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Ways to Make a Bigger Impact Each Year the Center for High Impact

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Ways to Make a Bigger Impact Each Year the Center for High Impact In this guide High impact giving in the age of COVID 3 Lessons and best practices for crisis grantmaking 4 Tips for practicing high impact philanthropy 5 Nonprofits making a difference 6 CareMessage 7 Telehealth care management by text Center for Employment Opportunities 8 High Impact Providing jobs and connections to returning individuals Giving in the Child First 9 Support for parents, caregivers, and children under stress Age of COVID HOPE 10 Closing the racial gap in economic mobility Last Mile Health 11 Continuity of care to rural communities 2021 Resolve Philly 12 Ensuring reliable, local news Riders for Health 13 Logistics to deliver rural health care Soccer Without Borders 14 Connecting youth in times of disruption Springboard Collaborative 15 Working with children and parents for literacy gains Tips for avoiding fraud 16 More resources for giving 17 Nonprofits mentioned in this guide 19 www.impact.upenn.edu 2021 High Impact Giving Guide 2 Welcome to the 2021 High Impact Giving Guide, designed to help donors make a bigger difference with their philanthropic gifts. The effects of COVID-19 made 2020 a year like no other, prompting all donors—whether they had $5 or a billion dollars—to ask, “How Can I Help?” Timely, accurate information is central to making any good decision, but can be particularly difficult to access in times of crisis. For that reason, starting in March 2020, CHIP’s work has been focused on high impact philanthropy in the age of COVID-19. CHIP has launched multiple efforts to provide action- able guidance for the current pandemic. COVID-19 Pandemic: How Can I COVID-19 Response Dashboard, released Health in Mind in the Age of Help? released in April, offers strategies in September, offers a unique, regional view, COVID-19, released in Decem- for effective crisis grant making, urgent analyzing the immediate philanthropic re- ber, expands on CHIP’s February needs to address, and nonprofits to sponse from 13 COVID-19 emergency funds guidance, Health in Mind: A Phil- consider supporting. This guidance is in a 10-county Southeastern Pennsylvania anthropic Guide for Mental Health a public resource accessible to anyone and Southern New Jersey region. If you make and Addiction. We provide strat- around the world seeking answers to grants to nonprofits, or are leading grantmak- egies and nonprofits helping those that question. It builds on 13 years of ing for one of the many COVID-19 response most at-risk of mental health issues providing disaster philanthropy guid- funds, visit Charting Impact: Findings from the due to COVID-19: frontline work- ance (e.g., prior High Impact Philan- COVID Dashboard and Lessons for the Road ers, children out of school and their thropy in the Downturn, Haiti: How Ahead. In it, you’ll find our analysis of more families, and those struggling finan- Can I Help?). than $40 million in rapid-response grantmak- cially, with guidance for addressing ing, as well as lessons for how all funders can the stark racial disparities laid bare respond better to the ongoing crisis. by the pandemic. While long-awaited vaccines and therapies are being distributed, the This guide incorporates what we have learned about best crisis continues. Infections and hospitalizations continue to spike. practices in crisis grantmaking and the ways COVID-19 is The most effective, widely implemented tool for containing the affecting communities. It contains profiles of nonprofits disease—social distancing—continues to leave schools struggling working in a broad range of cause areas touched by the with virtual and hybrid delivery, millions without a livelihood, and pandemic: health, education, economic development, people around the world isolated from both loved ones and those and reliable information. Nonprofits are a critical asset in who would normally provide support. Against this backdrop, the crisis response and recovery. With your help, they and the question for individual donors and institutional grantmakers still communities they serve can weather the current crisis and build remains: How can I help? back better, in 2021 and beyond. www.impact.upenn.edu 2021 High Impact Giving Guide 3 Lessons and best practices for crisis grantmaking In times of crisis, the ability to address needs as they emerge is critical. No matter which nonprofit you sup- port, whether you have $10 to give or $10,000, here’s how you can help address needs during the pandemic. GIVE IMMEDIATELY The scale of this crisis means all nonprofit organizations—and the communities they serve—are affected. Giving immediately shores up the nonprofit infrastructure that every community relies on. Start first with the non- profits you already know and trust, especially when they serve those already vulnerable to COVID-19 (e.g., older adults, anyone