Giving Compass' Take:

• Krista Batey explains that intermediaries can help nonprofits by providing operational backbone, strategic capacity, expert guidance, and can act as a liaison between foundations and grantees. 

•  How can funders help nonprofits access supports to help them accomplish their goals? 

•  Read about the growing popularity of donor-advised funds.

Intermediaries are a hot topic in philanthropy—and for good reason. Intermediaries are mission-driven organizations that aim to more effectively link donors (individuals, foundations, and corporations) with organizations and individuals delivering charitable services.

At their best, intermediaries serve functions that overcome obstacles that curtail the nonprofit sector’s effectiveness. They often:

  • Provide an operational backbone: Some nonprofits lack the resources to build their organizational capacity and effectiveness—particularly since many funders prefer that their grants go toward programmatic work rather than overhead. Intermediaries can alleviate these problems.
  • Provide strategic capacity and expert guidance:   Intermediaries often go far beyond regranting: many provide expertise and infrastructure that enable nonprofit initiatives to employ more sophisticated tactics than they could on their own.
  • Connect funders and grantees:  Intermediaries often connect grantors and grantees who are otherwise unable to work together—because they are based in different countries, operate on different timelines, or face a variety of other practical or legal barriers to establishing a relationship.

Read the full article about nonprofit intermediaries by Krista Batey at PEAK Insight Journal.