2022 Survey Equity Module

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2022 State of the Nonprofit Sector Survey

Here at NFF, we envision a world where funding and financial capital is accessible to all dynamic nonprofit leaders and the communities they serve.

NFF continues to strive toward racial equity in how nonprofits are funded, striving to foster system change and engagement across all levels. Research in examining the historical nature and design of flow of capital in under-resourced communities from their perspective is a necessary step to engage in this work. In collaboration with EVITARUS, a nationally known public opinion research firm with expertise in illuminating the experiences of BIPOC-led communities in research design, outreach, and survey analysis, an Equity Module was included in our State of the Nonprofit Sector survey. The purpose of our survey data collection was to:

Provide an opportunity to collect feedback from organizations led by and serving people of color on their experiences with the nonprofit financial system;
Center and uplift perspectives and experiences from community-centered organizations on how to develop a more equitable nonprofit financial system;
To assess strengths of BIPOC-led organizations and impact of those strengths, and what they need to continue to perform well;
Further gain a snapshot of our sector’s health and challenges.

To ensure our efforts were achievable and sustainable, we outlined the following five guiding principles that informed our goals as well as specific objectives we hoped to accomplish for our research design:

Principles

Collaboration and Inclusiveness: We believe in the importance of collaboration and community input to design the most useful, well-crafted survey instrument
Transparency: is key in every stage of the survey, from design to sharing of the results.
Service: We implement this survey as a service to the field, and strive to make the results as informative and widely available as possible
Intentionality: We will be intentional in addressing racial equity in this survey
Celebrating Strengths: We celebrate the strengths of BIPOC-led organizations that are partnering deeply with their communities to achieve community aspirations, often in the face of great systemic hurdles.

Goals and Objectives

Develop framework for engaging with BIPOC-led organizations and understand their relationship with the nonprofit finance sector and assess willingness to participate in this survey
Foster and facilitate a channel of participation and information collection from BIPOC-led organizations about their experiences with funding and financing
Uplift the experiences of accessing funding and financing by BIPOC-led organizations, gain clarity on what has been accomplished, consider both success and challenges with seeking financial resources, and better understand how nonprofit leaders of color value and define community investment
Understanding the scope and barriers in entry points for all nonprofit organizations, including advocacy ones, when accessing financial support from foundations and philanthropic organizations (either undisclosed or overt refusal)
Assess the diverse representation of leadership by race, ethnicity, gender-identity and sexual orientation in hopes to highlight their successes despite withstanding a confluence of factors driven by systemic and social barriers.
Create measures driven and informed by nonprofit leaders to understand equity in access and information, and assess system change to drive impact in the nonprofit financial sector

Our commitment to achieving racial and financial equity continues to grow and evolve as we further support leaders of color in championing the needs of the communities they serve.