with se- GIVE FLEXIBLY rious underlying medical conditions, disabled Now is the time to consider removing restric- people, pregnant women, and people experi- tions of timing or purpose. For example, if you encing homelessness) and those at risk due to are an individual who gives a small amount their work (e.g., health care workers, first re- every month and can afford to, make a larger sponders, and essential workers in retail, phar- donation at one time. If you are a grantmaker macy, transit, farms, deliveries, warehouses, who gives restricted grants, consider convert- and manufacturing). ing those grants to general operating/emergen- cy funding and give grants now that you had originally flagged for later in the fiscal year. GIVE CONSISTENTLY Organizations that received an early influx of relief need continued support. History shows that disaster funding peaks early and decreas- es quickly over time. According to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy, a third of private giving happens in the first four weeks of a sudden disaster and two-thirds within two months, then giving stops almost completely after five or six months with less funding for PREPARE FOR THE recovery. Unlike sudden natural disasters, the NEXT CRISIS devastation and loss of life from COVID-19 There will always be another crisis, often be- has already lasted nearly a year, and is likely to fore the first is resolved, as we saw when the continue even as vaccines are approved, man- COVID-19 pandemic overlapped with de- ufactured, and distributed. structive storms, a catastrophic explosion in Beirut, and ongoing refugee crises. To learn more about disaster response, visit CHIP’s Guidance: Help Now, Help Later, Help Better and Phases of Disaster Recovery. www.impact.upenn.edu 2021 High Impact Giving Guide 4 Tips for Practicing High Impact Philanthropy All donors have a “philanthropic portfolio” that includes gifts that aren’t necessarily aimed at maximizing social impact. That is especially true during a crisis. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, you may have found yourself making impromptu donations to respond to urgent asks or compelling stories that emerged. As the crisis stretches on and you ask yourself, “How can my money do more good?”, here are tips to answer that question well: FOCUS ON THE GOAL profits. Still can’t find what you’re looking for? You’ll find a wealth of free As the saying goes, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any information on our website and in the resources at the end of this guide. road will get you there.” High impact philanthropy starts by asking, “What is the philanthropic goal of this donation?” That goal could THINK “BANG FOR YOUR BUCK” be feeding the hungry, ensuring all kids learn, reducing poverty, Even with the influx of giving throughout COVID-19, there is never improving the lives of women and girls, or any number of other enough money to solve every problem. To do more good, every donor worthy causes. Personal experiences often lead donors to commit needs to ask, “How can my money go the farthest?” Comparing non- to a particular community or a particular cause. It is fine to let the profit organizations can help answer that question, but don’t just look at heart choose the goal. Once you are clear about the goal, your head their expenses. That’s literally only half the equation. Instead, compare can help you find the programs and organizations that are well-po- what the organization spends overall to what it achieves. For example, a sitioned to reach that goal. $1 donation can translate to enough food for 15 meals at a global food bank. $500 can connect five new families to telehealth services for new A LITTLE RESEARCH GOES A LONG WAY mothers and infants. $1000 can provide transportation and utility pay- Unlike a decade ago, donors no longer need to spend days doing ments to help support an individual who has lost their livelihood from their own due diligence or trying to interpret tax returns in the hope COVID-19. Another way to think of bang for buck is to compare costs of identifying a nonprofit worthy of their gift. Organizations like with societal benefits: $30 in societal benefits for every $1 spent on ef- ours now exist to do the legwork so that individual donors can get fective crime-reduction programs. That’s bang for buck thinking where to impact faster and with more confidence. The high impact oppor- the “buck” is the money a nonprofit has to spend and the “bang” is what tunities profiled in this guide—and many more on our website— it’s able to achieve with that money. offer specific options that our team has analyzed for program effica- By focusing on the goal, doing a little research, and thinking bang cy and cost-effectiveness. Within each profile, we offer tips for get- for buck, donors can make sure their annual giving reflects more than ting involved in an issue, including what to look for in related non- generosity and good intentions.
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