The State of the Rhode Island Nonprofit Sector
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Results of the 2022 Rhode Island Nonprofit Survey
Partners
Incentive Gift Cards
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Survey Distribution
Survey Distribution
Methodology
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Topics
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Survey Participants
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Location | Percentage of respondents (n=278) |
Metro Providence County (n=118) | 42.4% |
Newport County (n=53) | 19.1% |
Washington County (n=37) | 13.3% |
Kent County (n=25) | 12.9% |
Bristol County (n=25) | 9.0% |
Western Providence County (n=22) | 7.9% |
Survey Participants
Top 5 (n=260)
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United Way of �Rhode Island
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Continuing Impact of COVID-19
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Life "after" COVID
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Greater demand for services and basic needs. There is also greater mobility in the job market making it harder to recruit new staff to accommodate for the demand.
Meeting virtually (no office space since the pandemic). Many of our provider members have had to discontinue programs, or still have a shortage of staff (not enough staff to provide services for people who need them, so people are going without the services they need).
�
Staffing crisis, program capacity due to lack of staffing, acute needs of clients.
Demand for services is dramatically higher. COVID-19 Emergency Funding has ended. Donations are significantly lower than during the height of the pandemic. Yet, more people are seeking primary, behavioral health, and dental care. Patients whose care was deferred during the height of the pandemic now need to be seen. Personnel shortages (paid and volunteer) are exacerbating delivery of care.
Staff burnout, exhaustion, etc. Staff leaving to make higher wages. Shortage of staff, and struggles with hiring increased demand to meet basic needs - more specifically food.
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Life "after" COVID
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United Way of �Rhode Island
60% of responding nonprofits are still seeing higher demand for services than pre-pandemic.
Life "after" COVID – Program Delivery
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United Way of �Rhode Island
It's still disruptive. We see illnesses continue in some youth & families and in past few months had several staff/instructors test positive (we then must reschedule trainings, meetings etc). We almost had to cancel an entire summer youth program when 2 staff tested positive, but scrambled to get/train and virtually support substitute staff (hard for us as our staff is so small). During the pandemic we've had repeated staff turnover, far more than previously; and it was difficult to find/hire/afford new staff. All this disrupted services a great deal, and we continue to have trouble recruiting and retaining staff.
COVID-19 is still significantly interrupting work and our organization's activities, leading to delays in projects and lost revenue (canceled performances). Audiences have not yet come back in full force. In-person education classes are still smaller scale than they were pre-pandemic to mitigate participant risk. The continued stress on workers has led to significant turnover in the past year.
Increased absenteeism due to COVID, participant absenteeism, children's social interaction skills lacking, school age children behind academically, increases in substance abuse, increased number of folks using our housing services for homeless.
Life "after" COVID – Program Delivery & Staffing
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United Way of �Rhode Island
The majority of staff, with the exception of operations staff (facilities maintenance, transportation, etc.) are working both in-person and virtually.
65.50% of program and intake staff, 68.62% of administrative staff, and 61.89% of leadership and management are working in a hybrid way.
Less than 10% of all staff remain fully virtual.
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COVID Innovations
During the pandemic, Rhode Island nonprofits innovated, pivoted, and created new programs.
Many nonprofits plan to continue these innovations, which for some organizations means supporting expanded services, and for others, additional approaches to service delivery, which may require additional staff or investments in technology.
Some nonprofits collaborated in new ways, with new partners, and intend to continue these new collaborations.
Public health protocols and contingency planning will continue for many nonprofits.
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COVID Innovations
We installed equipment so we could livestream and record - our technology investments were game-changing.
Hybrid work model, self-care practices during work time, increased wages for staff.
Commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism.
We will have hybrid support groups, allowing people to attend who could not come in person
Focusing more on mental health of youth and the vast inequality in our education system. These are all daunting and should not be happening in this day and age! Yet here we are ………AGAIN!
Continued public program delivery in online formats, participating in more online panel discussions with peers in the field, considering new programs/services for more independent research, working with more community partners and developing existing partnerships
Telehealth, hybrid personnel model of core paid staff and volunteers, more fundraising through social media.
Due to COVID, we had to quickly create a web of support outside of our usual partnerships. We worked with churches, the City government, the Department of Health, the Fire Department and more, and we plan to maintain the relationships into the future, seeking assistance and support for our community.
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COVID Innovations
We started a food pantry and we are committed to keeping it going. We also started hybrid and virtual programming and we are committed to using that as a secondary program delivery method.
