I've been involved with non-profits as a volunteer, in governance, and in leadership since about 2011. I've noticed something fairly consistent during that time:
Funding for sector support, general operations, sector capability, system-change, and advocacy is consistently denied.
Funding for one-off projects, direct support to a community, and even individuals needing crisis funding attracts a lot of money (comparatively).
This aligns with the idea of removing 'back-end' admin and prioritising frontline services. We've seen it in this government's approach to things such as healthcare.
But it also means that the system is brittle. Well-supported sectors are flexible and can grow, adapt, and improve, collaborative work can be coordinated at scale.
Funding frontline-only is all about treating symptoms and removes this collective perspective. In terms of optics it is simple and understandable to most people. It feels good and easy to grasp the benefits (and TBF it very often *is* doing good).
But it's also neo-liberal economics applied to social work - it fragments people into special causes, ensures the system is never challenged seriously, and erodes collective effort.
Anyway, just had a funding application denied for sector capability. Feeling a bit salty.
#Charity #NonProfit #Funding
