NCGives gives new take on giving

America is changing, and so is the way we give.

As PJ reported recently, a new study says racial, ethnic and tribal communities in the U.S. are rooted in traditions of giving to support their communities, and now are looking for ways to strengthen and organize their philanthropy.

And as PJ reports today, a new initiative known as NCGives wants to change the way we give and think about giving.

NCGives is working to strengthen giving by African Americans, Hispanics and Latinos, Native Americans, women and young people, and to build bridges to mainstream philanthropies and help them better understand the needs of the populations it serves.

A growing number of nonprofits, working to address social problems that have become more critical and interconnected, want to tap the resources of our increasingly diverse society.

And a growing number of donors want to pitch in not only with their money, but also with their time and know-how.

As Donna Chavis, executive director of NCGives, told PJ, “There’s never going to be enough money.”

The challenge, she says, to make giving more “inclusionary” and leverage the resources, including those of traditional philanthropies, needed to address our most urgent problems.

Equally critical is the need for charitable organizations to redefine the development of the resources they need, a function traditionally known as “fundraising.”

Rather than treating donors and funding organizations as automatic teller machines, charities should be looking for ways to connect personally with donors and other partners, better understand their interests and values, and involve them and their resources in helping to shape collaborative strategies and solutions to the critical social problems we face in common.

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