Given the role local nonprofits have played on the front lines of pandemic response— distributing food to homebound seniors, providing childcare for essential workers, strengthening families through mental health services and door-to-door wellness checks, and vaccinating thousands of vulnerable residents—we are surprised that multiple San Jose candidates for elected office have disparaged the value of nonprofit sector work.

Last week, one candidate posted on her social media that the fact that her opponent has “only worked in government and nonprofits—leaves him wanting when it comes to addressing the real world problems.”

Another candidate sent a mass email, claiming that “non-profit executives are not paid to solve our city’s problems — just to manage them. They have no incentive to deliver results.”

We could not disagree more with these assertions.

We have never met a nonprofit staff person who wasn’t a professional striving to improve lives. Nonprofit staff want to address the root causes of societal issues, while recognizing that few of these issues can be solved overnight by a single organization. Often turning down private and public sector roles with significantly more lucrative compensation, nonprofit staff are driven toward helping others.

Nonprofit staff are passionate about serving; creating thriving, healthy, and equitable communities; and working together to create results. Nonprofit leaders must be adept at managing complex budgets with multiple funding sources, time-limited grants and contracts, detailed restrictions, and tightly constrained overhead. They must also be skilled in raising funds from an array of different sources: individuals, corporations, foundations, and government. Some of our colleagues are managing multi-million dollar annual budgets; others are saving lives with extremely limited financial means.

Nonprofit staff are outcome-oriented; in fact, many funders routinely require nonprofits to demonstrate quantitative and qualitative results every year. From crises such as the Coyote Creek flooding in 2017 to the initial chaotic days of the pandemic, local government immediately turned to nonprofits for help because of nonprofits’ track record in delivering rapid results.

Nonprofit organizations are businesses. In fact, they are businesses where demand usually exceeds financial resources, and nonprofit leaders must stretch in all directions to serve their stakeholders. Many nonprofit leaders do not enjoy the luxury of a dedicated department specialized in human resources, facilities management, compliance, marketing, or strategy— which means the nonprofit leaders are responsible for it ALL— and sometimes even take out the trash at the end of their 14-hour days.

In our Silicon Valley nonprofits, you will find leaders with doctorates, law degrees, Ivy League credentials, and MacArthur Genius Grants. You will also find leaders with first-hand lived experience in the communities they serve, fluency in multiple languages, and interpersonal talents that enable them to instantly build trust with clients and patients.

When pandemic shelter in place orders hit our community in March 2020, the nonprofit sector did not hesitate. It sprang into action to exponentially scale up services to meet community need. Many nonprofit staff continued to show up to work, seven days a week, in person, at significant risk to themselves and their loved ones. Others immediately pivoted to offering online health care and education. They addressed real world, real time issues that local residents were facing. And they were doing this work before the pandemic and will continue this work after the pandemic.

Our community thrives when business, nonprofits, and government work together. The private and public sectors are a critically important part of the solution to addressing the problems facing Silicon Valley. The challenges are so massive and deep-seated that we need all hands on deck to tackle them. We need our elected officials and candidates to work with our nonprofit sector, not throw unwarranted criticism our way.

The nonprofit sector is essential in making our world a better place. Disparagement of nonprofit workers is disheartening, disrespectful, and just plain wrong. We urge all candidates for office to join us in saluting our nonprofit colleagues and thanking them for their heroic work.

Michele Lew is CEO of The Health Trust. Alison Brunner is CEO of the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley.

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This is out of context. Working for a City Department or Non-profit, as opposed to leading in the private sector and managing large scale teams and departments that have actual measurements of performance – it’s two different skillsets. And, we have seen the non-profit/government systems churn out poor performing politicians who make laws according to emotion and ideology, not centered in reality.

So, it is perfectly fair criticism to call out that trend, and people running for office from those sectors.

Read that email, shame on Irene for bashing on non-profits.

I think she was highlighting her opponent Omar’s lack of experience in the private sector which is relevant for an elected leadership position.

I agree to certain extend regarding your article on some nonprofits. I am one who is not a big fan of many nonprofits because too many politicians partner with them and as a resident of this city I never see a change in the environment they are given money to improve especially in underserved communities like mine. As for you quoting two candidates on nonprofits , I think it is unfair of you and politically motivated. When a candidate is highly educated and has great work experience and maturity and is being told “we don’t need someone with training wheels” or lacks experience for government work that belittles candidates with higher education and success in working in business that the city keeps saying “partnerships with private business is needed”. It would be nice if the county and city would depend less on the nonprofits because there seems to be no accountability and take up some of that work themselves. The city wants the police department to cross every T but every department and nonprofits who take up work for the city should also be held to the same standards.

What are you a fan of?? I just see your grunt comments. I see your always on the side of capitalist or bullies. Maybe you are hurt and want attention?

That candidate must not have any good merit to stand by to attack a candidate for working for a non-profit that helps the community. She probably has never done any actual community work that she isn’t making bank. This sounds like a capitalist attacking and not who I would like.

Stop the political attacks on people that want “accountability” from Silicon Valley nonprofits.

“Often turning down private and public sector roles with significantly more lucrative compensation…”

The Health Trust pays very well:

CEO Michele Lew: $314,986 COO Todd Hansen: $283,898 VP of Programs Paul Hepfer: $193,438 VP of Housing Dorcas Rosado-Chan: $159,731 HR Director Irene Segura: $158,527

From https://sanjosespotlight.com/how-much-do-silicon-valley-nonprofits-pay-their-executives/

Lupe you must have nothing to say if you feel you have to personally attack me because I am not supporting your candidate but to answer your question I am a fan of people being honest, working hard and wanting to do good for others. I see things getting worse in our city and am tired of labor and big business buying candidates that do their bidding, If you want things not to change then vote for your candidate.

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