2020 grantmaking shifts in response to covid-19
A lot of folks are hurting right now. Small business owners, people without sick leave, gig workers, folks without childcare, those who have no emergency savings, incarcerated people, people experiencing homelessness, disabled folks, kids who rely on school for food, those who are undocumented—all face daunting challenges with no foreseeable end date. Meanwhile, nonprofits face drastic reductions in revenues because of canceled events and other factors, which means we are less able to help during a time when we are most needed." Vu Le
Last week ninety-nine girlfriends made a proposal for changing our 2020 grantmaking to respond to what is happening across the world with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic. We asked for feedback about our goal and the proposed new process. The response from members and others was strong and enthusiastic. Almost 300 people responded – with 99.3% support. We got unexpected feedback from members of the nonprofit community (full disclosure, we hadn’t intended for nonmembers to take the survey, but it worked out well for us to learn more from our colleagues!) Members said they appreciated our working together, our commitment to equity, prioritizing needs of vulnerable populations, and our ability to be flexible.
If you missed it, or just want to review, here is the letter we sent on April 13 and re-sent on April 15.
We were glad to receive feedback and questions that help us move forward as we nail down the details. Respondents questioned the size of the grants – some advocated for more grants of fewer dollars. Members asked whether finalists would get funding this year. Did we change other eligibility requirements? Others asked whether we would be limiting our funding to nonprofits working on the front lines in responding to COVID-19 challenges. We heard good ideas about ways to change our voting. Suggestions were made on helping grant review teams and members have a deeper understanding of the many ways nonprofits can respond to our community needs, thinking beyond immediate urgent needs to supporting intermediate and long term efforts resulting in a more equitable, supportive community.
We’ve pulled together a set of questions and answers based on your feedback. The Grants Steering Committee is now working on getting the details, timelines and criteria ready to announce our grantmaking process to the community. Check out the Q & A here and watch this space for more details on the grantmaking process.
Thanks to Tammy Wilhoite and Holly Cook, who are coordinating the Grants Steering Committee (GSC), and to the input of GSC members Kirsten Brady, Sara Daley, Pip Denhart, Deborah Edward, Debbie Elliott, Molly Gray, Gretchen Hall, April Hasson, Erin Zollenkopf and all our current girlfriends. It will be a year of learning, action and impact!
A small sampling of comments we received from the poll:
“Thank you for such a thoughtful process and asking for member input!”
“I couldn't agree more; these are exactly the changes I'd hoped you'd implement this year. We need to move quickly to get funds out into the community when/where they are most needed. Let's not create additional unnecessary burdens for our nonprofit partners. Thanks for modifying the process to be responsive to this new reality.”
“I feel that these changes are inclusive for organizations that are not on the front line of working with people affected but will be essential as things reopen. These organizations may have lost donors or foundation funding due to the change in funding focuses or the downturn of the economy. I state this realizing how very important being on the frontline is right now and will be moving forward.”
“Using COVID-19 response as a selection criteria would potentially exclude the vibrant nonprofits who need unrestricted funds just to survive. I think we should gauge them on their mission and their work ahead but not on how they are currently responding.”
“ I’m unclear how funding across the 5 focus areas enables us to MOST serve heavily impacted COVID19 populations.”
“Glad to see us being flexible and responsive which is exactly what is needed right now!”
“Maybe consider giving out even smaller grants, i.e., $25K to quickly have an impact for smaller organizations not ready to ramp up to the $50K+ level. This also offers a 1x opportunity for 99GFs to reach more organizations (i.e., at $400K budget - can reach 16 organizations in need at $25K each vs 8 at $50K each).”