S.O.S. Funding: All Hands on Deck for a Nonprofit Workforce in Crisis - with Rusty Stahl; today's co-host Annie Chang, and a Special Panel
In this episode, you’ll get a bold, provocative new idea for investing in the nonprofit workforce—and why it may be essential to the sector’s survival.
Drawn from a live Fund the People webinar on March 12, 2026, this conversation introduces Staff Operating Support (S.O.S.) funding — a new grantmaking and fundraising approach conceived to help funders strategically, responsively invest in the workforce of grantee organizations.
Host Rusty Stahl is joined by special co-host Annie Chang of the Nonprofit Finance Fund. Rusty defines Staff Operating Support, and offers seven key traits. Annie and a panel of nonprofit and philanthropic leaders unpack the ‘compounding crises’ in the nonprofit sector’s workforce —and explore what it will take to proactively address it.
From new research data to real-world results, this episode makes the case that funding staff isn’t overhead—it’s mission-critical.
Staff Operating Support was originally introduced in a Season 8 bonus episode, Introducing Staff Operating Support (S.O.S.) Grants Concept (November 3, 2025). Today's episode adds to that one as Rusty presents some updated thinking about the concept (including the 7 key traits of S.O.S. funding). It also features a silo-busting panel and audience of funders, nonprofit leaders, and intermediaries, sharing enthusiasm, critiques, questions, and additional ideas about S.O.S. funding.
- Introducing Staff Operating Support (S.O.S.) Grants Concept with host Rusty Stahl, Fund the People
- Chasm Grows between Funder and Nonprofit Perceptions of Crisis - with Elisha Smith Arrillaga, Center for Effective Philanthropy
- Donors Invest in Health Nonprofit’s Staff -- with Dramatic Program Results - with Janelle Miller Moravek, Youth and Family Counseling
- Funding Nonprofit People & Possibility: Inside the Durfee Foundation - with Mariah Cabildo
