What the Fundraising 06: The Funder Lens and How to Facilitate the Movement of Money with Dulari Gandhi
Aug 17, 2021
Dulari Gandhi, a Program Officer at the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation and CEO of D. Gandhi Communications, shares her insights on navigating the nonprofit funding landscape. She discusses common mistakes organizations make while seeking funding and the need for diverse voices in decision-making. Dulari emphasizes the importance of transparency and clear communication to foster better relationships between funders and grantees. She also critiques the scarcity mindset that hinders nonprofit effectiveness and encourages collaborative funding practices.
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Lived Experience Shapes Funding Perspective
- Dulari brings lived experience to funding decisions, including youth homelessness.
- She says her background gives her an 'invisible job description' to raise equity and lived‑experience perspectives inside the foundation.
Funders Must Publish Their True Lens
- Foundations and grantees each have a lens that shapes what gets funded and why.
- Dulari Gandhi says funders must be transparent about what they do and do not fund so nonprofits stop wasting time on impossible asks.
Program Officers Recreate Grantees Internally
- Program officers must mentally rebuild organizations to advocate for them internally.
- Gandhi spends extensive time learning staffing, board structure, and strategy so she can represent a grantee to foundation decision makers.