Centering Equity through Flexible, Reliable Funding • Grantmakers for Effective Organizations

“One of the things that we don’t talk enough about is how philanthropy trains us to be afraid. It trains us to always be in this kind of state of anxiety about whether or not we are going to survive. Reliability allows for some exhale and some clarity on what’s possible. It generates more possibility for the organizations andfor the funders.” – Sage Crump, National Performance Network

Sage Crump, a cultural strategist and longtime nonprofit leader, powerfully exposes how the traditional approach to grantmaking — project-based grants, typically awarded in one-year increments — often works in opposition to the lofty aspirations that grantmakers and their nonprofit and community partners have for catalyzing meaningful social change.

On the other hand, flexible grants, awarded over longer periods of time, can create a more generative ethos for nonprofits and grantmakers alike to achieve their vision for a better world.