In this episode, you’ll get an inside view of the contradictions funders face when it comes to investing in the nonprofit workforce. And you’ll get the back-story of how Fund the People’s California Talent Justice Summit came to be.

Fund the People’s President and CEO, Rusty Stahl, speaks with Leslie Payne, a former Initiative Director at the James Irvine Foundation, and current principal at Penlight Advising. Leslie shares her journey in recognizing the contradiction of being a workforce and jobs development funder while not addressing job quality in the grantee nonprofits organizations that provide workforce development services to Californians. The conversation explores how this realization led to the California Talent Justice Summit and other initiatives to improve nonprofit job quality.

The discussion highlights several tensions in addressing nonprofit job quality, including funding restrictions, wage compression, and sustainability challenges. Leslie emphasizes the importance of funders using their voice alongside their dollars, nonprofits understanding their full costs, and creating mechanisms for staff input. A recurring theme is the need for nonprofit leaders to develop the capacity to say "no" to certain opportunities when they would compromise staff wellbeing, even when the work would benefit communities they serve.

Tune in to hear about these key points:

• The contradiction of being a ‘quality jobs funder’ while not addressing job quality in nonprofits that are grantees and where funders had the most influence.

• Program-specific funding can create pay inequity within nonprofit organizations when funders mandate higher wages only for staff in funded programs.

• Wage compression occurs when raising the floor of wages without raising the ceiling, causing resentment among longer-tenured or higher-responsibility staff.

• Trust-based philanthropy is complicated when it becomes specific about job quality standards, creating tension in funder-grantee relationships.

• Program-specific grants are particularly problematic compared to general operating support, which provides flexibility while funders can still use their voice to encourage better job quality.

• Nonprofits face constant pressure to grow and innovate, but lack incentives or tolerance to stop programs even when staff are stretched thin.

• Leaders need to build the capacity to say "no" to certain opportunities and create mechanisms for staff input on priorities and job quality needs.

  
  

  Bio

  Leslie Payne has worked for mission-driven organizations throughout her career including work in philanthropic advising, financial services for the underbanked, and digital organizing. She was most recently an Initiative Director at the James Irvine Foundation where she oversaw grantmaking related to job access and economic justice. She now works as an independent consultant focused on participatory strategy development. 

  
  

  Resources

  Leslie Payne on LinkedIn

  https://haassr.org/blog/we-need-to-talk-about-nonprofitjob-quality-more/

  https://ncg.org/news/resourcing-nonprofit-ecosystem-our-first-line-defense

  Nneka Payne podcast episode

  
  

  You can find all the episodes of this podcast plus our blog, toolkit and other resources at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fundthepeople.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. And we invite you to learn from all the amazing past guests of Fund the People - A Podcast with Rusty Stahl at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠fundthepeople.org/ftp_podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.