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Optimism and Challenge in Regional Philanthropy
Against a national backdrop of political, economic and social change—and with the spirit of Christmas washing over Union Station—a score of non-profit leaders and funders from around the region met Dec. 20 to assess the climate of giving in Kansas City. For most, an air of optimism prevailed. Others were more pessimistic, given fund-raising challenges specific to their missions and some demographic trends that, for the time being, don’t seem to be breaking their way. Non-profits representing health care, human services, education and the arts brought varied perspectives on the collective climate of giving in a city renowned for civic philanthropy. The conversation unfolded in the World Trade Center Conference Room of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce, covering topics from fund-raising challenges to board composition to recruiting of young volunteers and leaders and more. In a very real sense, the future of this region’s quality of life was being deliberated. The verdict? We’re positioned to make Kansas City a better place to live.
Reasons for Hope
The backdrop for any conversation about the current state of philanthropy in Kansas City should be set against two key realities: First, that nonprofits serve an incredibly diverse set of social, humanitarian, civic, educational, and artistic causes and are, thus, on some levels, competing for a finite number of charitable dollars. The second: That competition unfolds in one of America’s most philanthropic cities, where the combined assets of the 25 largest nonprofits rose by nearly $825 million last year.
That can meet a lot of need—but not all of it.
So it might be expected that, among a score of leaders from diverse nonprofits and funders, an overall sense of optimism would permeate a several-hour conversation on regional philanthropy.
For Alicia Beck, who administers the charitable trust and foundation for UMB Bank as philanthropy director, “Looking into next year, I’m optimistic. From the private foundation perspective—and remember, that starts with markets that are good—the economy is good. As private foundations, we have one function, to make grants, and what we have to give away is based on how healthy the economy is.”
The health of that economy, though, isn’t experienced by everyone in the same way, which is to say, Beck’s world is divided between those who reap the gains and causes aimed at those who, in large part, don’t.
Phil Thomas, the CEO of A.L. Huber Construction, declares, “I’m very optimistic about philanthropy in 2025 because, at least from our perspective, of the (construction) pipeline, strong economy, and you know people need to have the resources to donate.” He’s also encouraged by the willingness of young workers to make a difference, though they tend to be more focused on causes that resonate with them personally than they do with community-wide initiatives. “It’s certainly easy to get them involved in something that has affected them directly,” he says.
Emma Brooke of Global Prairie, founded with a commitment to social good as a legally defined benefit corporation, says, “I’m very optimistic. I think a lot goes back to the stories we tell in the way that we channel individual passions to create greater good.” Employee fundraising efforts, a whopping 117 hours of annual paid time off for employees to volunteer at various organizations, and the broader B-Corp mission all fuel her optimism. A defining aspect of the firm’s “why,” she says, is “How can we support employees in a way so they can do something bigger, like founding an organization bringing greater impact?”
Growth in the assets of the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation accounted for more than half the increase among the Top 25 foundations last year, one reason that Leanne Breiby has a positive outlook. “I’m optimistic because the dollars are invested, so that means there’s ultimately more money that can be deployed to charity,” she says. “I’ll add a but because I understand the need is incredible. People are living paycheck to paycheck. Costs are increasing. And so the need is there, but as you know, as long as the market continues to do well, that means good things for your organizations and organizations across the country.”
A pair of voices from the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art expressed their own optimism, which is grounded in recent developments.
For Randall Roberts, the rebound from loss of patrons and traffic during the pandemic has nearly been reversed. She’s looking forward to the challenge now of fully engaging in what she calls “a competitive market where we have to meet donors where they are—with a genuine interest in their passion, and being open to connecting with them in a way that’s meaningful to them. That’s going to be important.”
Her museum’s board chair, Evelyn Craft Belger, is particularly enthused about changes coming from a library expansion. The board has winnowed some 180 global design firms to half a dozen, from which one will be selected to help the museum take its next evolutionary step. “I’m extremely optimistic,” Belger declares. “We have got a great story to tell, and we’re on the precipice of one of the most exciting times of the museum’s history. It’s exciting to see all these people—some who know Kansas City, some who don’t—coming from all over the world to enter a competition to build a building.”
Peggy Dunn, whose board service calendar keeps her nearly as busy as her mayoral duties in Leawood for 25 years, says that within the philanthropic causes she’s engaged with this year, “We are breaking all records. I’m very optimistic about 2025.” This is even though donors are demanding measurements and impact. In that regard, “It’s changed a little bit, but there are those organizations doing outstanding work, so I’m very optimistic.”
