Evan Feinberg is executive director of Stand Together Foundation.
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It was the study heard ‘round the anti-poverty world.
Harvard economist Raj Chetty announced that “growing up in a community connected across class lines improves kids’ outcomes and gives them a better shot at rising out of poverty.” How much does this help, exactly? Low-income children with more higher-income friends can expect a 20% increase in future earnings. In other words, they’re much more likely to leave poverty behind forever and achieve economic mobility.
What does this have to do with the social sector? Everything.
The tens of thousands of nonprofits that comprise our industry are often overwhelmingly focused on one thing: providing services to people living in poverty. Yet this new poverty research shows that relationships matter so much more. It behooves nonprofits to consider our work in a relational light, especially as it relates to connecting the least fortunate with those who have more resources.
It’s tough to overstate how big of a rethink this requires. While phrases like “social capital” have become all the rage among nonprofits in recent years, very little of what our industry does is directly connected to building relationships. Instead, there’s a much bigger focus on meeting people’s financial and material needs.
The examples are legion: Food banks help hungry families stock their pantries. Foundations help laid-off workers make their rent payments. Clinics provide methadone to people dealing with substance abuse. And so on. These efforts can help, often dramatically, stopping downward spirals and even saving lives. Yet they almost never empower people in poverty to make lasting connections across socio-economic lines.
Why do such relationships out-compete services? The simple answer is that diverse friendships give you access to resources and support far beyond those provided by services. All low-income individuals can dream big. Yet when it comes to realizing those dreams, the help of higher earners goes a long way, and not merely in some selfish, user-friendly way. Friendship, by its nature, causes people to recognize each other’s strengths and needs. It also leads to sustained personal investment, based on the belief that your friend can accomplish extraordinary things.
Put simply, a friend is more likely to see what you’re capable of and help you prove it to the world. And if that friend has escaped poverty themself, or has greater resources or business connections, they can help you to a much greater extent.
Four Ways Nonprofits Can Help Build Relationships That Enable Economic Mobility
Fortunately, nonprofits can implement this insight in many ways. It starts by asking how you can deliver relationships in all you do. There are many good options:
1. To start, add a relational element to your existing services. When your nonprofit helps someone, set up time for a personal connection, not just a hand-off of a check or everyday goods. Relationships start with conversations, which you can facilitate.
2. Train your team to focus on relationships, not just services. Incentivize volunteers to get to know the people they’re helping. Hold employees accountable for how well they help people build friendships in the community.
3. Get local businesses involved. Ask if their team members want to provide mentorship opportunities to the people you serve. Their experience and insights can go a long way toward powering people’s social upward mobility and helping individuals achieve their dreams.
4. Get your donors more intimately connected to your day-to-day work. They support your nonprofit because they want to break the cycle of poverty. If that’s their goal, perhaps the best thing they can do is spend time meeting with your beneficiaries face-to-face.
Whatever path you take, remember that relationships across differences make all the difference. For that matter, philanthropic capital is most helpful when it helps develop social capital. The latest evidence clearly shows that more people can escape poverty when they have relationship. The sooner nonprofits embrace and act on that mentality, the sooner we’ll truly begin to beat poverty.
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