By Andy Carroll, Exponent Philanthropy

In our regular “Pulse” blog series, I explore trends influencing philanthropy by spotlighting articles, reports, and essays in the media. I cast a wide net, venturing beyond philanthropy and traditional topics to consider a variety of ideas, innovations, debates, and critiques. Read previous posts in the series   

It takes courage to attempt the near-impossible, to take on monumental challenges with only modest resources. This is the task the nonprofit sector has set for itself the past 40-plus years. Nonprofits, their funders, and the associations that serve them have struggled against poverty, hardship, and environmental degradation; achieved successes; and continually developed the rigor of their fight.

Yet it takes another kind of courage to assess, with a sober eye and honest heart, the progress made, and recognize publicly that the nonprofit sector alone cannot meet the deepening challenges. It takes courage to admit that philanthropy needs partners, a more collective effort, and a greater shared responsibility for the most vulnerable in our country.

Nell Edgington, Tom Watson, Darren Walker, and Jake Hayman are among the growing number of courageous writers and thought leaders who are questioning out loud whether philanthropy alone can solve our deepening problems. I highlighted their voices in my June 7 blog, “Hardship, Inequality, and Racial Divides Create a Reckoning for Philanthropy.”

Let’s take a deeper look at why philanthropy can’t do it alone.

From 1996 to 2011, the number of families living in extreme poverty—on $2 per person a day or less—more than doubled. The majority of poor families who rent spend more than half their income on housing, and millions of Americans are evicted every year. One in five children in America continue to live in poverty—a number that places the United States far behind other developed nations. More than one in four children in California may go to bed hungry each night.

Poverty rates for people of color are higher, compounded by racism and discrimination embedded in the structures of our economy and political system.

The depth of economic hardship and rising inequality are now acknowledged by both major political parties. In 2014 a group of Republican thinkers published a paper called “Room to Grow,” which, according to The New Yorker, “contains a striking description of the American economic landscape: children born into poverty with little chance of escaping it, and middle-class families overwhelmed by the rising costs of health care and education while their incomes stay flat.”

Many feel a sense of outrage, questioning how the wealthiest nation on earth can accept deprivation with such equanimity. It is being asked more frequently and urgently why children, who represent our future, are not seen as the responsibility of all. And more leaders are calling us to face the fact that current hardship and deprivation will only incur greater costs for our country in coming years.

In philanthropy, thought leaders are finally discrediting, in a highly vocal way, notions of nonprofit sustainability and the capacity of nonprofits to address expanding hardship and suffering. Foundations and donors in Exponent Philanthropy’s membership and beyond are openly acknowledging that many of the problems they have targeted for years are not going away, and only getting worse. I hear funders say that nonprofits working on the same issue in one community do not know each other; that often there is no systematic, coordinated, long-term effort to address homelessness, hunger, domestic violence, or youth unemployment in their town or city. Instead, each nonprofit and government agency works in isolation, barely able to sustain themselves.

These engaged foundations and donors are feeling that something drastic needs to change.

Modern philanthropy never had as its purpose the taking care of all or most of our country’s human and environmental needs. Although Americans are incredibly generous, the scope of private giving is dwarfed by government investment. Philanthropy also lacks the broad accountability of decisionmaking by elected representatives. As a consequence, foundations have seen their role as providers of risk capital for new ideas, approaches, and solutions to our social and environmental problems.

In the early 1980s, when our government leaders dramatically cut social service spending, philanthropic leaders made clear that nonprofits couldn’t fill the gap. Now, as needs and hardship escalate, and government continues to cut, courageous leaders in our field are speaking out to remind us of the limits of philanthropy, and calling us to consider greater business and public investment to strengthen our country.

In several states, Exponent Philanthropy members are pressing elected officials to address massive problems with bigger and more coordinated public investments. These small-staffed foundations and donors have shifted their role from funder to advocate and catalyst.

For example, in Minneapolis/St. Paul, foundation, business, and government leaders are meeting regularly to tackle major problems in Minnesota, and call upon the government to make bigger investments in the state’s infrastructure—and to address rising inequality. These leaders understand that no sector alone can tackle the problems, and that much bigger and longer-term investment by all sectors to strengthen public services, is good for the state’s residents—and good for its economy. Most courageously, they are pushing for greater public investment financed by specific tax increases—and they are succeeding in an atmosphere of trust and an understanding of shared interest.

“We’re not just asking for lower taxes and less regulation,” said David Mortenson, the current chairman of the Itasca Project. “If we’re taking on education or income disparity as a group of business leaders, we want to be able to break some eggs.”

I am seeing more leaders in philanthropy take a similar step—admitting they can’t meet the needs alone—and calling on all citizens to recognize their interdependence and mutuality of interest, and summon their collective will as expressed through their government, to create opportunity and prosperity for everyone, and secure the future for next generations.

Senior Program Director Andy Carroll writes resources, designs workshops, and facilitates seminars for funders. Andy also dedicates a significant portion of his time to managing our Leadership Initiative that defines, validates, nurtures, and celebrates the many ways philanthropists lead. Andy has 25 years of experience in nonprofit organizations, and he enjoys talking with funders about their questions, interests, passions, and plans for making a difference. Follow Andy on Twitter @andycarrollexpo.