Imagine you’re at a fundraising gala, mingling with potential donors, when you meet a CEO of a corporation recently blasted by the media for overcharging customers. Should your nonprofit pursue or even accept money from this well-known company?
This dilemma isn’t uncommon in the nonprofit sector. Many grapple with the idea of “good money” versus “bad money.” Nonprofits often strive to maintain a moral high ground, but this can be a slippery slope. Attempting to police every potential donor’s background, financial practices, and political ideologies can become an exhaustive, nearly impossible task. Dig deep enough, and you’ll find blemishes in almost every company’s history.
While the ethical dilemma of accepting “bad money” is clear, a greater threat often lies in funding from organizations that align with your values.
Often, in pursuit of substantial funding, nonprofits can start to drift to better align with the funder’s interests, rather than standing firm with their core mission.
No corporation or foundation openly admits to causing a nonprofit to experience mission creep. However, the lure of substantial funding versus the potential of receiving no funding is hard to resist. As funding priorities shift, it’s naive to think that the activities and objectives of recipient nonprofits won’t shift alongside.
Consider the historical push by many foundations for low-income youth to attend colleges they weren’t prepared for or couldn’t afford. The intention was noble, but the unintended consequences have been well documented. Many students struggled to succeed in environments that didn’t support their unique needs, resulting in high incompletion rates and substantial debt. While some nonprofits independently decided to prioritize college access, I’d wager that many others were simply following the funding trends set by foundations – even a novice investigator knows to follow the money.
In the end, nonprofits should consider adopting a pragmatic approach to funding — remaining politically agnostic and accepting money that supports their mission without compromising core values. The greater threat to nonprofit integrity isn’t the controversial funder but rather the subtle shifts in mission driven by seemingly aligned yet ultimately directive funding.
Navigating nonprofit funding complexities demands a balance between ethics and practicality. By focusing on mission fidelity and being cautious of mission creep, nonprofits can better serve their communities without getting entangled in the endless pursuit of morally “pure” funding.
Remember, the true measure of your nonprofit’s success lies not in the purity of its funding sources but in its unwavering commitment to its mission.
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