CASE STUDIES
CITY OF AUSTIN NONPROFIT RELIEF GRANTS
As the world began navigating the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, many nonprofits struggled to identify alternative ways to provide client services, care for their staff and community’s health and safety, and remain financially viable through losses in revenue. Thanks to advocacy from a collective of nonprofit organizations (OneVoice Central Texas, Impact Austin, United Way For Greater Austin, Leadership Austin, ILHIGH, Austin Community Foundation, Community Action Network), Mission Capital joined ecosystem partners in a joint letter of support to secure relief funds – the Austin City Council responded by allocating up to $6.35 million to provide grants of up to $20,000 to Austin nonprofit organizations serving specific areas of need.
Mission Capital joined a cohort of community organizations to help the City of Austin’s Economic Development Department (EDD) promote the program and assist applicants. Through three grant cycles, Mission Capital supported over 200 Central Texas nonprofits to apply for and receive COVID-19 Relief Grants. We also created feedback loops to share nonprofit challenges, opportunities, and recommendations with EDD. This feedback helped to simplify future COVID-19 Relief Grants processes, making it easier for more organizations to access help. Mission Capital is grateful for and proud of the opportunity to partner with the City and, ultimately, create a relief process that worked better for nonprofits during a time of crisis.
COVID-19 PULSE SURVEYS
April 2020: Four weeks into the U.S.’s effective shutdown we knew instinctively that COVID-19 impacted social sector organizations and the communities we serve in a myriad of ways. But we lacked data to tell us more about the impact locally. Mission Capital saw an opportunity to leverage our backbone role and support Central Texas through a series of COVID-19 Pulse Surveys.
From March through May 2020, we worked with 16 partners to develop two sector-wide surveys measuring COVID-19’s impact on the social sector. We analyzed over 900 responses across two separate Pulse Surveys, presented findings, and contributed to a state-wide report. These data helped inform our community about where to direct resources during a critical time and revealed racial disparities exacerbated by COVID-19.
We also leaned into our connector and amplifier role to build collaborations around emergent needs, like digital equity and mental health. The sector is not out of the woods, yet Mission Capital is proud that we stepped up with our community in a time of uncertainty.
TALENT INSIGHTS
Mission Capital staff bring an array of diverse skills, experiences, and expertise to our work supporting the Central Texas social sector. A few years ago, we realized that many staff’s skills and lived experience went beyond their formal roles, and we were missing an opportunity to leverage those skills in creative ways. We also wanted better data to inform where we could learn and grow collectively.
In 2020, we launched a Talent Insights Team to help measure and understand current staff’s talents, skills, and lived experience. We first surveyed all staff to learn about their talents and interests – from areas like community engagement and fundraising to advocacy and grassroots organizing. Then, we brought folks together in two learning circles to build our collective capacity – one focused on Equity and the other on Feedback, Data, and Evaluation.
Talent Insights data continues to impact our performance measurement redesign and staff goal-setting processes and helps us think about where to prioritize learning resources for our team.
GOOD MEASURE IS MAKING MOVES
Since 2015, the Good Measure collaborative has convened philanthropic organizations and their community partners to creatively and strategically use data to amplify impact.
In 2020, Good Measure’s Steering Committee committed to embedding equity through its portfolio. We lived into this commitment by making key changes to existing Good Measure programming to advance equity.
Last year, Good Measure community members informed programming and played decision-making roles for Evaluation Mini-Grants, the Measuring What Matters evaluation and the fall 2021 Good Measure gathering. We’re proud to share that last year, Data Leaders Academy alumni helped to revise the Guiding Principles for Data Champions.
The new principles embed equity throughout and center community voice in the data and evaluation process, and they represent an important, and ongoing, evolution in Good Measure’s work and commitment to equity.