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December 15, 2008

Washington Coalition Formed to Help Charities Weather the Economic Crisis

Eight charities, foundations, businesses, and government agencies in the Washington metropolitan area have have formed a “nonprofit 911” coalition to help philanthropic organizations weather the recession.

The self-dubbed “G8” coalition has created a Web site of resources for nonprofit groups and organized a series of workshops and conferences to develop a nonprofit “plan of action” for surviving the troubled economy.

At the coalition’s inaugural meeting on Monday, about 450 representatives of local nonprofit groups, foundations, and corporations gathered to discuss the challenges and opportunities of mergers, share concerns about increased competition for foundation grants, and brainstorm strategies to bring more public attention to and money for the growing demands on social-service groups.

One presentation by the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers suggested ways in which foundations might respond to the economic crisis: The association’s survey in October of 34 grant makers found that while 80 percent of foundations experienced a drop in assets from 2007 to 2008, 57 percent said they expected to give the same amount in 2009 as they did this year.

Half of the participants – which included foundations with assets of less than $1-million and those with $100-million or more – said they planned to increase the amount of money they provided for general operating expenses, and 47 percent expected to make fewer but larger grants in 2009.

Tamara Copeland, the association’s president, said that while some family foundations have stopped accepting grant applications for 2009, others plan to distributed more than the legally required minimum of 5 percent of their assets or expressed willingness to take out low-interest rate loans on behalf of nonprofit groups.

“The foundation community understands that there’s a fragile social nonprofit sector that has become even more fragile,” said Ms. Copeland.

Other participants suggested that foundations encourage nonprofit mergers by creating matching grants that reward organizations that develop cost-efficient ways to work together.

Another idea floated at the town hall-like session included the creation of a DC-oriented philanthropic appeal modeled on Barack Obama’s presidential campaign that would use social networks to broadcast a unified plea to the public on behalf of charitable causes.

“If you listened to Obama campaign and all the different issues, the message all boiled down to ‘Change’,” said Jim Dinegar, president of the Greater Washington Board of Trade. “Let’s create a message: ‘Give.’ Give your time. Give your money. Give your stuff. It doesn’t have to be a whole lot more complicated than that.”

— Paula Wasley

Monday December 15, 2008 | Permalink

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