Continuing to offer masks and encouraging mask wearing on site for everyone's protection particularly now that colder temperatures are starting.
Less stress on required documentation/proof to access support or receive help.
We shifted from a center-based program to only a home-and-community-based program. Prior to the pandemic we did both.
We now implement SEL(social emotional learning) in all our programs, we add breath work and grounding work, we are more aligned with how the arts can connect more dots to over mental health/wellness for K-12: whole brain, heart centered arts integration
Public health policies, outdoor gathering, education of health services
Almost too numerous to list. We've implemented new/expanded services for people of all ages. We've implemented new policies for public health, employee retention, cultural and linguistic sensitivity, and the list goes on.
We provide financial relief to many in the form of purchases or rent being paid. We have been able to largely make these purchases through online, rather than in person. We have also allowed requests to come through online as well, and honoring their wrap-around services that consist of tele-health to be a valid qualifier of our relief programs.
COVID-Related Funder Responses
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Sector Challenges
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United Way of �Rhode Island
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United Way of �Rhode Island
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Finances
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Operating at a � deficit
Operating with� a surplus
Expenses and income approx. equivalent
Good news: The majority of nonprofit organizations report that their finances are the same or better than pre-pandemic.
This highlights the value of pandemic-related funding over the last two years.
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Operating at a � deficit
Operating with� a surplus
Expenses and income approx. equivalent
2022
Operating at a � deficit
Operating with� a surplus
Expenses and income approx. equivalent
Operating at a � deficit
Operating with� a surplus
Expenses and income approx. equivalent
Anticipated for 2023
2021
While the percentage operating at a deficit has remained relatively steady at 16-17%, the number of organizations operating with a surplus is decreasing as COVID resources dry up: 40% in 2021, 31% in 2022, and 25% anticipated in 2023.
This will pose a significant challenge as nonprofits continue to address high levels of community need without supplemental pandemic-related resources.
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Nonprofits are operating on razor thin margins. Approximately 40% have 3 months or less of cash operating reserves, and only 26% have more than six months of reserves.
Implications of Limited Cash Reserves
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United Way of �Rhode Island
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Operating at a � deficit
Operating with� a surplus
Expenses and income approx. equivalent
Inflation has not only increased the demand for basic needs and services from our communities, but it has also added additional cost and challenge for nonprofits to do their important work.
80% of organizations reported increased expenses, which has caused 20% to scale back purchases and 15% to implement hiring freezes.
Even more concerning, 27% of organizations have seen a decline in individual giving, as donors struggle with their own increased expenses.
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Operating at a � deficit
Operating with� a surplus
Expenses and income approx. equivalent
More than half of organizations had 100 or fewer donors.
Working with Corporate Partners
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Working with corporate partners | Percentage of respondents |
Received grant(s) or monetary donation(s) from corporation(s) or business(es) | 64.24% |
Received in-kind donation(s) | 59.72% |
Received corporate/business sponsorship(s) for event or program | 55.21% |
Appointed Board member(s) from local/national companies | 27.43% |
Hosted business group(s) for volunteer project | 24.30% |
Business(es) hosted supply drive (food drive, diapers, clothing, etc.) | 22.92% |
Coordinated on-site volunteer project(s) at business site | 14.93% |
Cause-related marketing partnership(s) | 10.76% |
Challenges in Applying for Grants
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Challenges in grant applications | Percentage of respondents |
Complicated and/or time consuming application | 52.43% |
Restrictive grant spending requirements/lack of general operating support | 43.40% |
Limited funding available in relevant issue areas | 39.93% |
Lack of grantwriting or fundraising staff | 39.23% |
Disproportionate application requirements for the size of the grant | 39.23% |
Sacrifice of program time to complete grant application and paperwork | 34.37% |
Lack of grantwriting experience | 20.49% |
Online application systems not user friendly | 17.70% |
Staffing Challenges
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United Way of �Rhode Island
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Although some of the largest employers in the state are nonprofit universities and hospitals, most Rhode Island nonprofits are very lean.
Almost a quarter of survey respondents said that they have no full-time paid staff.
Indeed, nonprofits with 5 or fewer full time paid staff comprise 55% of this sample, compared to 7% of nonprofits with over 100 FTE.
Compensation
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Capacity is our biggest challenge. Our staff is working more than they should. Burnout is a serious concern. We continue to find it difficult to secure general operating funding to hire additional staff that will reduce their workload.
