Nonprofits are often chasing the “golden goose” of donations: general operating support, which is also sometimes called unrestricted funding. These are donations made to an organization without restriction and can be used at the discretion of the organization to support the needs of the nonprofit. These donations are not targeted to one program or another and can support needs that might range from marketing costs and postage, to the cost of an audit and staff salaries, or professional development. The important day-to-day work has to be done by people (at least for now) and for most organizations, those people need to be paid a competitive wage to retain a talented and thriving workforce. 

Community foundations are kind of in a special place as a nonprofit because not only are we a grantmaker, we’re also a 501(c)(3) that needs to fundraise and write grants to support our own operations. We can only exist on the generosity of the community and private foundations to support our operations so that we, in turn, can support the nonprofits that serve our community through our grantmaking, technical assistance, scholarship, convening and other programs. 

We understand the needs of nonprofits intimately, because they’re some of the same challenges we have as an organization, so we choose to make our grantmaking flexible and offer grants for either programmatic support or general operating support for nonprofits that serve Wayne County. 

Nonprofits are often thought of as the “third leg of the stool” of our society, in addition to the for-profit and government sectors. According to the National Council of Nonprofits, nonprofits contributed over 1.4 trillion dollars to the GDP in 2023 and employed 12.3 million people. 

We all rely on nonprofits to deliver important services in our community, including health care, educational programs, emergency services and to protect our natural resources. Unfortunately, often because of budget constraints, many nonprofits are not able to offer competitive wages,  and they regularly suffer from the expense of staff turnover, both financially and in degradation of trust in the community. 

Nonprofits work hard every day to deliver on their mission, but there is a cost to that hard work. There’s a big difference between “getting it done” and “doing it well.” Making do with what you can is a skillset many of us in the nonprofit sector rely on, but with the right tools, a great staff and some breathing room, we’re capable of truly amazing things. 

If you believe in the missions of your favorite local nonprofits (like the Wayne County Community Foundation!) and want to help them continue to respond to ever-changing community needs, support educational opportunities, continue to provide services and create joyful experiences for everyone, then I hope you’ll think about being a “golden goose.” I hope you’ll consider making your next gift, no matter how big or small, a gift for general operating support. 

For more information about the Wayne County Community Foundation, visit www.waynefoundation.org.