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Recommendations for External Partners and Funders
A painful irony of not-for-profit work is that when communities are in crisis, community-based organizations (CBOs) often become flush with support. On the ground, this looks like leaders continuing their existing work, but at a greater scale. Working long hours, some are pushed to the breaking point. We observed an influx of pandemic-related funding going to NAYA and its Tribal and BIPOC community partners. We also saw the work it took for those organizations to deploy that funding for the benefit of families and communities. We heard about the hours dedicated to grant proposals, reports, and hopeful hiring when organizations believed the support might continue after the crisis. We also heard of optimistic changes within government and philanthropy to ease these burdens. We offer the following recommendations for partners and funders interested in supporting NAYA and other Tribal and BIPOC organizations.
1. Conduct trust-based philanthropy.
Some of the key challenges that NAYA faces are common to many direct service CBOs. For NAYA and others in the field, the effort to maximize services to clients amidst ever-changing funding and policy dynamics is compounded by a shortage of resources dedicated to sustaining or strengthening the organization’s operational infrastructure.
This includes physical and technological infrastructure as well as staff at all levels of the organization. Increasingly, funders around the country are experimenting with trust-based philanthropic models, such as funding general operations and reducing or eliminating reporting requirements.
Categorically, unrestricted funding supports sovereignty, because it enables organizations to invest where they see best. We recommend that funders get to know organizations like NAYA enough to trust that these CBOs know what their communities need. As one partner said, “NAYA needs to be overfunded. The funds will be used in the best of ways.”
2. Invest in NAYA staff sustainability.
NAYA staff are no strangers to the long hours, insufficient pay, constant change, and overall uncertainty involved in doing direct service community work. Many are drawn to this work because they “enjoy being challenged and pushed to be creative and think on their feet.” They invest an abundance of physical, mental, and spiritual energy to maintain a community-driven and culturally connected focus. As one staff member and former IDA participant noted, “Nonprofit work is hard. None of us that do this work are in it to get rich. It’s hard. We deal with really heartbreaking things every day. [You] have to separate from that when you get off work.
Eventually it shows itself. I know that
I give 110% every day because I care about what I do. I invest the time and energy to do this work in a way that isn’t harming anybody.” Like many of the IDA participants, NAYA staff also seek stability, opportunity, self-determination, and/or belonging. Staff describe how the organization encourages and promotes staff well-being. Nevertheless, burnout is real, and salaries do not match the level of work, experience, and effort NAYA staff bring to their jobs. We recommend that government funders invest in NAYA staff sustainability by intentionally structuring contracts to allow NAYA to
