September 8, 2013 | Read Time: 3 minutes
Before Benjamin Todd Jealous assumed the leadership of the NAACP in 2008, the venerable civil-rights group had endured six years of budget deficits.
As he prepares to step down, he can point to a balance sheet so robust that the group is now preparing for a capital drive to build its first endowment.
Such a campaign will probably begin in 2014 or 2015, the organization’s leaders say, and no dollar goal has been set yet.
Over all, the organization’s revenue has grown by 10 to 30 percent each year, Mr. Jealous says. Its budget has doubled since 2008.
Giving Skyrocketed
Giving by corporations and foundations increased 12 percent from 2008 to 2011, the most recent year for which figures are available. And the number of gifts from individuals has skyrocketed during Mr. Jealous’s tenure, especially those from people who previously made donations.
The year he took over, 16,000 donors to the NAACP had given more than once; this fiscal year, 132,000 donors are repeat supporters.
Just as important, he says, many of the 1,200 local chapters that had closed or were on the verge of shutting down are now open.
“His ability to raise money has been a huge asset,” says Janet Murguía, president of the National Council of La Raza, which has worked with the NAACP on immigration and voter-registration issues. “The fact that Ben could figure out how to do that is a huge feather in the cap of the NAACP.”
Ties to Foundations
Mr. Jealous brought to the organization the perspective of a grant maker. He joined the NAACP after serving for four years as president of the Rosenberg Foundation, a San Francisco fund that supports human rights and economic justice in California.
Under his direction, the NAACP pursued more grants than it had in the past and made a deliberate effort to build ties to private foundations, whose support had been waning.
When Mr. Jealous joined the NAACP, the Ford Foundation was the only grant maker providing $100,000 or more a year. This year, 14 foundations have given $100,000 or more.
Diversifying the issues the charity supports—getting into causes such as climate change and overhauling the prison system—helped attract grant makers, Mr. Jealous says.
“But ultimately our performance the last few years has meant more than the diversity” of causes it supports, he adds. “Foundations have taken note of our success, such as in getting more and more people to register to vote.”
Building Coalitions
Grant makers say they have also appreciated Mr. Jealous’s approach to building coalitions with groups involved in many different causes and from all political points of view, liberal and conservative.
“The new leadership breathed new life into the organization,” says Gail Christopher, vice president for program strategy at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
In the past three years, Kellogg has made more than $3-million in grants to the NAACP for programs that promote racial equity and racial healing.
Says Ms. Christopher: “The NAACP has found ways to broaden support for the things they fight for, and are reaching younger people.”
