An Invitation for San Diego Philanthropy
In November 2025, our regional leaders hosted Fund the People and invited over 40 local leaders from across the County to discuss how we can advance Talent Justice in the region. Talent Justice “seeks to transform organizational culture to maximize access, advancement, and ascension in nonprofit careers for people of color, women, young people, and other constituencies.” Our goals for the gathering were simple: listen, observe, and reimagine the future of nonprofit work in our region. We facilitated dialogue with our nonprofit community and intermediary supporters, reflected on the themes we heard, and held one-on-one follow-up conversations to ensure we represented the voices and needs of our community.
We prioritize these efforts because too many nonprofits and their workers are being asked to meet rising community needs while navigating constraints on staffing, compensation, and capacity. Below are insights from our gathering that synthesizes the critical needs and important calls to action. Our hope is that our local philanthropic community will consider collaborating on these efforts so that we can collectively advance Talent Justice in San Diego.
(For more information on the event itself please click here and read our blog Reflect. Reimagine. Recommit: Protecting San Diego’s Nonprofit Workforce).
What We Asked
Throughout the gathering, we posed questions to better understand the state of the nonprofit workforce. We wanted to learn about and honor the efforts of our community–challenges, successes, goals, and aspirations–and to spark a candid discussion about the actual support that nonprofit leaders need to weather the times.
What We Heard
Across the 30+ organizations represented, participants shared strategies that reflect real care, concern, and dedication to Talent Justice principles. Our community discussed:
Flexibility and adaptation became necessary, and made possible by shifting services, redesigning roles, and adjusting schedules to reduce overload where possible.
Organizations responded with creative workforce supports by building informal communities of care, practicing transparency, and collaborating when feasible.
Leaders stayed true to their mission-driven grit by continuing to show up for communities and employees despite uncertainty, fear, and constrained resources.
In short, we heard that leaders are practicing care while simultaneously stretching their organizations as far as current structural realities allow. Even with that effort, several constraints surfaced repeatedly throughout the evening:
There remains a chronic underfunding of people. Many participants described being unable to raise salaries, expand benefits, or maintain staffing levels. One line surfaced repeatedly, shared with satire, but rooted in lived reality: “Don’t even think of a pay increase!”
Zero-sum funding dynamics. Leaders expressed tension. There was a desire for collaboration, but collaborating felt impractical when organizations are competing for limited funding.
Emotional and cognitive overload were present. Participants described their experiences of burnout, grief, and the weight of responsibility, while continuing to innovate their way out of structurally under-resourced conditions to advance their mission and tend to the needs of their staff.
The ongoing misalignment between expectations and capacity. Many named the dissonance of being asked to “do more with less” when staff capacity is already strained. A stark reality that resonated with many was, “We’re doing everything we can and it's still not enough.”
The “ask” of the philanthropic community was both explicit and implied: Partner with us
Although the event agenda included questions about aspirations and next steps, what emerged most strongly was a request for partnership around these shared resources:
Recognition that progress is already underway. Leaders wanted to be seen as co-creators with expertise, not merely implementers of funder-driven initiatives.
Reliable, people-centered funding for salaries, benefits, and professional development, paired with predictability that enables long term planning.
Resourced spaces for connection and candor where nonprofit professionals can speak honestly, learn from peers, and reflect without relying on unpaid emotional labor.
Support for collaboration instead of competition, including funding approaches that reward coalition-building, shared staffing solutions, and joint talent development.
What We Learned As Space Holders
Alongside these takeaways from our San Diego nonprofit community, we discovered the approach to these conversations is just as important as the discussions themselves. At first, participants signaled to us their fatigue and hesitation in wanting to do this community work–it was clear that they’ve been carrying a lot already.
Picking up on this message, we slowed down and focused on listening deeply and with intention. What we learned was this: nonprofit leaders do not want more pressure to commit to “doing the work.” They want partners who see the work they are already doing, understand the constraints they are navigating, and help resource the conditions for sustainability.
We were also reminded of trust during this gathering. When we trusted the community to guide the discussion, the conversation became richer, more honest, and more energizing. We all left with a clearer understanding of what nonprofit leaders are already doing, what they are up against, and what kinds of support would actually make a difference. Our invitation is for those that read this call to action–especially those who work within our regional philanthropic landscape–can utilize these messages to trust their nonprofit partners to guide how funding and support would be best used at their organization to meet the moment.
Call to Action: What We Encourage Funders to do Next
The long-term goal the community pointed toward is straightforward: flexible, reliable funding that allows organizations to build strong workplaces. So, how do we do that?
Listen with accountability
Host listening sessions with nonprofit partners focused specifically on workforce realities (pay, workload, retention, supervision, wellbeing).
Pair listening with a visible commitment that directly supports the workforce: “Here’s what we heard; here’s what we will change.”
Resource the listening process so it does not become additional unpaid labor for nonprofit staff.
Treat nonprofit partners as expert thought partners: share decision-making where possible, and trust nonprofit professionals to help define what “support” should look like.
Fund people as core infrastructure
Make room in existing grants and give models for fair compensation, competitive benefits, professional development, and wellbeing support with the understanding that these are prerequisites for impact.
Offer multi-year commitments so organizations can create stability in staffing.
Reduce nonessential reporting and administrative burden. Time is a resource, too.
Deepen commitments within trust-based philanthropy frameworks; move towards more flexibility
Practice communication, collaboration and partnership alongside the actual funding itself–get to know the people behind the work.
Increase the share of unrestricted or highly flexible dollars in portfolios over time.
Treat Talent Justice as a strategic amplifier to your giving philosophies: when staff are stable and supported, every mission outcome becomes more achievable.
Funders are part of our community. We want to listen to you, too. If you are interested in exploring what Talent Justice could look like in your grantmaking, we have leaders who are ready and committed to listening, sharing what we learn, and creating pathways for action. Fill out our Interest Form, and check out the other insights and resources we collected from the gathering.
This blog was written and supported by research from Billy Piper.
