When a venture capitalist backs a company, they’re not buying a product. They’re buying time — the runway a founding team needs to build something that could change a market. They’re betting on a vision and trusting a team to navigate the obstacles that will emerge. They know that the most powerful shifts do not happen in twelve months.

So why do so many funders still operate on a one-year model?

I have worked with change-makers at nonprofits and in state and local government for my entire career. Among all that I’ve learned, one undeniable lesson is this: multi-year funding isn’t a “nice to have” for organizations that rely on foundation funding. It’s a smarter strategy — for philanthropists, for the communities you care about, and for the change you want to see come from your gifts.

Backing the Team, Not the Task

To see the value of multi-year funding, it may help to consider the sort of investments we see in the startup space. Consider a young tech firm attracting investors: they’re not looking to fund a single line of code. They’re funding a team with a vision. Multi-year funding for nonprofits can work the same way. As with a venture capital investment, it signals that you trust an organization’s leadership to staff intentionally, read a shifting landscape, and adapt, all while producing results.

This sort of investment also frees an organization to avoid obsolescence. When we apply for a grant, we may wait three-to-six months for a funder to reply. If we receive an award notice, delivery of the gift may take another month or so. By the time my team begins delivering on the goals we promised in our application, those plans could be nearly a year old — and given how quickly the housing market and legislative landscape can change, those plans might fail to meet the moment. Multi-year funding would enable us to focus most of our energy on making the impact we seek.

Right now, many nonprofits — including ours — expend tremendous amounts of time preparing for the next grant cycle. That’s an inefficiency that multi-year funding could largely eliminate. Fewer redundant applications and reports would mean more of each dollar invested going toward the mission.

Talent Is the Strategy

Here’s something else you may appreciate from your own work: High-performing professionals want stability. When we can only guarantee a position for ten months pending a funding renewal, we lose talented people to the private sector — and we know it.

During our two most recent hires, both final candidates asked directly how their salaries would be funded. They were willing to join us only because we could point to funding commitments that gave them confidence in their futures. In this sense, a multi-year grant is a human resources tool. It enables an organization like ours to build and sustain a team to win the change our communities need.

A one-year grant buys a moment. A three-year grant builds a movement.

Systems Don’t Change in a Year

We see this dynamic in our own work every day. Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia is the only statewide nonprofit with a mission to fight housing discrimination — a duty and a cause we’ve been leading here for more than 50 years. We think about that legacy especially right now; April is Fair Housing Month, marking the passage of sweeping federal legislation that outlawed housing discrimination in April 1968. But still today, the knots we work to unravel resist easy solutions.

For example, we’re engaged in zoning reform at the state and local levels, including the Richmond equitable zoning campaign Homes for All Our Neighbors and ongoing advocacy at the General Assembly. We’re working to break down exclusionary zoning laws laid down decades ago, with consequences that have compounded over time. Dismantling entrenched systems like these requires sustained presence — showing up at the same tables, year after year, building the political will and public understanding to make change.

No organization will solve a multigenerational problem like those we tackle with a twelve-month check. The duration of the investment must match the duration of the problem.

Charting a New Direction

We would love to see a visionary shift in philanthropic funding, and it can start right here in Virginia. Not charity — strategy. Not transactions — partnerships. As in the private sector, we can build the teams, extend the runway, and seize the future we seek.

The communities we serve have waited long enough. The least we can do is make sure the organizations fighting for them have the stability to stay in the fight.