The Survey Results Are In: Americans Don’t Know Much about Nonprofits

Explicit content warning

04/24/23 • 28 min

We live in the nonprofit world, day in and day out, so naturally, we know quite a bit about how it operates. But how much does the average American know? Not so much, it turns out.

In today’s episode, we’re talking about the results of a survey put out by Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, “What Americans Think about Philanthropy and Nonprofit.” We learned some very interesting things, such as how much people trust the giving transparency of religious charitable organizations (oof) and where Americans think the philanthropic sector is headed.

What’s in this episode:

[01:33] Information on Eli Lilly and the Lilly family (for anyone else like Brittny who isn’t familiar)

[05:34] The results of a survey the Lilly School put out to get Americans’ perceptions of nonprofits and where they put their trust

[11:22] How Americans feel about the transparency of giving among charitable organizations (whew, this one is really something) and what activities charities should be able to support

[17:24] Whether or not Americans think the philanthropic sector is headed in the right direction

[21:26] Our thoughts on how to educate the public on nonprofits (because, based on this survey, they do not know much)

For full show notes, resources, links and to download the transcript, visit our website: https://thenonprofitreframe.com/

Do you love our show and want to hear even more from us? You can get behind-the-scenes episodes and more by supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/nonprofitreframe

Get bonus content on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We live in the nonprofit world, day in and day out, so naturally, we know quite a bit about how it operates. But how much does the average American know? Not so much, it turns out.

What’s in this episode:

[01:33] Information on Eli Lilly and the Lilly family (for anyone else like Brittny who isn’t familiar)

[05:34] The results of a survey the Lilly School put out to get Americans’ perceptions of nonprofits and where they put their trust

[11:22] How Americans feel about the transparency of giving among charitable organizations (whew, this one is really something) and what activities charities should be able to support

[17:24] Whether or not Americans think the philanthropic sector is headed in the right direction

[21:26] Our thoughts on how to educate the public on nonprofits (because, based on this survey, they do not know much)

For full show notes, resources, links and to download the transcript, visit our website: https://thenonprofitreframe.com/

Do you love our show and want to hear even more from us? You can get behind-the-scenes episodes and more by supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/nonprofitreframe

Get bonus content on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

Power and Complicity: Bystanders and The Need To Be Braver

The nonprofit world is not exempt from the every day realities of racism, tax schemes, and even sexual assault. However, considering the mission and values of these organizations... you’d hope that behavior would at least be called out and appropriately dealt with when it appears within a nonprofit.

In today’s episode, we’re discussing why that is unfortunately not always the case, the culture of complicity that pops up in many nonprofit organizations, and how even other nonprofit consultants can contribute to this issue of complicity.

We also acknowledge that this is complex, because while bravery does play a part in standing up to bad actors, many nonprofit workers are also dealing with oppressive power dynamics and biases that make speaking out even riskier. It’s time to take a hard look at ourselves and ask how we can be an ally to those in more vulnerable positions and break this cycle of complicity.

What’s in this episode:

[03:52] How complicity allows toxic board members and staff to continue patterns of abuse, from financial crimes to innuendos to more extreme examples like sexual assault

[10:38] Why staff and board performance reviews need to be more robust and more frequent

[13:05] The power dynamics that perpetuate complicity in toxic behaviors within nonprofits

[16:17] How racism and sexism shut out women and BIPOC individuals from leadership, which also contributes to a culture of complicity

[23:13] How other nonprofit consultants can also contribute in a culture of complicity (looking at you, Joan Garry)

For full show notes, resources, links and to download the transcript, visit our website: https://thenonprofitreframe.com/

Do you love our show and want to hear even more from us? You can get behind-the-scenes episodes and more by supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/nonprofitreframe

Get bonus content on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

How To Discuss (and Disrupt) Donor-Advised Funds

Donor-Advised Funds (DAFs) are charitable giving tools with a lot of complexity and ambiguity. So how can nonprofit staff engage donors in discussions about using them more effectively (or dismantling them all together)? We talk about a guide Nia and her colleague Maegan wrote for nonprofits to start conversations, make more informed decisions, and ultimately, disrupt the lack of DAF giving.

In today’s episode, we’re discussing why DAFs are not accountable or trackable once created, why foundations benefit and make money off DAFs without any incentive to actually distribute them, and how that money deprives the government from revenue and the public from services that could actually benefit society.

What’s in this episode:

[05:31] Introducing DAFs and why we should know about them

[07:22] Why a donor would use a DAF and why nonprofits should care

[14:12] Elon Musk puts billions into a DAF, and what that means for government resources and spending

[19:57] How to shift conversations to help and educate

For full show notes, resources, links and to download the transcript, visit our website: https://thenonprofitreframe.com/

Do you love our show and want to hear even more from us? You can get behind-the-scenes episodes and more by supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/nonprofitreframe

Get bonus content on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.