With recent events in Ukraine occupying much of our thoughts these days, we asked one of philanthropy’s own, Nick Deychakiwsky, to share his recommendations on how to help the country of his heritage. The thoughts below are his own and do not necessarily reflect the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy or Indiana University.

Thanks so much to my friends who prompted me to write something, and thanks to so many friends and colleagues in philanthropy for your interest and support of Ukraine.  It is something that has been a big part of my professional life, in fact my career at the Mott Foundation started with our grantmaking to support civil society in Ukraine and Russia 22 years ago.  It’s a big part of my life personally as well:  I lived and worked in Kyiv for nine years in the 1990s, my parents were post-WWII refugees and were blessed to be welcomed by the United States of America, my wife is from Kyiv.  So, it is especially hard to hear of the city which was my home for a time and I’ve visited countless times being bombed; of my wife’s younger sister and her 15-year old daughter fleeing war and the prospect of the Kremlin’s dictatorship, just as my grandparents with young children in tow (my mother and aunt) had to do almost 80 years ago.  History is repeating itself, Putin is taking the world back to 1939.

I’ve spoken and worked with so many good people over the years about supporting democracy and freedom.  I know that so many people care deeply about the dignity of every human being, the right to participate, and fair treatment of all.  So do I, and I have been blessed with the opportunity to facilitate support for those working on that here in the United States and indeed in many places around the world.  That experience has shown me that we’re all in this together, no matter where people are, no matter what communities they are in.  And so we need to stand together.  As MLK said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

Right now, the focus is rightly on Ukraine.  I’ve been asked to suggest how people can help.  When it comes to donating, below is a list of organizations that are raising money and have the capability and capacity to deliver humanitarian aid and other assistance to people fleeing the conflict, or ones that are wounded by it.  Please note that I am offering this list in my personal —not professional — capacity.

The Razom Emergency Response fundraiser was created to provide urgent help and support in face of extreme and unforeseen situations in Ukraine.  Right now they are purchasing medical supplies for critical situations like blood loss and other tactical medicine items.

Support Hospitals in Ukraine have sent over $4.05M in cargo to hospitals since 2014.  They continue their operation to support this key infrastructure in Ukraine at a time of war.

United Help Ukraine is working to provide life-saving individual first aid kits (IFAKs) containing blood-stopping bandages and tourniquets and other emergency medical supplies to the front lines and is cooperating with other emergency response organizations to prepare humanitarian aid to civilians that might be directly affected by Russia’s attack.

United Ukrainian American Relief Committee is gathering funds to provide humanitarian aid to victims of war in Ukraine.

International Rescue Committee has launched an emergency appeal to help support displaced Ukrainian families with critical aid.

UNHCR is working with the authorities, the United Nations and other partners in Ukraine and is ready to provide humanitarian assistance wherever necessary and possible.

Joint Distribution Committee is providing emergency services to Ukraine’s Jewish communities.

Amnesty International works to protect the human rights of Ukrainians and protect Ukrainians at risk.

I also hope that various donors and foundations continue to support human rights, freedom, democracy and civil society wherever in the world they are doing so (including in the United States, where our democracy is under threat, and certain communities are oppressed), or start doing so if they are not yet.  This is a global struggle.  When dictators get away with taking what belongs to others, this only emboldens other authoritarian-minded leaders.  When democracy weakens and falls apart, the removal of freedom will soon follow, and there will be no equity or justice or peace.

Nick Deychakiwsky is a senior program officer working in two Civil Society program areas: Enhancing Community Philanthropy and Strengthening Civic Space. In late 1990, Deychakiwsky moved to Ukraine, where he worked in various roles supporting democratic and economic reform before joining the Mott Foundation in 2000. Working in the Foundation’s former Prague office, he was responsible for grantmaking in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova until late 2006. He subsequently managed U.S. and global nonprofit/philanthropic sector infrastructure and community philanthropy grantmaking. Since 2016, Deychakiwsky has served as a board member for the United Philanthropy Forum.

Deychakiwsky earned a Master of Business Administration from Columbia University and worked for Mobil Oil as a supply analyst before returning to school to study music and obtain a master’s degree in choral conducting. He is an avid fan of his hometown Cleveland sports teams and enjoys arranging Ukrainian folk music, playing the bandura, reading science fiction and bike riding.

By Leslie Lenkowsky

If you’ve ordered Girl Scout cookies this year — or still plan to — expect to pay more and wait longer for delivery of the more popular varieties, such as S’mores and Samoas. The Girl Scouts are “earning a new badge in global economic turmoil,” as the Wall Street Journal puts it.

Supply-chain disruptions and inflation are creating challenges for the annual cookie sale campaign, which produces 70 percent of the revenue for the nonprofit organization’s regional councils. An East Rochester, N.Y., troop leader told the Journal that she has begun giving lessons on inflation to the 10- and 11-year-old Scouts to help them explain what’s going on to irritated customers.

The Girl Scouts are probably not the only organization in the philanthropic world facing problems because of inflation. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices in the United States are now rising at an annual pace of 7.5 percent and could go even higher. As a result, the cost of providing services or operating buildings will increase while the amount of money donors have to give away decreases. Moreover, since the inflation rate hasn’t been this high in 40 years, most people leading philanthropic groups have little experience dealing with the problem.

Economists think of inflation as a decline in the purchasing power of money. At first, the Biden administration blamed pandemic-driven disruptions in production for temporarily raising prices. But as the economy recovered, prices continued to go up. Policy makers and many economists now believe inflation was at least facilitated by federal stimulus spending during the pandemic, which put so much money into circulation that consumers and businesses could pay more for purchases. Reversing this trend will take time and require curtailing government spending and possibly adopting stringent measures, such as hiking interest rates to reduce borrowing and credit card use.

Meanwhile, the philanthropic world, along with everyone else, will have to learn to live with higher prices. Nonprofits, for example, may be forced to raise salaries to attract or retain workers whose own living costs have gone up. Paying more for groceries or gasoline could take a toll on charities that need to make these purchases to serve clients. Hospitals or schools that need to buy new equipment or improve their facilities may have to accept higher interest rates on loans. And if, like the Girl Scouts, an organization earns a large share of its revenues by selling products or services, it may face greater buyer resistance to increased prices.

Impact on Government Aid

Other sources of income will also be affected. For legal or political reasons, restricting government spending on entitlements like Medicare and Social Security, defense, and payments on the national debt is usually difficult. As a result, belt-tightening efforts tend to fall on so-called discretionary programs, such as Head Start and community economic-development projects, which often support the activities of nonprofit groups.

To offset the impact of inflation, organizations with endowments will need to get higher returns on their investments. From 2016 through 2020, a sample of 705 higher-education institutions earned an average of 5.1 percent annually on their assets after expenses, according to the National Association of College and University Business Officers. In today’s economy, that would become a loss of 2.4 percent after adjusting for inflation.

Impact on Foundations

To avoid deeper cuts, large nonprofit organizations can reduce how much they take from their endowments for operating income.

But that is not an option for private foundations. Federal law requires annual distribution of 5 percent of their assets, usually averaged over several years. Although investment earnings were higher in the past two years as the stock market soared, during the previous decade the endowments of private foundations grew at an annual rate of 8.4 percent, according to a 2020 survey by the Council on Foundations and Commonfund. Unless donors make additional contributions, these organizations now need to earn 12.5 percent to offset inflation and meet their distribution requirement without dipping into their assets.

For many years, advocates have urged Congress to increase how much private foundations must spend. If inflation remains high, such efforts are likely to face greater opposition. An alternative approach — issuing bonds to raise money for additional grant making, which was deployed in 2020 by several foundations — is also unlikely to win more adherents. As Ford Foundation‘s president, Darren Walker, noted at the time, what made that approach attractive was the “very low” cost of borrowing for “highly rated institutions.” That has changed.

