By Aaron Allen, The Seattle Medium
Non-profits are vital to the well-being of a community, especially the African American community. In Seattle, Black non-profits have faced a long-standing struggle to secure adequate resources and opportunities. To combat this, The Seattle Medium Newspaper created the Support Black Orgs initiative, an online volunteer mobilization platform that promotes connectivity among the splintered Black community caused by systemic racism, gentrification, and mass exodus.
During the George Floyd social uprising and COVID, the federal government, major philanthropic funders, and corporations poured funds into underserved communities to augment financial losses and uplift those affected by police brutality. However, even before the pandemic, non-profits have always encountered major sustainability challenges.
“One of the main challenges coming off of COVID and the civil unrest was that many Black organizations were given money without questions and sometimes it tripled our budget. But now giving isn’t as vast as it was,” says Sharon Williams, Executive Director of the CD Forum For Arts and Ideas. “We knew that it was going to happen, we knew that “White guilt” was going to give us money at the time and then it was going to drop off. And that’s exactly what happened. And now we are back to try and raise funds for the work that we do, and it is a challenge.”
Chettie McAfee, Director of the Central Area Youth Association (CAYA), says that although the organization has been around for over 60 years, securing resources to sustain their programming is still an uphill battle.
“It’s been a struggle,” says McAfee. “There hasn’t been a lot of resources or opportunities especially for Black and/or African American non-profits. We [CAYA] have been shut out on some of the grant opportunities, mostly because we are a small non-profit, so we were virtually unknown to some of the larger companies.”
According to McAfee, the gentrification of the Central District, which is the area that the organization primarily serves, has made their fundraising efforts even more challenging.
“When we’re serving a community and that community packs up and moves somewhere else further out, it can be crippling to a non-profit such as ours,” she says. “So, we not only had to deal with the grant opportunities, but also the fact that the people we’re here to help are no longer living in the community. So, for us, it has been a real challenge.”
Non-profits face several significant strategic issues today, including limited government funding, having stable sources of income, pressure to show results and strategic solutions, and not running non-profits like a business.
According to Dian Ferguson, Director of the Central Area Senior Center, most of the challenges that non-profits face stem from the lack of money.
“It’s always a challenge to raise money,” says Ferguson. “To come up with a diversified portfolio of how you generate money for the organization so that it can continue to have resources is always a challenge.”
“I have been at my non-profit since May of 2014,” continued Ferguson. “I hadn’t planned on staying a long time because I took it as an interim position, but then [the organization] didn’t have any money, so I was “ok” I had the sense of responsibility because this work was near and dear to my heart. So, I was thinking we don’t want to lose this institution, so I needed to raise some money so whoever comes next would have a place to start.”
In addition to financial resources, many non-profit leaders claim that they also struggle to attract and retain both paid and non-paid talent, and in today’s environment, it’s not easy finding people who are willing, and trying to find the resources for those who are.
“During the COVID pandemic, we had two people quit because they didn’t want to work during the pandemic, but we also had to figure out how to adapt our programs so that people who wanted to work could continue to be on staff, and so that was another reason why tapping into the emergency funding that was available through other sources was important for us,” says Ferguson.
Williams agrees and says that many non-profits are being forced to look for talent not only outside of the community but sometimes even outside of the state. “Hiring is a challenge, and I say that because right now we are in the midst of a lot of organizations that are transitioning,” says Williams. “A lot of leaders are moving on, trying to create space for new leaders but it’s hard trying to find Black leaders wanting to step into being executive directors, and that is causing us to have to look outside of the city, outside of the Pacific Northwest. Just trying to fill positions is a real challenge for us right now.”
Non-profit organizations face a range of specific challenges, some of which are obvious while others are less so. Some of the most significant threats include changes in regulations, competition, and social media. To improve strategic decision-making, non-profits need the right leadership, staffing, support, and technology to provide data to base decisions.
As Black non-profits continue to fight for their existence and funding opportunities dwindle, local non-profit leaders say that it is important that the community continues to support them as they return to a new normal in the struggle to provide those in need with necessary resources and support to live better, healthier, and more productive lives.
“In order to sustain our communities, all of the points of the triangles have to be working, meaning the business sector, the public sector [government], and the non-profit sectors,” says Ferguson. “This is so important because there are a lot of people who need our assistance to help them move their lives along, to create opportunities for them, and to help provide for those in needs.”
CAYA, The Central Area Senior Center, and the CD Forum are a few of the many non-profit organizations participating in The Seattle Medium’s Support Black Orgs initiative to help generate community support for local Black non-profits through volunteerism and donations so they can expand their reach and impact in the community. This article was made possible with support from the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle. Visit supportblackorgs.com to find out more about these and other non-profits that support the community.
