Foundation funding of grassroots organisations

Abstract

AbstractAccording to grassroots scholar David Horton Smith, there are 7.5 million grassroots associations in the USA (compared to two million paid staff nonprofits). He states, ‘Associational participation is a major engine of democratic participation.’ J. Craig Jenkins and Abigail Halcli found that foundations commit only 0.2 per cent of all their grants for indigenous social movement organisations. The Foundation Center collects no statistics concerning foundation funding of grassroots organisations.Why do grassroots organisations not receive more foundation money? What could foundations do differently to get more money into their hands? And what could grassroots organisations do differently to obtain more foundation money? These are the central questions addressed in this study.To obtain answers to these questions, 48 people were interviewed by telephone: 26 grassroots organisation leaders and 22 foundation executives.The findings in this study defy easy summary. Contrary to the author's expectations, there is often great harmony between grassroots leaders and foundation officials. Frequently, the interviewees, whether grassroots or foundation types, speak of or allude to ‘partnerships’. This is true even when most grassroots leaders blame foundations for the fact that they do not receive any or enough money.Another key finding is that foundation officials believe that different social class between themselves and grassroots organisations is crucial to the minimal funding of grassroots organisations. Yet almost no grassroots leaders mentioned this as a factor.Perhaps the most salient fact that comes through, is that the foundations that regularly fund grassroots organisations have great knowledge and sympathy for these organisations, and that other funders who might want to enter into such funding would be well advised to seek their counsel. By the same token, the grassroots organisations which have done well with foundation funding feel quite comfortable with the foundations, and those other grassroots leaders who might want to obtain foundation funding should seek out their successful brothers and sisters.The particular value of this qualitative study is the way in which it divulges the great diversity of interactions between grassroots and foundation leaders. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications