Brandywine Health Foundation recently announced the recipients of the Recovery Phase grants of their Healthcare and Economic Relief Fund. Over $373,000 will support general operations of twenty-two local organizations responding to the increase demands and organizational stressors of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A 2017 study conducted by the Philadelphia Foundation, The Financial Health of Philadelphia-Area Nonprofits, revealed that over forty percent of our nonprofit sector in the five county region have net operating margins of zero or less and are characterized as not being financially strong. This is even more alarming when factoring in the impact of COVID-19 on the nonprofit sector’s fiscal solvency over the next six months and beyond along with their ability to address the disparities among communities of color.
“As a responsive philanthropic organization, we understood the need to approach funding differently” says Vanessa B. Briggs, president & CEO of Brandywine Health Foundation. “It was apparent that nonprofits need unrestricted multi-year grants as they continue to meet the needs of so many struggling families and communities before, during and after COVID-19 while addressing racial inequities and managing shrinking budgets.”
Along with many other foundations, the Brandywine Health Foundation has implemented a series of new funding strategies due to the impact of COVID-19 on the nonprofit sector and the inequities it has exposed. In an effort to support organizational resiliency and center its work around racial equity, for the first time in the foundation's history, the grant committee required nonprofit organizations to submit their board approved racial equity statements, values or guiding principles.
The Brandywine Health Foundation embraces its evolving role to meet their nonprofit partners where they are, whether it is to support the recovery of financial losses due to COVID-19 and help to sustain their future viability through general operating grants or journey with them to collectively build a racial equity community of practice. This is what responsive philanthropy is all about - ensuring that our nonprofit partners have the resources and capacity to serve our most vulnerable communities fairly and justly.
For a complete list of BHF's Phase Two - Recovery Grant partners, visit https://brandywinefoundation.org/grants/meet-our-grantees/.