Inflation will also erode the value of individual donations. Facing higher prices for essential purchases, ordinary givers are unlikely to increase contributions enough to compensate for lowered purchasing power. Wealthier donors who hold assets that are vulnerable to inflation, such as fixed-interest bonds, may have to cut back their giving. While property owners are more likely to be protected from inflation, converting their wealth into gifts is more difficult. In 2020, according to “Giving USA,” giving by individuals grew by just 1 percent after adjusting for inflation. With inflation much higher last year, the kind of decline normally seen during recessions seems possible.

How much impact inflation has on philanthropy will ultimately depend on how long it lasts and how high it climbs. With the Omicron pandemic surge diminishing, supply-chain problems easing, and more workers returning to the labor force, inflationary pressures could lighten. Last year’s economic growth, especially in the stock markets, has given philanthropy a financial cushion that might soften the effect of higher prices. Nonprofit leaders can shift their resources to reduce damage from inflation, such as by putting more money into interest-bearing accounts or deferring actions that would require them to take out loans. They may also need to make difficult operating decisions, such as replacing staff with technology, to lower costs.

But these are short-term responses. If inflation were to last the better part of a decade and reach double-digit levels, as happened in the 1970s, the consequences would be severe for philanthropy and American society as a whole.

This is uncharted territory for most nonprofit leaders today. But learning quickly how to navigate inflation may soon become part of the job description. Just ask the Girl Scouts.

This article is published with permission from the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

By John Ferguson, TPF Fellow 20/21

The role of a fellow at The Patterson Foundation (TPF) is quite the experience. It is a rich and transformative year-long (or a bit more if you happened to start during a global pandemic like I did) immersive experience. It can be challenging to describe, though I liken it to a ‘medical residency’ but for nonprofit leadership. The fellowship exposes aspiring leaders to innovative and promising practices in the field while building on already existing skills and developing new ones.

TPF invests in aspiring philanthropic leaders who are out to change the world. So far, there have been five fellows, and we could not be more different. We come from various backgrounds with vastly different interests, passions, and skillsets. But we all strive to make the world a better place however we can. We all were drawn to this fellowship to further develop as leaders in the nonprofit space and contribute at a high level to the ongoing work of TPF.

It is not common for a foundation, or anyone really, to invest in aspiring leaders to better prepare them to make an impact somewhere else, but that is exactly what TPF does. They see the value of their unique approach as a way to infuse new ideas and practices into the DNA of future leaders in the sector. The purpose of the program illustrates the unique opportunity the fellowship provides:

Through a collaboration with the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, The Patterson Foundation Fellows Program provides graduates of the world’s first school dedicated solely to the study and teaching of philanthropy with a year-long, career-building opportunity to learn innovative philanthropic principles and share their expertise through engaging initiatives tied to their passions. Through the Fellows Program, The Patterson Foundation aspires to create a network of future leaders aligned in their innovative approach to philanthropy.

As you can probably tell, TPF is not your typical private foundation. It operates through initiatives rather than traditional grantmaking to foster wide participation, strengthening people, organizations, and communities. This allows the foundation to respond to emerging and persistent needs in innovative and meaningful ways. And all of this is done through collaboration and community engagement.

There are currently 27 active initiatives. As fellows, we work within multiple endeavors with different levels of responsibility and leadership. It is quite common to be working on ten or more initiatives at any given point throughout the fellowship. Some we lead, some we contribute to as a thought-partner, some we have ongoing roles within, and some we are brought in for a specific purpose at a particular time. It certainly helps to have a good project management system in place to thrive in this role!

Throughout my experience, I have been honored to share my expertise. I am grateful to have learned many innovative philanthropic principles that have inspired me and will inform my work for the rest of my career. But how have I gotten the most value from this experience? Through an intentional approach to everything I did. And this way of thinking about the work will stay with me forever.

I approached every aspect of my fellowship through three distinct yet intertwined lenses:

1. How do I contribute value?
2. How can I strengthen existing or develop new muscles?
3. How do I ensure all participants/partners (in whatever the initiative/event/offering might be) have the best possible experience?

I challenge myself to do my best work through all three lenses, and when I do, it makes a difference by ensuring that those who participate have meaningful experiences. If I can continue with this approach, my experience at TPF will have been the best it could be, and I will be better for it.