Toxic Charity Roundtable Discussion Place-Based and Alternative Investment Strategies

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1 Place-Based and Alternative Investment Strategies Building Litmus Test Who are the producers? Where is the energy? What s the win and is it achievable? Who are the principal investors? What is the organizing mechanism? Economic Development Litmus Test What are the local assets of our clients? What are the assets of this place? What s happening in the local, national and international markets? How are entrepreneurs supported? Place-Based Strategies Given the principles of community building and community economic development (above), how do you determine the geographic area for your work? Do you limit your work to one or two specific neighborhoods or communities? How do you choose a neighborhood? How long should your investment last? How do you support a specific neighborhood without being prescriptive? How do you build upon the formal assets of a community (Boys and Girls Clubs) as well as the informal asset of a community (Ms. Ida who keeps an eye on 10 neighborhood kids after school) How do you build sustainable community leaders and place-based programs? How do you determine the authenticity of community leaders? Are they true leaders or do they represent a smaller, more vocal subset of the community? Alternative Investment Strategies Given the principles of community building and community economic development, how do you support and execute community economic development work? Small Business Loans? No-Interest or Low-Interest Loans to Nonprofits? Program Related Investments? Mission Related Investments?

2 Communication Strategies Internal Stakeholders Internally, who needs to be informed of and supportive of non-toxic charity? Have you presented this information to your board, committees and staff? What questions have they raised? What principles have they supported? What objections have they raised? What type of information is helpful as you present this information to your board, committees and staff? Are there specific messages (words, stories) which you feel would resonate the most with your internal stakeholders? Is this an all-in proposition, or can you integrate some of the Toxic Charity concepts into your existing principles and business practices? If you integrate the principles into existing business strategies, how do you help your internal stakeholders understand the proposed changes? External Stakeholders - Nonprofits Externally, how do you communicate this shift in programs and services to: Clients, program participants, community residents? What information or messages would resonate the most with your: Clients? How would you change your answers on grant applications and reports to reflect nontoxic programs or services? External Stakeholders - Funders Externally, how do you communicate this shift in practices to: Nonprofits, donor-advised funds? What information or messages would resonate the most with your: Nonprofits, donor-advised funds? Other funders who might not be aware of toxic charity? How would you change your grant applications and reports to help identify and support nontoxic program or services?

3 Determining Stakeholder Roles How would you rate the following stakeholders in their ability to accomplish the following tasks? Please rate from 1-10 with 1 being Not suited At All and 10 being Perfectly Suited. Stakeholder Human-Service Nonprofit Organizations Development Organizations Foundations and Philanthropists Churches and Faith-Based Ministries Federal Government State Government Local Government Units Leaders Businesses Catalyze Change (Develop new ways of doing things to avoid toxic practices) Convene Others (Host stakeholders to discuss community needs and develop strategies to combat toxic practices) Communicate (Articulate the principles of nontoxic charity, share best practices) Contribute (including cash, in-kind resources, professional expertise ) Discuss why you rated each stakeholder as you did. o What are the resources these stakeholders bring to the table to help combat toxic charity? o What are some of the strategies you can use to capitalize upon these stakeholder relationships and create community change (create a shared vision for your community, vet ideas for programs, host networking meetings, create listservs or community message boards, pool funding )?

4 Building Human Capacity while Providing Basic-Need Services Should there be a safety net of help centers and programs providing basic-need services? o If we don t support or provide the help, who will? o How do we separate support to people/organizations that can potentially self-sustain and those who need perpetual help? If funders and programs reallocate resources toward building human capacity, and invest less in providing ongoing basic needs support, how will that affect organizations and programs who primarily work to provide basic needs? o What might a community do to move toward Bob s model without completely abandoning basic needs support? o Is there an appropriate balance between programs that build human capacity and require an investment from the recipient, and the work of programs that simply fulfill a basic need? What is that balance? o How quickly should a program or a funder move toward these strategies? Is this a slow gradual change or an immediate strategy shift? o Is this an all-in proposition, or can you integrate some of the Toxic Charity concepts into your existing principles and business practices? If you integrate the principles into existing business strategies, how do you help your internal stakeholders understand the proposed changes?

5 Rural Strategies Building Litmus Test Who are the producers? Where is the energy? What s the win and is it achievable? Who are the principal investors? What is the organizing mechanism? Economic Development Litmus Test What are the local assets of our clients? What are the assets of this place? What s happening in the local, national and international markets? How are entrepreneurs supported? How do the principles of Toxic Charity (above) apply to rural communities? Is there an added element of confidentiality in smaller communities? How do you connect neighbors when they are spread out over a larger geographic area? How do you support a rural community without being prescriptive? How do you help smaller communities recognize toxic practices? How do you work with nonprofits which operate solely on volunteer support?