According to The Chronicle of Philanthropy, “In an unusual move, five of America’s wealthiest foundations have joined forces to do more to help grantees pay for rent, decent wages, technology, and other overhead.

In making their announcement, the foundation leaders said they were embarking on a major campaign to encourage all other grant makers to join them to help cover essential operating costs.

The heads of Ford, Hewlett, MacArthur, Open Society, and Packard said they had spent two years studying the challenges faced by nonprofits and learned that many of the organizations they supported – including large, prominent, household-name organizations – face major deficits because of stingy policies that provide just a sliver of the money they need to operate and run projects.”