There is no denying that the philanthropy is influenced by the leadership on the political stage. Who is president and what party they are affiliated with can cause significant fluctuations all the way to the core of non-profit organizations. The political party can cause a shift in several ways, including the amount of funding an organization gets. You may be wondering how exactly politics influences philanthropy. Yuri Vanetik discusses how the change in leadership can shift funding for organizations across the nation in the future.
Different Leadership
When the country is introduced to new leadership, their viewpoints and agendas will likely differ. As a result, this can directly impact non-profit organizations who rely on funding to function. For example, two organizations may share the same vision to reduce the suffering from cancer, with one investing in ongoing cancer research, while the other one provides resources to families navigating a diagnosis. Based on the viewpoints of the leadership, the organization who receives funding can shift, based on the belief that a long-term investment, like cancer research, is a better investment over immediate assistance. While it can be worrisome for organizations when there is new leadership, but there are a couple different strategies that they can use to maintain their funding.
What Organizations Can Do
In order to prevent any potential loss of funding, organizations around the country should ensure they are taking steps to protect that moving forward. All organizations should not only listen to what is going on in the political realm, but should actively work to make Americans aware of what their organization does. Keeping a close eye on politics can keep them prepared for any changes. Additionally, having more support can help an organization retain their current funding.
Secondly, organizations should put together evidence of their success through tangible data. This could come from research that the organization has done that shows that their services are having a positive impact on society. By having data ready, organizations can defend themselves by providing the evidence of their success. Lastly, organizations should maintain, and recruit additional donors. If an organization were to lose a portion of their government funding, they can continue their work through the other donors.
In general, organizations around the country should always keep a close eye on changes in leadership moving forward. In doing so, they can work to get additional funding from other sources, reducing their chance of closing if government funding was taken away.