Giving Compass' Take:

• Nonprofit AF discusses how the grantee community is often too deferential to funders out of fear that support will be withdrawn, but urges us all to see philanthropic dollars as going toward the common good.

• Both grantmakers and the organizations they support can take away valuable advice from this post and work toward forming true, equitable partnerships in philanthropy.

• Oh, and as for those grant reports: They could use fixing, too.

Several months ago, I was at dinner with a few nonprofit and foundation colleagues. It was nice to see nonprofits and funders sitting down together for a meal. As the evening wore on, we started talking about the frustrations of funders and donors who refused to pay for things like rent and electricity or staffing. The funders in the room were sympathetic. We continued talking about how much time is wasted, how many people burn out because of these ancient, harmful philosophies and practices.

Finally, an ED said, “Well, at the end of the day, it is the donors’ money. They get to dictate whatever they want done with it.” I looked around the room. A few people nodded sadly in agreement, as if we were discussing some sort of immutable law of existence, like “an object in motion stays in motion” or “there will be hummus and baby carrots at a house party.”

We have internalized this philosophy, and it shows. We nonprofits become grateful and deferential to funders. We put up with crappy policies and practices. We don’t provide honest feedback when funders do ridiculous or damaging things (which is why GrantAdvisor.org was created, allowing for anonymous public reviews of foundations).

We need to get out of this mindset. If we are to unlock the full potential of our sector — which includes nonprofits, funders, donors, and volunteers — then we have to have a different view of philanthropic dollars.

Read the full article about approaching philanthropy beyond a "whose money is it?" mindset by Vu Le at Nonprofit AF.