HARVARD UNIVERSITY’S HAUSER CENTER/NFF SURVEY: KEY FUNDERS
URGE THAT NONPROFIT GRANT PROCESS BE SIMPLIFIED
Nonprofit Finance Fund and Harvard University’s Hauser Center for Nonprofit
Organizations Issue Survey Findings from Major 2007 Conference.
NEW YORK, NY///July 23, 2007///Nine out of 10 of a group of leading institutions that fund
nonprofits want to streamline the grant application and reporting processes, according to the
findings of a recent survey released today by Harvard University’s Hauser Center for Nonprofit
Organizations and the Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF).
The survey data was collected from over 80 respondents, including attendees at a 2007 Hauser
Center and NFF symposium entitled “Capital Ideas: Moving from Short-Term Engagement
to Long-Term Sustainability.” The pre-symposium survey was sent to all symposium invitees
and also to the members of Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO).
Survey results were published in conference proceedings that were released today. The
proceedings offer draft principles for all social sector funders, including foundations, individual
donors and government agencies. They suggest key steps that can improve the impact of funds
flowing into the nonprofit sector.
“Funders can do a great deal to strengthen the health of nonprofits by changing how they
structure, steward, and share funding” noted Kathleen W. Buechel, a visiting practitioner at
Harvard’s Hauser Center and co-convenor of the symposium. “The survey findings and
symposium proceedings highlight promising practices that are well within the reach of
most funders. They underscore solid but simple principles like sharing data and existing
metrics, streamlining reporting or sustaining and pooling funding for longer term impact.
Taken together, these accessible reforms should help more nonprofits deepen their
capabilities to meet more of society’s most pressing needs.”
Nonprofit Finance Fund President and CEO Clara Miller, a symposium co-convenor said: “The
best grantmakers find ways to use money wisely to help front-line nonprofits succeed, often
against overpowering odds. Unfortunately, some time-honored funding practices actually
work against success: overly narrow restrictions on the use of funds, expensive customized
reporting requirements, and starvation-level overhead rates, to name just three that can
improve through simpler, more ‘enterprise-friendly’ practices. The survey shows that
many in the funding community-- at private foundations, intermediaries, and government
– are increasingly embracing new ways to fund an effective social sector.”
The Hauser/NFF survey yielded six key areas of strong agreement:
1. 90 percent of respondents see the need to simplify grant applications and reporting, to make
grantee effort commensurate with grant size and scope.
2. 79 percent said that most grants should have fewer line items and other restrictions.
3. 83 percent said that foundations should increase the size and length of grants, even if that
meant that fewer nonprofits were supported.
4. Seventy percent agreed that standardization with other funders of grant applications and
reporting is advisable.
5. 94 percent said that foundation relationships with grantees should change from oversight to
partnership.
6. 89 percent said that foundations should jointly decide with grantees on evaluation tools and
metrics.
The Hauser/NFF symposium focused on an overarching theme: that in order to resolve social
problems, philanthropy, government, individuals, and nonprofits must themselves be united, and
that currently, too many initiatives that are meant to increase nonprofit efficiency unintentionally
undermine it.
With leadership from Harvard University’s Hauser Center and NFF, conference participants
recognized a growing need to share their message with the broader constituency in order to
create an even more effective social sector. Participants generated draft funding principles- key
steps that funders can take collectively and individually to improve the way nonprofits are
supported. The most recent version of these funding principles can be found in the newly
released conference proceedings.
“These funding principles, if followed by enough funders, have the potential to transform
the sector, enabling nonprofits to escape the relentless pressures to deliver current services
to the detriment of the organization’s financial health and organizational capacity.” said
symposium co-convenor Elizabeth Keating, a visiting assistant professor at Boston College and
recent senior fellow at Harvard’s Hauser Center.
The Capital Ideas Survey results, conference proceedings and an executive summary are available on the
Capital Ideas Symposium Web site, http://www.isites.harvard.edu/k14620, and at the NFF Web site,
http://www.nonprofitfinancefund.org.
ABOUT THE HAUSER CENTER FOR NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS
The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations is a Harvard university-wide research center that
seeks to expand understanding and accelerate critical thinking about nonprofit organizations and
civil society among scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and the general public by encouraging
scholarship, developing curriculum, fostering mutual learning between academics and
practitioners, and shaping policies that enhance the sector and its role in society.
ABOUT NONPROFIT FINANCE FUND
The only national community development financial institution (CDFI) focused exclusively on
nonprofits, Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) helps organizations strengthen their financial health
and improve their capacity to serve their communities. With NFF’s help, nonprofits build and
renovate facilities, expand operations, fund growth needs and sustain operations over time. NFF
serves both nonprofits and their funders, offering an integrated package of financial and advisory
services.
CONTACT: Patrick Mitchell for Nonprofit Finance Fund at (703) 276-3266 or
pmitchell@hastingsgroup.com and Laura Ax for Harvard University’s Hauser Center for
Nonprofit Organizations, at (617) 496-9814 or laura_ax@harvard.edu.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Harvard University’s Hauser Center/NFF Report may be cited in full as:
Buechel, Kathleen, Elizabeth Keating, and Clara Miller, “Capital Ideas: Moving from Short-Term
Engagement to Long-Term Sustainability.” The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations, Harvard
University; and Nonprofit Finance Fund, 2007.