Whether individual donors or major foundations, funder’s attitudes and behaviors have a huge impact on the ability organizers and nonprofits have to do their work. At best, it’s a constraint that begets creativity, if not overwork, on the part of nonprofits; at worst, our Chief Strategy Officer, Jessica Feingold would be the first to call this like it is: toxic. With the twin seasons of gratitude and giving on our mind, it’s time for funders to take a hard look about how their practices reinforce entrenched dynamics, and consider a more reparative approach to funding relationships.

Any nonprofit out there has the tendency to see their funders as benevolent gods. We call this funder primacy — the idea that people with wealth deserve not only complete power over what’s done with their wealth, but also praise for giving away even a small part of it. Media coverage that focuses on funders rather than grantees reinforces this idea that funders are exceptional and exemplary.

This attitude also leads to expectations of performances of gratitude, whether in the form of thank-you notes, recognition in reports, or naming rights for initiatives attached to large donations. Without that recognition, they can become vocally dissatisfied and even consider changing their level of support. Effectively, ​​funders expect their egos, not the needs of frontline communities, to be a major consideration in how nonprofits operate. “Funder culture should never have that kind of donor centricity to begin with,” says Rakiba Kibria, our Director of Advancement. “It’s not justice if you make the giving about you and not the problem, challenges, issues at hand. In that case, you just want social recognition.”

Read the full article about prioritizing justice over ego at Medium.