Welcome to Voices from the Field. This is the second of a series of Hammer & Associates guest blog posts featuring leaders and experts from the nonprofit sector, who will share ideas for funders and nonprofits alike. This two-part blog speaks to how nonprofits can–and need to–adapt to these changing times, and how you as a funder can support them in doing so. Look for future blog posts on resiliency, leadership, governance, grant writing, and more. If you wish to contribute to this guest blog, please contact me.
In the field, I’m seeing nonprofits exhibit a range of responses to the pandemic. How an organization has pivoted so far will speak volumes to how they will approach adapting in the future. What we’re looking for is nimble, responsive organizational culture. Culture can be difficult to articulate unless the organization has overtly engaged in training to address corporate culture. However, it can often be deduced from collective actions or inactions.
A discussion of organizational changes from March 2020-August 2020 with a given nonprofit will either point to a willingness to adapt or a calcified mindset. A nimble nonprofit with business acumen should be able to discuss the following with clear examples:
- New needs or difficulties (financial, staffing, technical)
- New programs (this may be an extension of the current mission or a diversion from the mission)
- New projections
- Outmoded programs and financials
If an organization focuses on weathering the storm, covering expenses that are no longer covered by their prior budgets, and/or suspending programming until the pandemic passes, they may be surprised when “life as normal” doesn’t return.
Below are a few fictional profiles of nonprofits with varying degrees of adaptable culture. These portraits are exaggerated for emphasis, though drawn from real life experience with nonprofits nationally.
The Agile Nonprofit
The agile nonprofit has a high functioning and adaptable culture. They have low risk aversion and are experienced in presenting and executing programmatic shifts with the board and staff. They are likely to have some of the following responses to COVID-19.
- Pivoted to remote work quickly
- Located, ordered, and distributed PPE for staff
- PPE as a recurring budget item
- Solidified long term program changes based on new profit models
- Have put a 6-month and 12-month contingency plan in place
- Have plans for another wave of COVID or reverse opening
- Tracking all COVID expenses and lost revenue
- Tracking staff time changes
- Communicating frequently with funders about programmatic and budget changes
- Have received relief funding and put it to use
- Can clearly track where that funding has gone
- Can articulate how additional funding would be directed to meet emergent needs
The Reticent Nonprofit
The Reticent nonprofit is risk averse. They may have levels of bureaucracy that prohibit innovation or a large or disunified board/staff. This nonprofit is hunkered down. Some likely responses to COVID-19:
- Suspending programming or services
- Working on the internal pieces of their organizational development that they see as “housekeeping” items (strategic planning, training, etc.)
- Waiting for the storm to pass
- Asking funders to continue to supplement their organizational budgets despite suspended programming
- Received little COVID funding, but not significant amounts
- No documented changes or updates to their budgets
- No implemented new programming
- No projected scenarios for reopening at different points in the year
- Outdated proposals submissions: for programming once life “returns to normal”
- Asking for funders to underwrite their losses during the pandemic
- Shifted some existing services to online or digital, even if they are not a natural fit for those platforms
The Half-and-Half
This nonprofit has a culture of adaptation, but may not have the staff power or financial means to carry out what they recognize as necessary shifts. They are likely to have some of the following responses to COVID-19:
- Adapted their programming and staff time but have not yet amended their funding requests or annual budgets
- Recognized a new need and changed services or begun discussing what new services are needed
- Solidified short-term changes based on new programs
- Tracking staff time changes
- No organized communications with funders about new needs and budget changes
- Received some COVID funding
- Can speak to where additional funding would be helpful, but may still be in the process of developing those program budgets
Paying attention to organizational culture and mindset will yield dividends. COVID has created an immense amount of pressure that will shed light on underlying strengths and weaknesses in nonprofits. Nonprofits that don’t have skills and practice innovating or adapting will get stuck and struggle to make the necessary changes to keep them relevant and solvent. For these nonprofits, the request from funders will be life support requests. They cannot adapt, so they will wait until the future, when they erroneously believe they will not need to adapt.
For nonprofits with a history of agility and responsiveness, their asks will be different. They may ask for funding for new programs, or staff positions. They can produce materials such as: new budgets, new expenses, and new/projected funding streams. These nonprofits are positioned for growth, to grow self-supporting revenue streams, to find new nonprofit partners, and to attract funding to meet their evolving needs.
Stephanie Sample is a nonprofits management consultant specializing in fundraising development and moving organizations beyond “the way it’s always been done”. Learn about Sample Consulting Studio at: www.sampleconsultingstudio.com.