Warner speaks about state of nonprofits
By Michael Hemphill, Roanoke Times Op-Ed
I found religion last week at Schaeffer Memorial Baptist Church.
It wasn’t a fire-and-brimstone preacher who led me to the light, but a facts-and-figures politician whose words will resonate through our region for a long time to come.
Last Tuesday, the Community Foundation of the New River Valley hosted a “Conversation with Gov. Mark Warner.”
Nearly 120 people from dozens of nonprofits packed the social hall of Schaeffer Memorial Baptist in Christiansburg to hear the philanthropist and former governor speak with passion and intelligence about the state of the nonprofit community and its potential to shape America.
Other than wishing his name was on today’s presidential primary ballot, I, as a new board member to the Community Foundation, left the lunch not only with a spirit of optimism (increasingly uncommon in today’s politics) but also with a sense of real clarity.
The challenges confronting the nonprofit community will become only greater in the future, Warner said. More and more of our citizens will turn to nonprofits to provide the social services, health care programs and environmental initiatives, just to name a few, once funded by the government.
The upside is that this dynamic may finally give nonprofits a seat at the big table instead of their customary place underneath eating the crumbs.
But Warner warned that nonprofits have their own internal challenges they must confront to reach their potential:
Build institutional capacity:
Too often, Warner said, a nonprofit succumbs to the temptation to spend any money left over in its budget to serve that one more client instead of investing in needed infrastructure. Yet, better infrastructure gives a nonprofit the capacity to serve more people.
For this reason Warner co-founded Venture Philanthropy Partners. VPP uses its funds and expertise to build up a nonprofit’s organizational capacity so that it may “bring to scale” its programs to dozens, hundreds, if not thousands more folks than it might otherwise have served.
In turn, a community organization should import successful programs from other nonprofits that already have that capacity instead of creating its own program out of sheer localism or vanity.
Better board engagement
Too often, Warner said, a nonprofit seeks board members simply for their ability to write checks and offer advice.
But both board and staff members need to better leverage their talents and reputations to bring about broader change.
Specifically, nonprofits need to become more engaged with government, which for all its faults still has the greatest potential to serve the people.
More collaboration
Too often, Warner said, it’s easier for Democrats and Republicans to work together than it is for two nonprofits. Limited resources, fear of losing their uniqueness and relevance, and competition over the same donors or even the same client base can make nonprofit directors wary of cooperation.
But this leads to inefficiencies that hurt not only the clients they seek to serve but also, in the long run, their organizations.
At Tuesday’s lunch, Warner also said nonprofits can have a role in developing a national service program for all Americans young and old, health care initiatives that focus on public reforms and personal responsibility, and better career training for high school students.
In all, it was a clear-headed talk that comes at a time of clarity for the Community Foundation of the New River Valley.
Over the past 10 years, the Community Foundation has seen its assets grow from one $10,000 fund to 105 funds totaling more than $6 million. In that time, the foundation has awarded more than $1 million in grants to 230 nonprofits.
It also plays a vital outreach role in the region, from sponsoring monthly nonprofit workshops in partnership with the Virginia Tech Institute for Policy and Governance, to cultivating philanthropic Giving Circles, to assisting nonprofit boards such as the Jacksonville Center in Floyd and the Lyric Theatre in Blacksburg.
Having fulfilled the vision it created a decade ago, the foundation will hold a planning retreat later this month with an array of regional leaders to chart a fresh course.
Warner won’t be there, but his words will, helping guide the Community Foundation and, in turn, the New River Valley for the next 10 years.
Some may think this is too grand a claim. But like I said, I’ve got faith.
Michael Hemphill is a former Roanoke Times reporter who lives in Elliston.