In late March, the New York Times broke a story that was music to my fundraising ears: Philanthropist Ann Ziff made a gift of $30 million to the Metropolitan Opera – the largest single gift from an individual in the organization’s history. That should be enough, right?
Wrong.
The. Gift. Is. Unrestricted.
Why is this significant?
Because contributions of this size – and at some organizations, even contributions a tenth of this size – are often earmarked for capital project and naming rights. And in general, restricted contributions are usually not expendable all at once; they are both paid out and spent over time, or in the case of endowments, only a portion of the interest can be spent in a given year.
While a $30 million contribution will also likely be paid out and spent over time, the way in which it is spent is the wow-factor. That $30 million will not name a building, endow a conductor, or commission a new opera. It will be spent to offset the Met’s $300 million operating budget, and to help recover its $4 million budget deficit.
Unrestricted giving is not sexy. It doesn’t typically come with flashing lights, front row seats, or private receptions. It pays salaries, keeps the lights on, fixes a broken toilet, or covers the dreaded “overhead” that virtually no foundation will touch with a ten-foot-pole. And it often does not come with a line-item budget as to how it will be spent. In the simplest terms, unrestricted giving sustains the infrastructure that allows nonprofits to flourish.
But to a fundraiser – and a veteran unrestricted fundraiser at that – unrestricted giving is heaven. It’s a gift that lets the organization decide how best to spend your generosity. Because if you trust an organization enough to contribute, then perhaps it should follow that you trust it enough to spend your money wisely and not frivolously.
So, Ms. Ziff, we unrestricted fundraisers of the world commend you for your incredible generosity, and we hope that other philanthropists, corporations, and foundations will find a new sense of faith in unrestricted contributions.
Coming soon: Part II: The Battle between Restricted Giving and Mission Creep
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