Giving is for the Bulls

I, like much of the rest of America, have been watching the current Wall Street meltdown with a rapt fascination that I usually reserve for earthquakes and hurricanes. And sure enough, just like President Clinton taught us: everything comes back to the economy, and its stability. (It says something, does it not, that Lehman Brothers has pushed hurricane Ike and the bombing of the Yeman Embassy nearly off the front pages?) I confess that I don’t really know what many of the numbers mean, but I have found myself feverishly refreshing my New York Times widget all day, watching the little graph during each attempted Dow rally and subsequent plunge.

Since the economy acts as a trump card, however, it's actually vital for us non-banker types to keep an eye on the stock market. We already know that the economic situation will probably push out other discussions in the political sphere, sending the environment and universal health care discussions to the back burner down the stretch to the election. What we don’t yet know, is how far the tremors will be felt after the earthquake on Wall Street.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how all issues become fringe issues when the economy goes south, at first through the lens of my own interest in environmentalism. But thinking about how environmentalists can react to this current crisis on Wall Street has made me do some poking around for other philanthropic groups and their early responses. Some organizations have already answered the bell. Take the United Way, which is raising its annual fundraising goals even in the face of a drop in available funds.

But at the same time, I imagine that many foundations -- whose money is often tied up in invested endowments -- are going to be coming on hard times. Double that for those organizations that rely on corporate giving to make ends meet, and this might be a particularly grim couple of months ahead. However, according to Ret Boney’s article in the Philanthropy Journal, things might be bad (real bad) but it’s not time to hang ‘em up just yet.

It’s certainly a frustrating experience to watch ideas about things that matter be pushed aside in favor of bottom lines, but I am interested to see how not-for-profit groups deal with the upcoming flux. To quote Patrick Rooney from the same Boney article: "Diversify, diversify, diversify.” But how does that happen? How do small organizations cut costs while still keeping focused on what’s important? And how do we, as givers of time, money, and effort choose the best triage options that maximize the most? I would love to hear feedback on how your giving changes in the face of retractions in budget or drops in stock market value. Lets see if we can spark a discussion of tactics in the face of difficult economic times.

Alan Smith