to support.