Editorial: Nonprofits, community win with collaboration
Rejection of the NATIVE Project application for city of Spokane funding was unfortunate, but many applicants for assistance from public coffers, nonprofit organizations or foundations more frequently today hear the word “no” in response.
Even Project Access, which triggered a second round of City Council awards when its first-round application was late, was passed over again in the competition for municipal money. The organization has lost out before, in 2009, but continues the work of directing patients to doctors and others willing to provide health care for free.
We hope both groups can continue their missions without city assistance.
There is never enough money to go around, and that has been doubly true in an economy that has increased demand and not been kind to the assets of organizations that want to help. The city deserves credit for keeping its human service set-aside close to $1 million despite a very constrained budget.
The grant winners and those they assist will also benefit from city commitment that their funding will be renewed if they perform as promised.
The Human Services Advisory Board, which evaluates applications, had a difficult task in recommending the winners.
In the first round, there were 35 applications asking for $2.1 million. The city distributed $898,000 to the 22 organizations selected. For the $100,000 second round, there were 22 applicants. Only two, Spokane Prescription Assistance and Moving Forward, received funding.
Moving Forward is an example of the collaborative efforts getting more support from donors that want services delivered as efficiently as possible, especially if success depends on a variety of services that may not be offered by a single group. With its $87,000, the consortium of Volunteers of America, Transitions, Christ Clinic, Catholic Charities and St. Joseph’s Family Care Center will coordinate care for as many as 200 patients – some post-hospitalization, some mental health – who might otherwise seek aid in emergency rooms.
This is a very difficult population to work with.
The same kind of multi-agency efforts are also working on nutrition issues and in education, where so many factors outside the classroom can affect performance. There are indications that greater community involvement is already helping turn around what a few years ago was a disastrous dropout rate.
Coordinated, sustained programs are important not only for what they can do in a community but what they say about a community. Bigger outside organizations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will be more willing to contribute where they see collaboration and results.
Philanthropy has become a contact sport. The 20 worthy but disappointed applicants should find common causes and return next year.