Grantmakers expect philanthropy to grow in importance due to changing political landscape

• Published date: 01 July 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30336
• Date: 01 July 2017

JULY 2017

7

NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR

© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company • All rights reserved

DOI: 10.1002/nba

(See GRANTMAKERS on page 8)

Industry News

Grantmakers expect philanthropy to grow in

importance due to changing political landscape

A new survey by Exponent Philanthropy shows the

vast majority of grantmakers expect philanthropy as

an institution to play a more important role in society

as a result of recent changes in national politics.

The informal survey polled over 300 of Exponent

Philanthropy’s members—foundations with few or no

staff, philanthropic families and individual donors—to

see how changes in politics may impact philanthropic

behavior in the year ahead, in terms of both giving

practices and investments.

Major ndings from the survey include:

• Four out of ve grantmakers agree that philan-

thropy will play a more important role in society. A

total of 53 percent of survey respondents agreed and

29 percent strongly agreed with the following state-

ment: “In light of recent changes in Washington, I

expect philanthropy to play a more important role in

our society moving forward.” The phrase “changes in

Washington” referred to an aggressive congressional

agenda, the potential for sweeping policy changes and

the unconventional style of the new administration,

the group said.

Survey respondents were invited to support their

quantitative answers with anonymous comments.

Some expressed an increased urgency to address fund-

ing gaps created by proposed government cuts to social

programs, while others pointed to a need for greater

advocacy around specic causes, the report said.

• Almost a quarter of grantmakers expect to make

The Harris Poll has released its 29th annual

EquiTrend Study identifying the national nonprot

organizations that have the strongest brands based

on consumer surveys.

According to Harris, the rankings are based on

factors such as familiarity (how well they know

the brand), quality (what they think of the brand)

and consideration (whether they want to do busi-

ness with the brand or otherwise engage) that give

a sense of a brand’s connection with consumers.

The study benchmarks how deep those bonds go

and honors the highest-ranked brands in each

award category.

The nonprot categories and top three organiza-

tions recognized in this year’s study are as follows:

• Animal welfare organizations

• The American Society for the Prevention of

Cruelty to Animals.

• Best Friends Animal Society.

• The Humane Society of the United States.

• Disability organizations

• The Special Olympics.

• Unied Sports.

• The American Association of People with

Disabilities.

• Environmental organizations

• The Natural Resources Defense Council.

• The National Wildlife Federation.

• The Nature Conservancy.

• Health organizations

• St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

• Shriners Hospitals for Children.

• The Make-A-Wish Foundation.

• International aid organizations

• Mercy Corps.

• Food for the Poor.

• Free the Children.

• Social services organizations

• The American Red Cross.

• Habitat for Humanity.

• The Salvation Army.

• Youth organizations

• Girl Scouts of the USA.

• Reading Is Fundamental.

• The Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

The complete list of Harris Poll EquiTrend Brands

of the Year can be found at http://www.theharrispoll

.com/equitrend-rankings/2017. ■

Harris Poll names top nonprot brands for 2017