Writing from the biennial gathering of Grantmakers for Effective Organizations Conference in Pittsburgh, I have to say there is a really upbeat attitude among the participants, mostly foundation staff and trustees. I ascribe this optimism to the Dow hitting 11,000, a height fondly remembered but not seen for a long time. As the market picks up, foundation assets rebuild from their 28% decline and things get much more positive in the foundation community. Which is a good thing, don’t get me wrong.

But on the other hand most nonprofits rely on sources other than foundations for the bulk of their support. Giving from individuals is still being pressed by high unemployment and uncertainty, some of which may also ease as the market rises. And the largest source of revenue for nonprofits is state and local government programs, and here we see no light at the end of the tunnel, only a precipice as the states try to balance their 2010-2011budgets.

So, as the foundation community regains some of its capacity to help nonprofits, let us not forget that the public sector funding in many cases is much more critical, day in day out, to the survival of most nonprofits, and it will not be rebounding any time soon.

Tags: economy, foundations, Nonprofit Sector, Trends

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 13th, 2010 at 2:22 pm and is filed under Assorted Musings, Consulting for Nonprofits, Foundation effectiveness, Nonprofit Sector, Trends. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.