Her husband, Terry Dunn, has spent much of the past decade in retirement pressing the growth of KC Common Good, which works to address root causes of economic inequality and reduce the influence it has on crime rates. “I’m optimistic about the giving,” he says. “The donors, especially major donors, are more sophisticated, they’re more focused. They expect measurement. They expect you to tell a story. And I think they are coming together more and working closer together to address a lot of the social concerns for the individuals at risk in our community.”
The mission to promote better health community-wide—and success in meeting that goal—inspires Laurence Freeman of The University of Kansas Health System. “Unless humanity is going to go out of existence soon, I’m very optimistic,” he says, in part because of the potential to promote giving among the masses. “That’s a story for us all to tell,” he says.
“If you’d asked me that question a couple of years ago, I’d have been pessimistic,” says Ray Jarrett of United KC, which works to foster racial healing and collaboration. “I’m pretty optimistic now.” He says that metrics-based reporting and the organization’s increasing ability to get its message out is making an impact.
The work to meet donor expectations today may be more challenging, says Jeremiah Enna of Olathe’s Culture House, but he recognizes that higher expectations will serve donors, organizations, and their clients at higher levels. “For the donors I speak to, of course, everything has gone through such ups and downs in the last few years, and people are kind of reassessing everything and looking for efficiency and accountability, good reporting on results and results that can be—it doesn’t have to be a number, but results that are meaningful to the broadest part of our community. That’s a positive.”
Seeing Both Sides
McCownGordon Construction’s chief HR officer, Nancy Whitworth, is involved with decisions and strategy of corporate philanthropy and its mission to improve lives. From her view, there’s room for optimism and pessimism. The plus side? “I feel like Kansas City is stepping up,” she says. With some causes primarily driven by volunteer efforts, she says “we roll up our sleeves and we have to do it ourselves. It’s not a very sexy or glamorous cause and it’s really tough.”
The work is gratifying, says Starlight Theatre’s CEO, Lindsey Rood-Clifford, and “if you’re in the business of fundraising, you always believe that people will be there to help support what you need. But I think it is harder than it’s ever been and more competitive and the work is different. And the expectations are different and everything is more expensive than it’s ever been. So people can continue to give, but I think the reality of what the last few years is that, while the work we do is is great, that’s just a challenge that I think we’re probably all navigating.”
Brittany Connor, director of corporate partnerships with the United Way of Kansas City fall squarely into Camp Optimist—with reservations. “I think that the younger generation really lives a purpose-driven life,” she says. The downside? “It’s the hardest work that we’ve had to do in today’s times, and I think that it’s going to be a challenge to get them on board because they are so specific of what they want to give to. So it’s really getting there ideas and direction of what they want to give to and how they want to give so they’ve got to be really specific in that way.”
Despite a mission grounded in positive change—turning around the lives of at-risk youth—Alexis Worley Lebowitz feels a constant challenge as director of development and an educator at Plaza Academy, a non-profit therapeutic alternative high school. Her frustration? Big money is following big oganizations, often to the detriment of smaller operations. “They have a dedicated grant writer who may not ever even step foot inside the organization, right? So it feels like we’re gearing towards giving big money to big nonprofits that already have big money. And the little guys are kind of falling behind.”
At HCA Midwest Health, a market leader in health care, Nick Adams says, “I have a mixed outlook. I do have optimism in that we’re continuing to see that post-COVID recovery along community partners within the work.” But on a personal level, he’s troubled knowing that at his local church, for example, “giving is still significantly down.”
Stephen Penn, office managing partner at KPMG, sees things differently from a company committed to multiple causes with both financial and volunteer support. “Our funding model for what we do in the community is roughly half from our firm and the other half we expect to be funded personally from our partners,” he says. “We do that to ensure that the dollars go where people’s interests and their time are going.” But despite that level of giving, he looks at the level of need out there and says “the breadth is just exploded.”
Not All Sunshine
At the other end of the optimism-pessimism spectrum is Janet Baker, executive director of Shepherd’s Center Kansas City, an organization lasered in on the needs of the elderly. With public funds for causes other than seniors vastly outstripping those in her space, “I’m pessimistic,” she says. “I can’t tell you how difficult it is to raise money for seniors. It’s the hardest work I’ve done, and I don’t understand that.” The disconnect she says, is the ROI on investing in seniors. “Being independent in their own homes save taxpayers money, it saves the health system money, it saves the community money. And I personally think even if it’s enlightened self-interest, don’t we want to create a community where people can age with dignity and support.”
Bob Regnier, chairing the assembly, set all of those perspectives into the context of a nation that may have marked a profound change with the recent presidential election. Economic growth augurs well for philanthropic-minded investors, he says, but people clearly voted for change in November—and the specific contours of that change remain undefined. “You don’t know which way it’s going to go because it could be beneficial, it could be not beneficial. I think it’s the change that’s really causing people to really think about that and be concerned.”
