If solving the world's hardest problems requires the world's best people, why do we pay social impact professionals like they should be grateful just to have a job? The sector still treats its workforce as a cost to be minimized rather than the most important element to its success. So what would it look like to invest in people with the same urgency we bring to our missions?
Rusty Stahl is the founder of Fund the People and a former Ford Foundation program associate. He's spent over a decade pushing back against the structural barriers that keep nonprofit workers underpaid, overworked, and undervalued.
We dig into the toxic legacy of the "overhead" myth, why the current menu of grant types still isn't enough to support the people doing the work, and Rusty's bold new proposal: SOS (Staff Operating Support) grants — a funding model designed specifically to invest in nonprofit workers.
Episode Highlights
[00:00] Why we pay social impact professionals like they should be grateful
[02:45] Structural barriers holding back the nonprofit workforce
[03:20] The "overhead" myth: how a toxic formula warps the sector
[05:44] Why overhead became the default — and why it shouldn't be
[08:43] Introducing SOS grants: funding built around people, not programs
[11:59] How SOS grants work — a senior center case study
[14:27] The permission problem: why nonprofits need cover to invest in teams
[16:09] The MacArthur Foundation president told grantees to take time off
[18:29] Getting SOS grants into the nonprofit zeitgeist
[21:43] Rusty's podcast, the Long Haul Grantmaking report, and more
Notable Quotes
"The nonprofit workforce is the greatest asset for any organization and its greatest expense, and it's the bedrock of effectiveness, impact, and sustainability." — Rusty Stahl
"We should not have to rely on the president of all the different foundations to get on podcasts and say, 'I hereby declare you can take summer vacation.'" — Rusty Stahl
Resources & Links
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