When Your Nonprofit or NGO Hits Rough Seas

The organizations that are successfully navigating through these challenging financial times have several shared characteristics, and here are just a few:

• A strong working relationship between the Board of Directors and the staff leadership team. Shared governance is one of the unique features of the sector and creates an opportunity to effectively leverage the collective wisdom of a team of passionate leaders to achieve your mission. More about shared governance.
• A balanced fundraising portfolio. Organizations that have built revenue streams from diverse sources, including grants, major donors, annual campaigns, program fees, and earned income, are much more nimble when one or all of those sources decline. Organizations that rely primarily on events are often the first to suffer.
• A keen focus on mission and the programs that are producing the strongest outcomes. Many organizations are using this as an opportunity to re-evaluate the effectiveness of their programs and halt the programs that are contributing the least value or are duplicating services that others provide. More on performance management. Others are considering alliances, partnerships and mergers. More on partnerships and collaboration.

Is your organization weak in any of these areas? If so, now's the time to strengthen to not just survive, but thrive.