Policies, public communications, and governmental actions taken by this administration in 2025 have brought on unprecedented challenges and confusion to the nonprofit sector, from constant threats against foundational pillars within the philanthropic space to Executive Orders looking to criminalize DEI and progressive movements. It has been a difficult and concerning time for many grantmakers, which…
How is technology impacting your infrastructure? What have you done differently or should you be doing differently when it comes to leveraging technology to strengthen your infrastructure?
Are you certain that the way your organization views and uses technology is not weakening your infrastructure?
Today’s Fast Build Friday episode is about the role of technology in infrastructure. Nic shares her four key observations about technology that inform nonprofit needs, practice, and, ultimately, culture and policy.
Technology is about more than having the latest app. It is a critical way to share information and resources with vulnerable communities that need them most. We cannot close the digital divide (or the wealth gap or the equity gap) without leveraging technology to strengthen our infrastructure.
How are you thinking about technology and infrastructure? Let us know in the comments!
Follow the link to watch Episode 16.
Interestingly, the COVID-19 crisis highlights, if not magnifies, the current environment in which nonprofits and funders operate. Accordingly, the trends we identified that we believe will continue to surface in 2020 have not vanished because of the crisis. On the contrary, the crisis has only magnified and will likely continue to magnify these trends.
In our last article, I discussed the two reasons for the hesitation, reservation, and aversion towards flexible funding. Once those reasons are internally addressed, foundations and funders that currently provide no or a limited number of unrestricted or flexible funding awards can transition to bravely integrating this type of funding into their funding strategies. Discussing…
Over the past few months, a buzz has been created by the fact that some of the largest philanthropies in the United States have decided to increase their general support awards to their grantee organizations. Similarly, people have also been discussing Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s award of unrestricted funding through his Day 1 Families Fund…
Remember the unicorn funding for infrastructure capacity building I wrote about in my last blog post? In it, I described what is needed for a catalytic conversation about funding infrastructure capacity building. The next step is being brave enough to determine how to fund a nonprofit grantee organization and build its infrastructure capacity. To do…
I have noticed an alarming trend. A nonprofit grantee organization receives funding for its work from several funders, but a cursory look into the organization’s infrastructure reveals that the organization is dangerously fragile, almost subject to collapse; its funding is inconsistent; it is seriously understaffed; its processes are undeveloped or underdeveloped; its leaders are grossly…