How to Strengthen Bonds Between Governments and Nonprofits

The killing of George Floyd sparked discussions across the nation about how cities should address crime, mental health, and other issues related to police reform. 

The nonprofit sector is inevitably a cornerstone of these discussions. Nonprofits are a common thread through communities across the country, often focused on the problems that can lead to crime: joblessness, poverty, a lack of affordable housing, educational disparities, substance abuse, and so on; they also commonly combat racism, which perpetuates systems of inequality and leads to the breakdown of trust in communities.

Governments clearly recognize the value of working with nonprofits to increase their capacity to deliver critical services—almost a third of nonprofit revenue comes from government grants and contracts—but they often impose unnecessary costs and constraints on the organizations they work with. However, as cities focus on implementing innovative solutions to crime, poverty, and inequality, nonprofits need more robust support than ever before from local governments.

There are several solutions to the most pressing problems that hinder government-nonprofit partnerships. For example: 

1. The full cost and scope of projects should be outlined in the development phase so governments and nonprofits can plan accordingly, payments can be delivered on time, and there won’t be any surprises. 

2. The application and reporting processes should be centralized, digitized, and streamlined – there’s no reason for nonprofits (or governments, for that matter) to waste resources tracking down and generating needless paperwork. 

3. There should be ongoing open communication between nonprofits and local governments.

While there are many more ways local governments can treat nonprofits more fairly and increase their impact, nonprofits themselves have to take responsibility for driving these changes. For example, there are digital platforms (such as Resilia) that can help nonprofits track and report outcomes, maintain consistent communication with local governments, and build healthier relationships based on clear, data-driven objectives. Also, nonprofits must make it clear that their efforts complement and support the work of local governments. They should also use all the resources at their disposal to demonstrate their effectiveness, which will make a stronger case to local officials and other stakeholders that they deserve community support. 

When local governments and nonprofits focus on setting clear norms and expectations for projects, increasing operational efficiencies by focusing on what they each do best, maintaining consistent communication, and rigorously tracking outcomes, they will be far more effective than they ever could have been on their own.

A version of this article originally appeared on LivingCities.org.