LISTENING TO NONPROFITS:
CHANGING OUR GRANTMAKING APPROACHES AND PRACTICES Supporting the arts and education the Triangle by in Karen Kemp region of North Carolina DURHAM COUNTY
ORANGE COUNTY
CHATHAM COUNTY
WAKE COUNTY
How can The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation help www.mdbf.org strengthen the Triangle nonprofit sector and increase the impact of its grantmaking? What do nonprofits need in order to be healthy for the long haul and resilient when times are tough?
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xploration of these questions prompted a series of changes to the Biddle Foundation’s geographic scope, timelines, and grant criteria over the last few years. In 2018, the foundation began to offer a limited number of multi-year operating grants aimed at capacity building. At the time, no one was thinking about a global pandemic. Then came 2020, a year like no other. “COVID hit, and it really shined a spotlight on the issue of fluctuating revenue,” says Mimi O’Brien, MDBF executive director. “So many nonprofits that had strong earned income— from ticket sales or charges for services—saw those funds dry up.” At the same time, crowd size restrictions aimed at reducing the spread of the new virus erased special event fundraising nearly overnight. “We saw the impact on local nonprofits. These organizations are important to our communities and we want them to be around when we come out the other side,” O’Brien says. The foundation changed course quickly. Funds intended for a third cohort of multi-year grants and other purposes were redirected to provide operating support totaling $225,000, with an emphasis on organizations led by people of color. POC-led organizations received 54% of these funds. In partnership with MDBF, the Jenny Lillian Semans Koortbojian Trust made gifts totaling $140,000 to the same organizations, 70% of which went to POC-led organizations. “Because the trustees and staff had already sought out knowledge about what we could be doing differently, we were able to move quickly to make the COVID relief grants,” O’Brien says. “The nonprofits I have talked with appreciate this responsiveness at such a critical time.” The crisis of 2020 accelerated grantmaking shifts the foundation had been implementing gradually. Beginning in 2021, approximately 80% of competitive grant dollars will go toward two-year operating grants, and 20% toward one-year opportunity grants. This will include 20 two-year grants totaling $20,000 each, half in the K-12 Education Program and half in the Arts Program. In addition, 10 opportunity grants of $5,000
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