Supporting an 11.5 Million Dollar Campaign by Peter Brach

In my years of philanthropy, I’ve encountered many worthy organizations. TechSoup (TS) stands out for its unparalleled reach across the nonprofit and civil society sectors. To date, it has facilitated more than $15 billion in free or discounted products to hundreds of thousands of nonprofits and civil society organizations across 236 countries.

While the scale of its operation was impressive, what really caught my attention was its potential for widespread impact. TechSoup wasn’t focused on a single cause or region—it was helping many. Organizations working to improve children’s lives, promote equity and inclusion, combat climate change, protect democracies, and advance countless other causes receive the technical capacity support they need to pursue their missions more effectively.

I found myself thinking, Here is an organization with an exceptional track record. What would it look like if TechSoup were amply funded and able to realize its full potential? How would that affect its ability to help its members? How would it improve the capacities of many more nonprofits and civil society organizations not yet in its network?

The Time-Sensitive Situation

In the early spring of 2021, I learned that TechSoup was in the final stretch of an $11.5 million capital campaign. They had about six months to raise the remaining $3.5 million, with a deadline of September 21, 2021. Success would mean a significant expansion of their services, while failure would mean beginning the campaign again after years of effort.

This situation presented a compelling case for involvement. If TechSoup could reach its goal, the effects would ripple across the nonprofit sector, benefiting organizations working on a multitude of causes I care about.

An Unconventional Approach

I provided a modest grant specifically to hire an assistant for one of TechSoup’s key development staff members. This person reportedly freed up about 15 hours each week for a senior development leader to focus on securing those crucial final donations.

The Outcome

As the deadline approached, I found myself increasingly invested in the outcome. By September 20, just one day before the deadline, TechSoup was still $700,000 short. I prepared myself for the possibility that my approach might not have been sufficient. However, on the morning of September 21, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that TechSoup had successfully reached its goal, securing the full $11.5 million just in time.

Reflecting on the Impact

The campaign’s success meant that TechSoup could expand its services substantially. For me, it validated the potential of stepping outside traditional philanthropic boundaries by making exceptional opportunities a primary criterion in my funding decisions.

Taking Risks

I am a venture philanthropist who takes risks when the potential outcomes could be extraordinary and any potential loss is well within my fund’s capacity to absorb. However, some opportunities involve relatively little risk while offering the potential to create an exceptionally big, broad, cross-cutting impact.

Lessons Learned

This experience reinforced several key principles that now inform my philanthropic efforts:

• Look Beyond Traditional Funding Categories: While having focus areas is valuable, remaining open to exceptional opportunities can lead to outsized impact.
• Identify and strengthen critical linchpins: Doing so—particularly within organizations with a far-reaching impact, such as TechSoup—can achieve an exceptional impact multiplier effect.
• Consider Systemic Impact: Supporting organizations that have a multiplicative effect across many sectors can be highly effective.
• Value Capacity Building: Sometimes helping an organization strengthen its own capabilities can be more impactful than direct program funding.
• Embrace Calculated Risks: When the potential for impact is significant, it can be worth departing from conventional practices.
• Appreciate Indirect Effects: It’s important to recognize the far-reaching benefits of supporting infrastructure organizations like TechSoup, even if those benefits are not always immediately visible.

Thoughts for Fellow Philanthropists

I share this story to offer other funders a nontraditional approach that has not only worked well for me but exceeded my expectations. Based on my criteria, the impact I have achieved through this and other grants has far exceeded the costs.

While remaining true to our respective focus areas, I encourage others to leave room for big, broad, cross-cutting opportunities that benefit the social sector. My experience suggests that the field for opportunity-focused grantmakers seeking to achieve this kind of impact is very promising. Sometimes small grants can drive big results, and the space is anything but crowded. The opportunities remain surprisingly underexplored.