CMF continues to work in close concert with our state and national partners to advocate for policies that support our communities and our nonprofit partners working on the frontlines, and leverage the power of philanthropy in the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

Earlier this summer as part of our ongoing work, CMF joined in partnership with more than 20 sector leaders and organizations in participating in the newly formed Nonprofit Infrastructure Investment Advocacy Group (NIIAG) convened by Independent Sector (IS) and KABOOM! NIIAG engages a community of diverse leaders from across the charitable, nonprofit sector to identify and advocate for the essential federal investments needed to rebuild the nation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic crisis and racial injustice reckoning of 2020.

IS shares that NIIAG prioritizes “investments in and through nonprofit organizations that strengthen civic bonds across the country, put people back to work rebuilding our communities, and provide – at a national scale — the critical resources and services nonprofits need to accomplish their missions. Our aim is to rebuild the nation to a place better than before, prioritizing investments that advance equitable outcomes for the Black, Native and communities of color that have borne the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic and deeply embedded structural inequities.”

The NIIAG has engaged Senate leadership in investment priorities relating to COVID-19 relief legislation and in advocacy around Census 2020.

Last week IS sent a memo to President-Elect Joe Biden’s transition team, noting it was the result of a collaborative effort of members and partners including NIIAG. The memo highlights the power of the sector to affect transformative change and asking their administration to consider “more permanent structures to create a formal relationship between the nonprofit sector and the executive branch of government.”

The proposal outlined the following opportunities for the incoming administration to leverage the capacity and partnership of the sector:

• Presidential leadership. A staff person with direct access to the president with responsibility and similar staffing in relevant executive branch agencies.

• Policy knowledge. Greater nonprofit policy expertise and experience among both political appointees and career staff in the White House and at agencies.

• Prioritized investment and job creation. Significant investment to strengthen organizational capacity, workforce and national service/volunteer programs of nonprofits, particularly those closest to communities in greatest need, small organizations and those led by and/or serving rural, Black, Native and other communities of color.

• Permanence. A lasting federal structure, perhaps reinforced with legislation, to support cross-sector collaboration and advance policies that improve sector health.

The memo states in part, “Our nation can never become its best self without the engine of independent and robust nonprofits. No other sector has the credibility, expertise, or reach. However, although past presidents of both parties have worked with the sector in various ways, none has maximized the power of nonprofits as true partners in the work of governing and leading.”

In addition to engaging with the incoming administration, Dan Cardinali, president and CEO of IS shared that in the short-term IS will also be focused on advocating for funding for increased broadband access, the U.S. Postal Service and for our child care field as part of the NIIAG coalition work.

We are seeing Michigan representation in President-Elect Biden’s transition team, including from our own community of philanthropy. Melanca Clark, president and CEO of the Hudson-Webber Foundation and CMF Board of Trustees chair-elect, is volunteering her expertise with the transition team at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Clark previously served the DOJ as chief of staff of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. She was also a senior policy advisor with the White House Domestic Policy Council, convening foundations and key stakeholders and strategically aligning philanthropic and private sector investments during former President Barack Obama’s administration.

The Detroit News recently reported on Clark and other Michigan leaders volunteering with the transition team including Robert Gordon, director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS).

Want more?

Read the full memo.

Learn more about NIIAG.