Pre pandemic our wages were above market. Now, they are just at market, maybe even below. This will be a big impact on our budget and ability to recruit and retain employees.
The pandemic has worsened the ongoing early care and education workforce crisis. We find it difficult to compete on the basis of compensation with other sectors, even though we have adjusted salaries and are offering substantial bonus programs. Many have exited the early care and education workforce as the pandemic has altered family priorities and exacerbated burnout.
The current workforce is able to obtain employment in retail, fast food or other industries making more that they would working with individuals with IDD.
Staff can't afford cost of living on the entry level wages. The cost of living and the high cost of housing in our community is a challenge even at the CEO level. Staff seek more hours, but with our funding we can only fund part-time positions.
We have staff working two jobs, and staff making more money as a server than in a professional role here.
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Entry level positions in about one in four nonprofits pay less than $15/hour, meaning that nonprofits are competing with retail and hospitality for workers, even though some entry level positions in nonprofits require accreditation.
This rate is significantly below the Rhode Island Standard of Need, and only about two-thirds of MIT's Living Wage standard.
This means that staff members helping clients register for food stamps may also be eligible themselves because of their low compensation.
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Many nonprofits are not able to pay market wages to their senior leaders.
16% of organizations have leaders who work for no or extremely low pay. These Executive Directors are being compensated below the Rhode Island Standard of Need and could qualify for food stamps if this is their only income.
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Low pay is a significant contributor to staff turnover. Over 2/3 of survey respondents cited low salaries as one of their biggest challenges in retaining qualified staff, followed by staff burnout. While many nonprofit workers enter the sector because of the commitment to their community or desire to make a difference, we all know that altruism doesn't pay the bills, especially with inflation continuing to increase the cost of living in Rhode Island.
In social service agencies, low wages are in large part due to low reimbursement rates in state contracts. In other organizations, low wages may be the result of fundraising challenges or restricted funding that cannot be used for staffing.
Burnout
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Capacity is our biggest challenge. Our staff is working more than they should. Burnout is a serious concern. We continue to find it difficult to secure general operating funding to hire additional staff that will reduce their workload.
Our only staff member just accepted a new role elsewhere. The hardest part of covid is the shifts in staff as folks look to either pursue more lucrative employment/benefits and/or depart due to burnout. Those holding in there are holding on by a thread. It is a shifting industry at this time.
Burnout is not entirely due to the pandemic. Also, longstanding capacity issues / unfunded mandates.
Many of our employees feel like they have not gotten a true break since the beginning of the pandemic.
Staff are having more stress and difficult lives that make continued employment less viable since COVID. Lots more depression, feelings of isolation.
Staff got burnt out. Turnover has been high in the last 12 months, and some institutional knowledge has been lost. Staff who have stuck it out are often still struggling with burnout.
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Over 80% of nonprofits have at least some staff experiencing burnout and 75% with emotional exhaustion. 11% say that all of their staff are burnt out.
Over 2/3 of nonprofits have some staff experiencing physical exhaustion.
This is resulting in an increasing number of experienced staff leaving the sector. 46% of organizations have had staff leave the sector completely and 59% have staff who are considering doing so. This fact, along with the fact that 25% of organizations responded they experienced a leadership transition or succession planning this year, and 34% are anticipating leadership change in 2023, means that the sector is experiencing a tremendous drain of institutional knowledge, and a need to strengthen the workforce pipeline at all levels.
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United Way of �Rhode Island
There has been significant staff turnover within the sector.
More than 50% of the staff in almost one in five organizations (17.66%) have been in their roles less than two years.
Only 13% of survey respondents say that they have had no staff turnover in the past 2 years.
Recruitment and Hiring
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Candidates do not have sufficient experience in the field and upon investing significant time in training they then are recruited by larger companies that pay significantly more.
COVID-19 decimated a large pool of our employees, frontline and management, and it has been difficult to return to pre pandemic staffing, which had already been compromised by years of low wages and insufficient reimbursement for services. Secondly, the pandemic has changed how illness is managed, so with people being more cautious, working with mild cold symptoms is no longer acceptable, further compromising the workforce.
