Going into my Caps experience, I knew my work would give me a valuable peek into the administrative side of nonprofits. I did not anticipate, however, how a goal of empowerment, growth, and economic opportunity requires a constant fixation on money. I knew that services need funding and most social problems stem from financial inequality, but I underestimated the amount of time and energy that goes into securing money to run the organization and deliver services. Essentially, I did not realize that nonprofits were allowed to be greedy.
Growing up comfortably, without needing to worry about paying for my basic needs, I learned to appreciate the world separate from “treasures on Earth”. I understood that money, while necessary to survive, should not be the focus of life. People who spend their time seeking money would find themselves with less than their neighbors. That reality helped me become a more empathetic and grounded person, but it also forced me to see wealth in a negative light. So when I learned about the intense fundraising efforts of nonprofits, I was both impressed and skeptical. It seemed wrong to tell myself money was the root of evil while simultaneously working hard to secure more and more money for this business.
However, the nonprofit I work with, Concordia Place, truly uses their profits with the wellbeing of their community in mind. Concordia Place serves around 800 people a year. They provide childcare, education, teen development programs, English language classes, and home visits for newly expecting mothers. The children, teens, and adults speak a total of 27 different languages. The organization prides itself on being a place of yes, a place where any person can come seeking assistance for themselves or their child and will receive what they need.
The mission of Concordia Place goes hand in hand with one of my most recent classes about the American welfare system. Essentially, in America, the government sets a limit on the amount of money someone can make or possess before they no longer qualify for public assistance. This means that someone making a few dollars over that limit is actually worse off than someone who makes a few dollars below the limit. Concordia Place recognizes that many families struggle to pay for childcare, but cannot receive the benefits granted to others due to governmental restrictions. They address this problem by offering sliding scale tuition, which allows families above the poverty line to apply for a reduced rate in whatever service they are seeking. They call this “funding the gap”; giving extra assistance to those too poor to afford the regular costs, but too wealthy to qualify for public assistance. Not only does Concordia Place provide instant relief for individuals through their programs, but the organization has a long term focus. By increasing the quality of childhood education and the opportunities parents have once they find a safe place for their children during the day, those same families have a higher chance of employment and, hopefully, the ability to generate generational wealth. Concordia Place battles systemic inequality with accessible services that allow for growth in both the child and the parent.
I fully support everything Concordia Place hopes to achieve and I hope I can do everything in my power to contribute to their mission. This being said, I will continue to examine the role of money in my life now that I understand that more wealth can also mean more good. The more funding Concordia Place secures, the more community members they can serve, the more lives they can impact. It seems unlike me to envision a life where I consume myself with the acquisition of money. When I thought about my future as an employee at a nonprofit, I saw myself doing administrative work but with the assumption that money would simply be there to run the organization. However, nonprofits have to fight just like everyone else to maintain enough funding to survive. A fixation on money is not counterproductive to the life-giving mission of a nonprofit, it is absolutely necessary. Through my experiences at this internship and college, I will strive to learn more about the world of fundraising and fund management. I feel grateful to have an experience at an organization like Concordia Place where I can see a true calling for social change in action alongside a mission of extensive fundraising.