Terry Dunn sees the past decade as having been one in which the nation “has been looking for its moral compass.” The upside of that, he says, is that “employees are looking for more compassion in the companies that they serve and I think companies are enlightened and really believe it’s important that there is a moral compass out there, that there are values and virtues.” He hopes to see much more civic and philanthropic engagement at both individual and corporate levels.
Laurence Freeman cautions that it’s a time for non-profits to operate more like profit-based entities. “It’s the same business model in the business sector and charitable sector: you’re at risk if you don’t have a strategic plan, an operations plan and a personnel plan,” he said. “Then there are external factors—there will always be another 2008 recession; there’s going to be something that’s going to happen. If you are not ready, then you put your organizations at risk.”
Between inflation, large numbers of households living paycheck to paycheck and other markers of instability, the lack of overall confidence is “pretty frightening, to be honest with you,” says Janet Baker. “I’m a pragmatist when it comes to my role at the Shepherd Center, it’s different than anything I’ve ever done, but the facts are the facts are the facts” and her sector’s comparatively tiny share of social-services funding must change. “The work that we do affects everyone,” not just seniors, she says.
Allison Krass of HCA Midwest Health said the company was paying particular attention to the fate of tax credits under the Affordable Care Act, and whether Congress might act in ways that increase the number of people who don’t have access to health insurance. If so, she says, “that’s going to dramatically change health-care delivery, but how much? We then have to fund from a charitable care and compensated care standpoint.”
Engaging a New Generation
A shared concern around the table involved later-stage Millennials and the Gen Z cohort flexing its demographic muscle in the workforce. Those concerns are not just rooted in how younger cohorts give, but in how willing they are to pick up the cross of leadership and bear the burden of board service and volunteering, especially as the oldest Baby Boomers approach their 80s and phase out of service. The commitment is still there, but the shape of it is shifting.
“It is a challenge, I think, for all of us to find a number of people to join boards or in our companies to move into leadership positions and stay there,” said Stephen Penn. Rising executives, in particular, “are looking at what they want from life and from their careers and from their volunteer opportunities differently. From a board perspective, I think they are really looking for measurability now. The downside is that they want it right now, on their terms.”
Emma Brooke said that as a re-searcher at heart, she’s looking at what the data says about the younger generation and sees that they are considerably more purpose-oriented than any preceding them. “I think the question is, how do we harness that passion?” she said. “I think there are a couple of keys to achieving that. I think the first is modeling. I have the great fortune to have been at Global Prairie for 13 years and seen Anne St. Peter’s involvement in so many causes in the community, so I think modeling means setting an expectation of giving back and making an impact.” Another way of modeling is with the potential for employers to take the first step and set up donor-advised funds for each member of the staff to promote long-term philanthropy.
A looming challenge for many non-profits, some at the table said, was breaking out of stale patterns of annual galas, golf tournaments and fundraising walks. So many of them are out there, competing for attention—and, frankly, without more new blood in the ranks of board members and supporters, there’s a significant fatigue factor attached to the rubber-chicken circuit.
To that end, Alexis Lebowitz said, Plaza Academy has intentionally sought out new ways to engage support. Consider the idea of a tattoo party fundraiser. To a Boomer, it might sound ridiculous. To Gen Z, it had sufficient appeal to draw attendees who helped raise $10,000 in a 24-hour period. No organization will make a transformational fundraising move with a series of tattoo carnivals,
but it was a powerful example of how a nonprofit can attract new interest, take some of the pressure off traditional fundraising activities, and set a stage for further innovations in programming.
“The last thing you want at a fundraiser is empty tables, right?” asked Allison Krass. “So we’ve actually decided not to do a gala.” She made the business case for a new fundraising model by noting that, after the costs of producing galas—food, drinks, venue rent, entertainment and decorations—the net margins rarely justify the efforts that go into the production. “This year we’ve completely changed it and we’re trying to do more things that people already want to do and are already going to do and oh, they just happen to benefit us, right?”
Brittany Connor noted that the path to engagement of younger people shouldn’t be a one-way street, with the onus on them to “earn” a seat at the table.
“I sit on a number of committees and boards, but I have not had the opportunity to sit on a board of directors as someone who would love to be in that position,” she says. “People have turned me down and said that I’m not ready. I’m a Millennial, and those who are passionate about giving back to a nonprofit, and those types of things are sometimes steered away to a junior board or a junior committee.”
That was her experience with one nonprofit for five years, where the invite to board service never emerged. “So it’s being intentional as well,” Connor says. “If you see people, if you see younger donors or younger people who are passionate about your organization, I would encourage you to have those conversations with them.”