Significantly higher demand for services. Our budget has grown from 8 million to 18 million. We're managing growth, and an inability to hire at the same time. We've grown from 85 employees to 165 employees and we have 62 vacancies at the moment. We've raised wages in some roles up to 20%, but we still can't hire fast enough. We require employees to provide our behavioral health services in person, but other employers are allowing for telehealth so we struggle to compete. We are reaching beyond our normal measures, and very dedicated to hiring new staff that reflect the communities that we serve...Grants that we receive often will cover a portion of a salary.
We are extremely short staffed – we have had multiple unfilled positions for over a year.
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Nonprofits have struggled to fill staffing vacancies.
Almost half of respondents reported vacancies greater than 3 months, which can be especially detrimental for small nonprofits trying to stay afloat.
This turnover represents a tremendous loss of institutional knowledge, on top of the aforementioned leadership transition/ succession planning.
And the inability to fill open positions means that the remaining staff are handling additional responsibilities, exacerbating their burnout.
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Virtually all nonprofits depend on volunteers to support their work.
Volunteers most frequently help with special events (64.12%), but they are also an integral part of program and service delivery (47.33%).
Almost 40% receive support from skilled volunteers in areas such as finance, marketing, etc. Other areas of support include office support (31.68%) and tutoring/mentoring (26.34%).
Volunteerism in the Nonprofit Sector
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Volunteers
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United Way of �Rhode Island
We are an all-volunteer run organization and our volunteers are maxed out.
Lack of ability to form social cohesion among volunteers because meetings are primarily virtual.
We operate entirely with volunteer staff. Due to inflation brought on by COVID-19, many of our volunteers have had to resign to pursue other paid opportunities so that they can keep up with their own cost of living. Furthermore, our service requests have more than doubled in just a year.
Since the onset of the pandemic, we have seen a rise in need, but lost volunteer program leaders during that time who were not able to adapt to virtual offerings; we are trying to train up new/additional program leaders to meet the rising need.
Covid 19 has been affecting our organization in more ways than one. We have had staff, board members, and volunteers pass away or get sick. This puts more work on the rest of our staff.
We have found it difficult to work with volunteers and interns since we have moved to a hybrid work model because it is difficult to provide supervision in the office and we are not sure how to best support them in a virtual setting.
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Racial Equity
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United Way of �Rhode Island
31.25%
2022
27.08%
43.75%
40.97%
6.6%
16.32%
6.6%
11.11%
8.68%
6.94%
2021
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United Way of �Rhode Island
2021
2022
47.22%
44.79%
28.82%
29.86%
11.11%
11.81%
5.9%
7.29%
7.99%
4.51%
While the majority of respondents indicated that they had BIPOC members of their Board of Directors (previous slide), almost half indicated that none of their senior leadership were BIPOC.
Implementation of Values into Practices
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Q33. How have you implemented racial equity and/or racial justice values into your organization's internal practices and policies, as well as external programs and services? | Percentage of respondents (n=274) |
Staff training on justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI) | 55.11% |
Actively recruit job candidates of color and actively recruit in underserved areas | 48.18% |
Guest speakers, learning and/or recognition of diverse history, culture and celebrations | 42.34% |
Intentional efforts to support existing BIPOC staff and Board members | 40.88% |
Ensure that resident/participant voice is included in decision-making and strategy development | 35.04% |
Board training on justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI) | 33.94% |
Translation available for all programs, services, job postings, internal and external documents | 28.47% |
Adopted JEDI policy or values statement | 27.37% |
Regular assessment of public-facing programs and publications to ensure that language reflects an asset-based community framework | 21.90% |
Prioritize Minority Business Enterprise vendors | 18.25% |
Received JEDI-related grant funding for new internal or external work | 11.68% |
Received JEDI-related grant funding for existing internal or external work | 9.49% |
Adopted formal rubric or process for evaluating decision-making according to JEDI values and principles | 6.93% |
We have not integrated racial equity and/or racial justice values into internal or external activities. | 13.14% |
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Q34. To what extent has your organization created an intentional recruitment and retention plan to increase the presence of BIPOC leadership and staff in your organization and on your Board? | Percentage of respondents (n=271) |
My organization has implemented a BIPOC recruitment and retention plan. | 18.82% |
My organization has created a BIPOC recruitment and retention plan but has not implemented it. | 4.43% |
My organization has been in discussions about a BIPOC recruitment and retention plan. | 28.04% |
My organization does not have a BIPOC recruitment and retention plan. | 35.06% |
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Policy and Advocacy
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United Way of �Rhode Island
One of the nonprofit resource center's focus areas will be providing support for advocacy in support of the sector at the federal, state and local levels, and creating spaces for collaboration between policymakers and nonprofits.
