Wednesday, January 14, 2009

New administrations, nonprofits, and philanthropy

I've heard (and provided) a lot of commentary on the impact of the financial crisis on nonprofits and philanthropy.

Here's a different question - what are the implications of an Obama administration - or more accurately - a Democratic Administration and Congress, on left-leaning/progressive/social justice-oriented funders and nonprofits? I've been thinking about a few:
  • Leadership transitions at NPO/foundations as folks move into public sector positions;
  • Revelations and inquiries into donors and supporters for the NPOs/foundations - see both Clinton nomination and former NPO leader appointed to HHS;
  • Need to assess financing needs in light of new public budgets/priorities;
  • Need for new advocacy messages as relationship shifts from oppositional to ... ?
  • New capacity to win and manage public funds;
  • New emphasis on social innovation and/or enterprise and/or service;
  • Possible additional emphasis on outcomes and performance;
  • Others?
Please suggest others that you are experiencing or think might happen. I'm also interested in any recommendations of research or commentary about this phenomenon in past transitions (conservative orgs and Bush II in 2001, or progressives and Clinton in 1993). Thanks.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'd love to hear what you find. I'm particularly intrigued by the "Office of Social Innovation" idea - I recently posted about that at our blog with regard to two recent articles about Obama and philanthropy.