Folly #50: Better Giving

Better and faster for whom ... donors or grantees?

This week was meant to be Part 2 of last week’s thread on innovation funding, but we interrupt this program to … share some happy news!

In addition to this being the 50th mostly-weekly edition of the Follies, the Chronicle of Philanthropy just published my letter to the editor about a funder’s onerous grant process. (Welcome new readers! I’m deeply grateful that you’re here.)

The Bob Woodruff Foundation Asks Too Much of Grantees.The grant maker should balance its good work with a less onerous grant application process.

March 28, 2024 Letter to the Editor of www.philanthropy.com

My letter illustrates a common folly of funders: complicating the grants process in the name of better giving.

One thing it also does is name the funder, something I never do here and didn’t do when I wrote about their process two years ago in one of my first posts. At that time, “painful” was the word I used to describe their grant application. And it is.

But knowing who the funder is means I can back this up with some data.

The View from the Top

My letter was in response to a glowing piece that a Chronicle reporter wrote called Where Billionaires, Celebrities and the NFL Go to Support Vets. That article couldn’t say enough about how wonderful Bob Woodruff Foundation’s grantmaking process is.

That’s a view from the top, not the trenches.

BWF’s 2022 Form 990 shows they had $27 million in assets (likely more, since the big influx from “billionaires and celebrities”) and gave $8M in grants.

There is no question that BWF funds some very worthy projects. And they should be good at it. In 2022, their CEO and the Chief Program Officer (who is quoted in the original Chronicle article) together were paid nearly $620,000.

The Chronicle’s story – and my letter in response – illustrate the lack of voice that nonprofits often have in the grantmaking process.

And that’s why I write. Never to shame, just to educate what it’s like on the receiving end. (And most of the time, nonprofits don’t even receive because the odds are so low in getting new grant funding.)

Not Better Giving

In the article about billions going to support vets, they quote Craig Newmark, whose grantmaking has been accessible and easy, and gives a nearly immediate response.

Craig Newmark Philanthropies has one of the best grant applications out there, and I gratefully acknowledge them here. But that wonderful process no longer applies to their veteran-serving applicants.

[Bob Woodruff Foundation knows] the field, and they could do a far better and faster job than I ever could,” said Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist and one of the country’s most prominent philanthropists, who tapped the foundation to help dole out $100 million in grants for veterans groups last year.

The unfortunate consequence of Newmark’s decision for his grantmaking to be “better and faster” means that nonprofits previously supported by the Craig Newmark Philanthropies through their simple, efficient application now have to suffer through the endless BWF application instead. That made “$100 million in grants for veterans” infinitely harder to access by those grant applicants.

And strangely, when quoting Newmark, the Chronicle doesn’t disclose that he serves on the BWF board.

Who Defines Better Ways to Give?

All the effective philanthropy networks I know are funder-driven – and that’s fodder for another Folly.

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If you haven’t already, it would make me so happy if you would:

• Take 2 minutes to read my letter to the Chronicle of Philanthropy. (Here or in one of the other links I’ve included. Subtle!)

• Comment below on groups that define better giving from a grantee’s perspective.

• Email me for an interview to share a better giving perspective in grantmaking or grantwriting.

• Forward this email to a friend and join this conversation.

Thousands of universities around the U.S. can agree on a common application to make it easier to apply for financial scholarship. Surely more foundations can simplify and collaborate in a shared grant application for better giving.

And don’t call me Surely.