How Resilia Makes Trust-Based Philanthropy Actionable for Funders

By Sasha Metcalf, Senior Research & Learning Manager, Resilia

How do grantmakers know what their grantees need? This fall, Resilia gathered with our funder community to consider this very question. Our Research team shared capacity-building insights from a year’s worth of data from nonprofit partners within the Resilia Funder Program, including resource engagement in Resilia Academy (part of our online platform), coaching calls held, and peer-to-peer learning topics.

Nonprofit Capacity-Building Insights Shared with Funders

Resilia shared its nonprofit insights in a session for Elevate, a learning and action network of funders working to strengthen historically marginalized communities through trust-based capacity building and equity-centered knowledge sharing. Elevate brings together 40+ funders across the U.S. to amplify the voices of BIPOC-led/serving and grassroots organizations. 

Here are some of the learnings Resilia shared about nonprofit needs:

• Fundraising is the #1 capacity-building need, and this is true across all channels of engagement with Resilia, whether nonprofits are seeking online nonprofit platform resources, requesting 1:1 coaching, or attending peer-to-peer learning sessions. This need also remains true no matter how you slice the data demographically.

• Sustainability of funding is of great concern. Many Black-led organizations in particular saw an increase in funding from 2020, but they worry that was a trend of the moment and that funding will decrease.

• Board Management is consistently the #2 capacity-building need. Resilia coaches have taken a hands-on role with nonprofit partners by joining board meetings to help them create agendas, map networks, explore connections to local foundations, and craft elevator pitches to support fundraising. 

During the Elevate program session, funders discussed what they know about their nonprofits’ needs and how they gather that information. In the process, they listed all sorts of feedback loop tools, including a variety of surveys and reporting requirements. Once funders heard the insights from Resilia, they found much of the information resonated with what they had learned from their feedback tools. 

“It’s helpful to get this information because we don’t want to send another survey and keep asking organizations [for data], even if it’s just to find out their needs in specific areas,” said Kelly Anoe, President and CEO of Legacy Foundation. “By getting this information through the capacity-building partnership with Resilia, it’s really helpful for us to look at how we can build an infrastructure that provides more supportive services for organizations as we work with them.”

How the Resilia Funder Program Aligns With Trust-Based Philanthropy 

Anoe’s comment points to one of many ways in which Resilia’s Funder Program is trust-based philanthropy in action. The Trust-Based Philanthropy Project (TBPP) offers concrete practices funders can take to shift towards trust-based grantmaking. Here are some examples of how Resilia’s capacity building solutions align with these practices:

• Offer Support Beyond the Check: Funders offer Resilia’s on-demand technology solution to support nonprofit partners beyond the grant – with a human touch. Through a combination of an online platform, 1:1 nonprofit coaching, and peer-to-peer learning, grantees can strengthen mission-facing and back office capacity in a manner that best suits them (on their own time and terms). 

  As TBPP notes, support beyond the check “is especially critical for organizations that have historically gone without the same access to networks or level of support as their more established peers.” This is why so many of our funder partners are prioritizing BIPOC-led/serving and grassroots organizations with Resilia’s customized support. 

• Do the Homework & Simplify and Streamline Paperwork: Resilia enables funders to reduce the number of hurdles nonprofit organizations have to overcome to secure funding. Too often, nonprofits have to devote their time to burdensome reporting and survey requirements, which detract from their mission-driven efforts. 

  Trust-based philanthropy urges funders to “do the homework” and get to know their nonprofit needs, and to do so in a streamlined manner. Through Resilia’s automated data collection, funders can gain a deep understanding of nonprofit pain points without needing to survey them or create new reporting requirements. 

• Solicit and Act on Feedback: Funders working with Resilia receive bi-monthly impact reporting featuring qualitative and quantitative insights about the strategic and operational needs of their grantees and communities. These actionable learnings can inform strategic planning and enable funders to optimize their grantmaking approaches. What’s more, funders participating in Elevate learn about how nonprofits are leveraging Resilia across the country – including raw data they can manipulate to gauge capacity-building needs based on cause area, location, and other information.

Resilia also addresses an inherent power imbalance between grantmakers and grantees. Some organizations may not feel comfortable sharing their actual needs with a funder due to fear of not receiving funding or changing the funder's perception of their organization. 

Resilia mitigates this dynamic by acting as a third party, sharing aggregated, anonymized data about how organizations are engaging with the nonprofit platform, coaching, and peer-to-peer learning. This helps funders see grantee needs holistically and doesn't pressure organizations to share more than they feel is needed.

Resilia leverages the power of technology to make trust-based philanthropy practices immediately actionable for funders across the country. Elevate can be the catalyst for this change.

Learn more about how Elevate is helping funders advance trust-based capacity building for BIPOC-led/serving and grassroots organizations, or email us at elevate@resilia.com.