Every day, I’m struck by the courage it takes to lead one of the organizations we fund in K-12 education. Funding is getting harder to come by, and the political landscape certainly isn’t making things any easier for mission-driven work.
As CEO of NewSchools Venture Fund, I sit on both sides of the philanthropic table: raising money from donors and investing it in education innovators. That gives me a unique vantage point on this moment. I understand what it takes to make the case for resources and what it takes to decide where those resources can have the greatest impact. And right now, I see a growing disconnect between what nonprofits are navigating and how philanthropy is responding.
Funders know they need to adapt — 93% say they’ve changed their approach in response to today’s environment. But only 12% of foundations think their own response has been very effective, and nonprofits say the support they receive often doesn’t match what they need. Philanthropy is changing, but not in ways that make life better for the organizations we fund.
I’ve come to understand that my role isn’t to tell our ventures what to do. These leaders know their organizations and communities far better than I ever could. My job is to listen closely, and then be a megaphone — for their voices, needs, and visions. As funders, we must create environments where nonprofit leaders can tell us what’s working and what isn’t without fearing their candor will cost them funding. Our grantees show us an extraordinary amount of bravery when they tell us the truth, especially when it’s uncomfortable. We owe them the courage to act on what we hear — with urgency, flexibility, and a willingness to change alongside them.
Listen for what leaders need, not what we’re accustomed to providing.
It’s easy to fall into patterns as a funder. We know how to make a grant, fund a strategic plan, or connect a leader to an expert. So, when a new challenge or opportunity arises, our instinct is to reach for a familiar tool.
“Capacity-building” is a good example. Foundations often assume that every nonprofit needs greater capacity, but nearly half of nonprofit CEOs, 46%, say they don’t have the bandwidth to absorb new capacity-building support. Funders may see a new cohort or planning process as support, but to nonprofits, it can be just another thing to fit in when they’re already underwater.
In the same vein, we can’t default to the same menu of support for every organization, especially when their circumstances are changing so quickly. An organization looking to reach more students doesn’t always need a strategy consultant, it may just need flexible dollars to expand its geographic presence. Another organization looking to hire and build out its team may not need additional funding, but a trusted partner to make introductions to top candidates in the field. The only way to know is to ask, and let what we hear shape the support we provide.
At NewSchools, we’ve been making this a more deliberate part of our strategy. Last year, we conducted a listening tour, sitting down with 60 venture leaders to understand the challenges they faced and the specific supports they needed. This summer, we surveyed our ventures directly on topics like career-connected learning and AI adoption before developing our support strategy going forward. We’ve found that asking first helps us tailor our offerings to their actual needs, rather than building programs around assumptions that may not fit.
Make it safe for leaders to have honest conversations.
Only 41% of nonprofit CEOs say they can be completely honest with their funders. When leaders face hard decisions, many worry that being candid about the challenges they’re navigating could jeopardize future funding or damage their organization’s reputation. Nearly a third don’t think their funders are even interested in hearing about those challenges.
There’s a real cost here, and it’s nonprofits who pay it. Seventy-one percent of nonprofit leaders report spending more time managing relationships with their funders than before — time and energy they could be spending advancing their missions.
I see this most clearly when organizations are exploring strategic collaborations, including mergers, partnerships, and shared services. A nonprofit leader may see potential in joining forces with another organization but worry that bringing it up will make funders think they’re struggling. A funder may see the same opportunity but stay quiet because they don’t want to overstep. This is a clear communications gap, and it means promising opportunities get left on the table.
I try, imperfectly, to hold myself to a few standards as a funder, something I’ve talked about recently as funder etiquette: lead with empathy, don’t sugarcoat, and provide a resource or next step, not just a diagnosis. To me, that should be the baseline for how we show up for our grantees.
Put your full range of support to work.
As funders, our job is to put all the assets we have to work. Sometimes that means capital. Other times, what a grantee needs most is a relationship, an introduction, or expertise they can’t easily access on their own.
Nonprofit CEOs say fundraising strategy and donor development are among the supports they need most. Sixty percent say they need this help, but only 41% of foundations offer it. If a grantee is struggling to raise money, we shouldn’t just send them to a workshop. We should open our contact lists and use the relationships we’ve built to help them build their own.
Information is another asset many of us funders underuse. We know the criteria used to evaluate investments; grantees typically don’t. Most leaders I work with are educators not trained in the language of logic models and ROI. We fund them for their education expertise, then expect a business case without ever handing over the rubric.
I recently learned of a venture that was in discussions for a three-year, multimillion-dollar grant, only to be turned down at the eleventh hour because its model was deemed “too expensive.” Had the leader known from the outset that cost was a key criterion, they could have provided context, addressed the concern, or adjusted their approach. When we aren’t transparent about how we’re evaluating organizations, we deny leaders the opportunity to make their case — or make necessary pivots before the decision is made for them.
Meeting the Moment
It’s easy to intellectualize our work in philanthropy. But at its core, it’s deeply human: people making sacrifices for the ideas they believe in, and ultimately, the lives we’re trying to improve.
CEP’s new research tells us that risk aversion is the most commonly cited barrier to foundation CEOs responding more swiftly and effectively. One nonprofit leader interviewed for the study described funders as wanting to “wait and see” rather than investing in the urgent needs in front of them.
But when leaders tell us what they need, sometimes we will have to move sooner than feels comfortable or invest before every question has been answered. We cannot ask nonprofit leaders to be candid and courageous in their decisions while responding to that candor with caution or inaction.
The measure of good listening isn’t how many listening sessions we hold, it’s whether the people we listened to can see their needs reflected in what we do next.
Frances Messano is CEO of NewSchools Venture Fund.
