Funding Bravely

Funders Say They Understand. Nonprofits Strongly Disagree

93% of funders think they understand the challenges their grantees face. Only 53% of nonprofits agree. That 40% gap isn't just a number—it's an existential threat to the sector. And Dr. Elisha Smith Arrillaga has the data to prove it. In this episode of Funding Bravely, host Marvin Smith sits down with Dr. Elisha Smith Arrillaga—Vice President of Research at Center for Effective Philanthropy—to talk about what happens when data meets courage. Elisha's story begins in Mississippi. Her mom filed a lawsuit against the city for employment discrimination—and won. Those anti-discrimination laws are still in place today. Her dad worked at the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission in Birmingham during the civil rights era. Her grandmother was the first Black worker in a factory in a small Mississippi town. "I stand on the shoulders of my parents and grandparents," Elisha says. "It's a privilege to do this work." And she's doing it with urgency. Because the data is screaming: * 81% of nonprofits have experienced or anticipate increased demand for services * 68% of nonprofits say the current context has negatively impacted their ability to do their work * 61% of nonprofits face moderate to significant risk to their ability to continue operating Meanwhile, funders think they understand. But there's a 40% gap between how funders perceive their understanding and how nonprofits experience it. "If we're all trying to solve the same societal issues," Elisha says, "it's a problem if we have different understandings of what those are." This conversation unpacks: * Why data is a mirror—holding up truths we may not want to see * How CEP turned around survey data in 10 days (not 6 months) to make it actionable * The 40% perception gap between funders and nonprofits * Why funders need to listen AND act, not just listen * How to make data a conversation starter, not an endpoint * Why joy is essential to leadership (even in dark times) * How to think about data as movement infrastructure * What distinguishes courageous foundation leaders right now "Data is only powerful if people engage with it in the moment they need it," Elisha says. This episode is a call to action. Not just to look at the numbers. But to do something about them. TIMESTAMPS * 0:00 - Data as a mirror: Holding up truths we don't want to see * 3:00 - Civil rights legacy: Her mom sued for discrimination and won * 6:00 - Why she fell in love with data as a tool for equity * 10:00 - CEP's bold move: Making data public and moving conversations out of closed doors * 14:00 - Navigating pushback: "Are you being too hard on the sector?" * 18:00 - As a Black woman in data: Why she feels the need to show more evidence * 22:00 - Data as a conversation starter, not an authority * 26:00 - Turning data around in 10 days (not 6 months): Why speed matters * 30:00 - THE NUMBERS: 81% increased demand, 68% negative impact, 61% existential risk * 34:00 - The 40% gap: Funders think they understand. Nonprofits disagree. * 38:00 - What distinguishes courageous foundation leaders right now * 42:00 - How she leads with joy (even in crisis) * 46:00 - Data as movement infrastructure * 50:00 - Her call to funders: Listen AND act

Torchbearers Shine When It's Dark Out featuring Darren Isom

"I don't know if we're going to win, but we got our best people working on it." Darren Isom grew up as part of "Generation Integration" in New Orleans, the only generation between legal segregation and white flight. Now, he's helping philanthropy understand that it's not the strategist. It's the servant. This conversation will change how you think about courage, joy, and who gets to build the future. In this episode of Funding Bravely, host Marvin Smith sits down with Darren Isom, partner at Bridgespan Group and host of Dreaming in Color, to explore what courage looks like when you realize the world you normalized was actually radical. Darren takes us back to 1980s New Orleans, where his parents met integrating a white high school (his mom is the same age as Ruby Bridges). He grew up singing the Beatles with Ms. Ziegler, a Black teacher with an afro "too late to be wearing one," in a school that was one-third Black, one-third white, one-third other, a world built on the belief that integration, not assimilation, was possible. That upbringing shaped everything about how he works today. This conversation unpacks: * Why joy and optimism are acts of resistance, especially for Black Americans * The moment funders realize: "You thought you were Gryffindor, but you might be a Death Eater" * Why private sector rules don't transfer to nonprofit work (and never did) * How younger generations are asking: How do we repair the harm our wealth created? * Why this moment mirrors post-Reconstruction—and what the Harlem Renaissance teaches us about planting seeds * The shift from funders as strategists to funders as servants with proximity to impact * Why Black genius, when given space to create (not just navigate broken things), creates beautiful things Darren reminds us: "Our torchbearers are most important when it's dark out." This isn't about protecting systems. It's about building new ones.  TIMESTAMPS * 0:00 - Joy and optimism as acts of resistance * 4:00 - Growing up as "Generation Integration" in New Orleans * 8:00 - His parents met integrating a white high school (mom is Ruby Bridges' age) * 12:00 - The Willow School: Singing Beatles, normalizing Black excellence * 16:00 - How naming shapes power in philanthropy * 20:00 - The shift: Funders as servants, not strategists * 24:00 - "You might be a Death Eater": When funders realize their wealth caused harm * 28:00 - A billion dollars is 1,000 millions—so why are we fighting over $100K grants? * 32:00 - "This is what winning looks like" (Irvishie Vait's wisdom) * 36:00 - Bright spots: High-network donors spending down, not hoarding * 40:00 - Post-Reconstruction parallels: Planting seeds we won't see grow * 44:00 - Where Darren finds community and why Black Americans seek beauty * 48:00 - "Torchbearers shine when it's dark out" RESOURCES MENTIONED • Dreaming in Color podcast (5 seasons available) [https://www.bridgespan.org/dreaming-in-color] • Sherrilyn Ifill's piece on post-Reconstruction parallels [https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2023/12/21/how-america-ends-and-begins-again-sherrilyn-ifill/] • Donors of Color Network [https://www.donorsofcolor.org/]

Silencing Truth Is a Red Flag. Dimple Abichandani on the Courage Philanthropy Needs

What if everything you've been told about philanthropy is actually designed to preserve inequality? Dimple Abichandani spent 20 years inside the sector and she's here to tell you how it really works. This conversation will change how you see wealth, power, and who gets to decide what justice looks like. In this episode of Funding Bravely, host Marvin Smith sits down with Dimple Abichandani, philanthropic leader, lawyer, and author of A New Era of Philanthropy to unpack a question that's been haunting the sector: Can philanthropy actually meet this moment? Dimple takes us back to her college days at UT Austin, where she learned what courage really costs. Then she pulls back the curtain on 140 years of "gilded philanthropy," a system designed not to solve problems, but to cover them up. From Andrew Carnegie's legacy to today's $1.9 trillion sitting in endowments, this conversation exposes: - Why spending only 5% annually preserves the status quo - How tech billionaires use foundations to whitewash harm - What "transformative alchemy" looks like when you mix capital with trust, imagination, and community voice - Practices that actually redistribute power (not just resources) This isn't about tweaking the system. It's about transforming wealth into justice.