Note on Code Swaraj
key issue of retrospective reporting to prospective approval, effectively running our organization.
I proposed a compromise, which was that we unwind the deal and go our respective ways. I’d keep the money we already had, we’d report on how the $250,000 was spent, and the grant would be terminated. They would keep the remaining $650,000. It simply wasn't a good fit, the foundation would do better investing in large organizations with a sustainable plan for stable revenues and professional development officers.
Dealing with foundations has always been tricky for nonprofits that work in my space. I’ve had many conversations with my peers who run operations-oriented Internet organizations, and the search for money to further the mission is unending. Many foundations are quick to fund things they have on their own agendas or grand plans, perhaps a workshop the program manager at the foundation has dreamed up, or some software they want to see happen. But, when you go to some of these folks and tell them what you are already doing, all too often they say “we want to fund something new, not some existing project.”
It is hard to sustain a long-term focus on a specific and difficult goal when everybody wants to be in the “new” business. This is a problem not just for nonprofits, my friends in Silicon Valley who have startups have a similar issue with investors who want to vault in and use their company as a playpen for ideas instead of wanting to fund the people and work that are already there. They all want a shiny new unicorn instead of feeding an existing work horse.
Public Resource has been lucky. We have received our money from two places. First, several far-sighted foundations have been in our corner for years, such as the UK-based Arcadia, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin. We received an early grant from Omidyar Network and when Google awarded five $2 million prizes for “ideas for changing the world” to celebrate their 10th anniversary, we received one of those gifts.
The second source of funding are people who made some money in the valley and want to give back, people I’ve known for many years. For example, Alexander Macgillivray was an early lawyer at Google, then became General Counsel at Twitter. He left Twitter to become Deputy Chief Technology Officer of the United States and just before he started his government service he instructed his donor-advised fund to send us a $10,000 check. Then, after he left the Obama Administration, he sent us another one.
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