Beyond The Glass Cliff
Philanthropy Funds the Work. But Not the Conditions That Sustain Women of Color Leadership. New research from Building Movement Project reveals philanthropic funding practices contribute to leadership burnout, organizational precarity, and long-term instability for women of color-led nonprofits Beyond the Glass Cliff:Investing in Conditions That Sustain Women of Color Leadership Beyond the Glass Cliff: Investing […]
Security to Wellbeing Framework – Practice Guide
This offering from the Building Movement Project is based on the Security to Wellbeing Framework, created by service providers for service providers. Its goal is to create a space for providers to reflect, assess, and step into social change work. Direct service organizations have had to navigate and support their communities through many crises, too […]
Movement Lessons from the First 100 Days
Movement Lessons from the First 100 Days is part of BMP’s Movement Infrastructure Series, which offers ideas, approaches, and practices to strengthen individual organizations and broader social movement ecosystems. Many of the recommendations in this brief emerged from conversations and inquiries that arose in BMP’s work with nonprofit organizations, working groups, and networks before and […]
Co-Executive Directorship Learnings
As BMP transitions from a decade of operating under a co-directorship model back to a single executive director, this moment offers an opportunity to reflect on lessons learned.
Sounding the Alarm: Nonprofits on the Frontlines of a Polarized Political Climate
Nonprofits are facing a range of unique threats and challenges in today’s political climate. As the 2024 elections near, BMP is releasing a special report, Sounding the Alarm, to raise awareness about the negative consequences being experienced by nonprofits that are working on issues at play in this election – diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); […]
Blocking the Backlash: The Positive Impact of DEI in Nonprofit Organizations
This report investigates the impact of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) on nonprofit staff and their organizations using data from the 2022 and 2019 Race to Lead surveys. We examine DEI efforts and strategies reported by respondents including how respondents rate DEI activities and how these activities correlate with respondents’ attitudes towards the workplace and […]
Reckoning with Sustainability: Black Leaders Reflect on 2020, the Funding Cliff, and Organizing Infrastructure
This installment of the Movement Infrastructure series, “Reckoning with Sustainability: Black Leaders Reflect on 2020, the Funding Cliff, and Organizing Infrastructure,” compiles insights and wisdom from over 50 Black movement leaders. The last few years, particularly since 2020, have been marked by wide and rapid shifts in public sentiment and political opportunity related to racial […]
The Push and Pull: Declining Interest in Nonprofit Leadership
This report presents findings from BMP’s 2022 survey of more than 3,000 nonprofit staff on the factors related to their aspiration to top leadership roles, as well as the experiences of current nonprofit leaders. The 2022 survey included many of the same questions asked in both the 2019 and 2016 Race to Lead surveys, tracking […]
100 DAYS OF BUILDING POWER AND SOLIDARITY: OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ABOUT IMMEDIATE AND LONG-TERM INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS FOR PALESTINIAN, MUSLIM, AND ARAB GROUPS IN THE U.S.
Since late 2022, the Building Movement Project has released a series of reports on the infrastructure needs of various communities and movements in order to provide ideas and recommendations to strengthen the nonprofit sector and social movements. 100 Days of Building Power and Solidarity: Observations and Recommendations about Immediate and Long-Term Infrastructure Needs for Palestinian, […]
Balancing Act: Asian American Organizations Respond to Community Crises and Build Collective Power
The latest in BMP’s movement infrastructure series, Balancing Act: Asian American Organizations Respond to Community Crises and Build Collective Power, is a collaboration with Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Asian Law Caucus. Over the past three years, Asian American organizations have been engaging in a precarious balancing act: responding to community crises in the form […]
Funding Movement Infrastructure Brief
This report is the second in Building Movement Project’s (BMP) Movement Infrastructure Series. Funding Movement Infrastructure (January 2023) draws upon our ongoing work to encourage philanthropic institutions to support social movements through an ecosystem-wide approach that emphasizes long-term organizational sustainability. In this offering, we identify several barriers that arise for funders seeking to invest in […]
Meeting the Need: Building the Capacity of Community-Based Organizations
BMP surveyed leaders in the nonprofit sector to find out what they needed to maintain and build their organizational infrastructure in order to fulfill their mission. The survey explored challenges that organizations face in achieving their mission by first asking respondents about four overarching domains that are key to maintaining and building nonprofits: 1) Operations, Communications, and Development, 2) Staff Wellness and Development, 3) Strategy and Evaluation, and 4) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.