Currently, we see that roughly a third to a half of Executive Directors have engaged in advocacy work in the last 12 months, but there are much lower rates of engagement by Board members, staff and participants/clients.
Some narrative comments indicated a lack of awareness about legally permissible nonprofit advocacy activities.
Other comments illustrated the vicious cycle that nonprofits need more resources, which could be obtained through advocacy, but they can't engage in advocacy because they are too busy with their mission-related responsibilities and fundraising to get involved in advocacy.
As a 501c3 we don't lobby the legislature, we are available to educate legislature but opportunities to do so are limited and hard to get. Training on developing and bringing forward a legislative agenda would be helpful.
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Policy and Advocacy
We do this now. Always helps to do this collectively as opposed to fighting over the same dollars.
We need a better understanding of the way state government actually works in RI (as in, the actual politics of it, not how it works on paper).
Policy research, including past votes on similar laws or issues among existing state and municipal electeds, similar policies in other states, state agencies charged with implementing specific policies, their powers, jurisdictions and communication with the public
Student interns or volunteers to track legislation and notify us of hearings, how to submit testimony, etc.
Honestly, someone asking us to be involved and graciously showing how. We're so in the weeds with day to day operations and programming that it's difficult to even consider advocacy without a clear invitation and blueprint on how to engage.
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Policy and Advocacy
Alleviating overburdened staff resources would be the key hurdle. Our arts sector does not have a resource to organize around advocacy, so efforts are uncoordinated and inefficient. As a result we have very little voice on a state level despite sustaining huge negative impacts from Covid, and bringing significant impacts to the state's economy and quality of life.
We have resistance within our board about taking a public stance on affordable housing in our community. Our local listening exercise revealed this to be the most urgent unmet need in our pricey local housing market, but some influential members of our board are not supportive.
List of issues concerning/impacting the sector (positively or negatively) that are up for debate (i.e., a bill has been drafted or being drafted).
How do we do work with state and federal agencies on policy, primarily by connecting them to research, data, and community input. We're pretty good at this. We don't do much with the congressional delegation, we might appreciate help learning how to do that.
We need to free up enough time for our Executive Director to work more effectively with the board and with our constituents to focus on public policy. Again, it is a matter of priorities, if we spend most of our time trying to raise money there is little time left for anything else
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Environmental Issues & Climate Change
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Many nonprofits expressed a desire to make their facilities greener, climate resilient and energy efficient, but did not have the funding for these kinds of improvements.
Many nonprofits also voiced the need for pro bono technical assistance and training on affordable, sustainable improvements.
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Climate
Although we deeply care about the environment and our members are involved, other issues such as homelessness and poverty are top of mind for our constituents. We are willing to elevate environmental issues through collaborations where institutional partners help us to recruit, maintain, and grow our leaders within our own institution.
We need funding to renovate our buildings using environmentally friendly materials and install energy and water saving systems.
Training and Funds would be needed to make this a primary focus. We care deeply about the environment, however our facility is old and would require many upgrades to make it more energy efficient/green!
Subsidies for non-profits to get solar energy
We invested major state/federal grant funding to upgrade our HVAC system for Covid safety. This has an unintended consequence of significantly increased energy consumption. We are concerned about the budget impact of looming electric rate increases.
We would also appreciate policies and practices that would make it easier to make environmentally sustainable choices.
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ADA Accessibility
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Most nonprofits in the survey said that their facilities were ADA accessible, although many noted in their comments that they did not know about whether their websites were ADA accessible. Some noted that a portion of their facility was accessible. Nonprofits who rent space often cited only partial accessibility because they don't own the building.
Funding is needed for ADA upgrades, and many nonprofits requested training and technical assistance in making their websites accessible.
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Organizational Capacity
Currently, organizational capacity building work in Rhode Island is primarily offered by public and private funders. Leadership development is offered by colleges and universities, as well as programs such as the Executive Director/Deputy Director Learning Circle at United Way of Rhode Island, the Institute for Nonprofit Practice, and the Equity Leadership Institute at the Rhode Island Foundation. Nonprofit consultants also support the work on a fee-for-service basis.
Some funder offerings are free and open to all, but smaller nonprofits may not know about opportunities or be able to take time away from mission-related work to participate. Some offerings may be limited to a funder's grantees or invitations may be offered to organizations with relationships to the provider. There may also be other issues of access.
