February 29, 2016 | Read Time: 3 minutes
A half-million dollars was on the table, a one-year corporate grant that likely would be renewed many times over. Yet when the donor balked at covering overhead costs, Communities in Schools did what it once might have considered unthinkable: It said, “No, thank you.”
“We were done with bending ourselves into a pretzel to attract and grow support,” says Debra Montanino, the national nonprofit’s chief strategy officer. It was, she recalls, “a wonderful moment.”
That was 2011. After deep research into its work to help kids achieve and stay in school, the organization was confident that it had found the best model. Buoyed by that, and weary of chasing restricted grants, Communities in Schools had been positioning itself for years to reject money that didn’t fit its carefully defined needs, strategy, and priorities. Now it was ready to commit: No longer would it take money that reflected the donor’s goals more than its own.
Five years later, the organization says it has ended its dependency on restricted grants, once almost its sole lifeline. In 2015, almost 40 percent of its $19 million in private support came in the form of unrestricted gifts. Millions more were earmarked for programs and operations that Communities in Schools developed in cooperation with — not in deference to — its donors.
Tough Choices
This turnaround was part of a sweeping transition that saw the organization double down on an approach to preventing dropouts that it says its research, data, and experience prove is most effective and efficient. The group’s 164 affiliates now must follow its standards for, among other things, the hiring, training, and support of in-school program coordinators.
During this evolution, Communities in School has made some hard choices, including dropping some affiliates. That grit has extended to its new fundraising approach. Dan Cardinali, the group’s president, says steering away from restricted grants hasn’t been easy on staff members’ nerves. Once, when he was on the phone negotiating with a foundation over its stipulations for a $500,000 grant, a colleague closed his office door so he wouldn’t hear the conversation.
“He was terrified we’d lose the money,” says Mr. Cardinali, who will leave the education charity in July to become chief executive of Independent Sector. In that case, the grant did come through unrestricted, although the foundation backed away from further support for the charity.
Mr. Cardinali says it was hard when Communities in Schools started turning down restricted grants and persuading donors to cut the strings attached to their funding. “But now it’s easier. We feel like a well-trained athlete. We won’t just accept resources that don’t allow us to be more effective at greater scale.”
The key? Ms. Montanino says the organization works closely with donors in advance to come up with gifts that fit the needs and purposes of both parties. One example is a recent $4.5 million, multiyear grant from AT&T, the group’s biggest corporate donor since 2008. The grant pairs Communities in Schools’ signature mentor program with the company’s efforts to promote student success through mentorship. AT&T will expand mentoring opportunities for its employees and cover costs associated with the nonprofit’s in-school coordinators as well as research and evaluation.
Says Ms. Montanino of the organization’s relationship with AT&T: “Each year, we roll up our sleeves and create a plan together.”