The development of a new nonprofit resource center, as well as innovation and new partnerships developed during the pandemic, provide an important foundation for new collaborative approaches to strengthen the capacity of nonprofits across the state.
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Q61. Looking to the future, there are opportunities to expand existing resources, and develop new innovations and collaborative efforts to strengthen the nonprofit sector in Rhode Island. Which of these would be valuable or extremely valuable to you? | Percentage of nonprofit responses (n=288) |
Nonprofit resource center | 82.99% |
Marketing and visibility of the nonprofit sector and its impact | 79.51% |
Reference database on funders and funding opportunities | 79.51% |
Professional development, leadership development, training and support | 79.17% |
Opportunities to develop relationships with funders | 79.17% |
Hub for nonprofit collaboration | 78.47% |
Hub for data and research on the nonprofit sector and philanthropic giving in RI | 76.74% |
Resources and training for nonprofit boards and governance issues | 75.35% |
Hub for racial equity/anti-racism training | 75.00% |
Opportunities to develop relationships with policymakers | 74.65% |
Hub for nonprofit innovation | 72.92% |
Centralized calendar for nonprofit events | 72.92% |
Peer networking and support | 72.57% |
Year round searchable public giving platform for RI nonprofits (similar to 401 Gives platform) | 71.18% |
Hub/infrastructure for mobilizing the nonprofit sector for federal and state advocacy | 70.83% |
"Job Alike" gatherings -- gathering together nonprofit communications professionals, executive directors, or HR professionals, etc. | 70.83% |
Cohort programs for nonprofit leaders and aspiring leaders | 70.83% |
Incubator/accelerator program for nonprofits founded or led by people of color | 70.49% |
Development of new approaches to inequitable funding practices and organizational structures | 68.75% |
Capacity building
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United Way of �Rhode Island
Capacity Building
We need additional financial resources to support qualified professionals that have the acumen to effectively organize the community and navigate the policy development process. This is not cheap.
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United Way of �Rhode Island
We need initiatives to attract and support first-time and early-career workers to the non-profit sector. Ideally also initiatives to make the sector a more sustainable place to work. Our sector is facing an employee shortage as older employees retire and burned-out employees resign.
The high cost of housing...cost of living in our community is a challenge even at the CEO level. Limited income sources means we can only fund part-time positions when staff seek more hours.
Benefits are a big issue. Other sectors have family medical insurance - that can be a $20,000 difference in pay for some employees.
The process for applying for government funding is unbelievably difficult and the reporting requirements are just over the top. We spend hours that could be focused on delivering services and delivering on the mission on looking for money, completing applications, writing reports. It seems to be purposely designed to discourage small nonprofits from even applying.
Capacity Building
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United Way of �Rhode Island
We need more supportive facilities for small community grassroots organizations to implement their programs, and collaborative hub for website ADA.
It is next to impossible for relatively small nonprofits to get on major corporate partners' radar. So many companies have recently chosen to move support away from smaller nonprofits to larger nonprofits that are scaled to affect global change. As a result, smaller nonprofits are suffering. The sad part of that trend is that smaller nonprofits are incredibly hands-on, personal, and responsive without a load of red tape.
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Key Takeaways and Recommendations
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High level of community need:
Community Need
Takeaways
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Finances
Takeaways
65
Finances
Recommendations
66
Staffing
Takeaways
67
Staffing
Recommendations
68
Opportunities for structural change
Advocacy
Takeaways
Advocacy
Recommendations
Education about legal advocacy activities
Tracking of legislation and mobilization of sector
Increased general operating support to ensure staffing available for advocacy, research and legislative education
Opportunities for nonprofits to engage directly with policymakers and state agencies
Efforts to increase resources available to nonprofits, including universal charitable deduction, legacy IRA legislation, energy efficiency for nonprofits, etc.
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Nonprofits are open to climate action, but lack funding and technical assistance
Provide funding and technical assistance to increase energy efficiency, alternative energy usage, climate resilience, and understanding of effective, low-cost strategies
Climate / ADA
Takeaways
Climate / ADA
Recommendations
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Capacity Building
Takeaways
71
Capacity Building
Recommendations
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Disconnect between BIPOC leadership and the communities served
Racial Equity
Takeaways
Racial Equity
Recommendations
Investment in BIPOC-led and BIPOC serving organizations.
Questions?
Contact
Dr. Adama Brown
Nancy Wolanski
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Thank you.
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