Moving the Needle

The economy remains volatile and government cuts are upon us.  The needs in our communities are growing and even the strongest nonprofit organizations are struggling to “steady the ship.”  Executive Director and CEO transitions, too, are disrupting the ability of nonprofit organizations to remain effective.

As nonprofit funding changes, community need increases, and executive directors transition, it makes sense that the most caring and connected foundations and corporations are looking for ways to ensure the health and stability of their own “mission-critical” grantees.  Karen Brown (Support Center Board Member and Fairfield County Community Foundation VP of Programs), in a recent interview in Philanthropy News Digest’s Philantopic said, “We’ve been urging grantees to continue to invest in staff and professional development and not to look at those kinds of investments as frills…funders need to consider supporting these programs in order to help organizations hold the line on their budgets without sacrificing effectiveness.”

Many private and corporate funders are investing in efforts to ensure the health and well-being of the nonprofit groups and communities they care about.  JPMorgan Chase Foundation, the Altman Foundation, and the Prudential Foundation are just three of the many foundations that are demonstrating a real commitment to nonprofit effectiveness and impact, and are partnering in the Support Center’s efforts to guide nonprofit change and transition.

While we know that some of our readers have worked directly with us and have experience with all of these services, we realize that many of you may not be as familiar with our full scope of offerings.  Here is a brief overview:

Executive Search and Transition Management (ESTM)

A change in leadership, whether from a founder, long-time executive director, or a mismatched hire, can be a pivotal time in the life of a nonprofit—presenting an opportunity to examine organizational challenges and make decisions for future directions. Here at the Support Center, we use the proven techniques of Executive Search and Transition Management  to address organizational needs and work to strengthen the whole organization, while also successfully managing the hiring of a new leader. Our three-phase process addresses a nonprofit’s needs through an organizational assessment, facilitates the hiring of the new executive, and guarantees a successful outcome with “on-boarding” consulting for the new leader. Throughout the process, our consultants work hand-in-hand with board members, staff, funders and other stakeholders in the community.

Change Consulting and Turnaround Services

In addition to facing leadership changes, NYC nonprofits—like many others nationwide—have been hit by significant declines in funding in the wake of government shortfalls and the volatile economy. Nonprofits—from arts and culture groups to human service organizations—are undergoing painful reassessments and restructuring, including mergers, acquisitions, collaborations, cutbacks and closings. Adjusting to this new economy means increasing effectiveness and sustainability for many small to mid-sized neighborhood based nonprofit organizations. Increased funding from foundations this year allows us to reach out to more nonprofits and provide critical Change Consulting  services that can help them assess current programs, improve financial management, increase board engagement and fundraising effectiveness, while keeping our fees affordable to NYC-area small and mid-sized nonprofits.

Professional Development and Cohort Learning

Each year we strive to develop the best course offerings, listening to your requests and needs for professional development. As we plan for 2012, increased funding will allow us to expand the range of workshops, tailor them to your time-frames (half-day, full-day and evening offerings), and add more custom programming at affordable rates. In addition, we also will be developing new opportunities for cohort learning. The Trajectory Leadership Group we formed this year has confirmed our belief that cohort learning is an effective means for executive directors and other senior nonprofit professionals to learn new skills and learn from one another in a supportive atmosphere outside of their offices and daily activities.

Find out more about our work and partnerships by visiting us at www.supportcenteronline.org.

In this new book, authors John Brothers, Senior Fellow here at the Support Center, and Anne Sherman,  of TCC Group seek to help nonprofit leaders figure out how to effectively navigate change within their organization, no matter how large or small the nonprofit might be.  They use the theory of nonprofit  “lifecycle advancement’  as a type of change management that can help organizations build capacities that are appropriate to each stage of a nonprofit.

“A central question for leadership is to identify where, and when, to focus organizational energy, and that is where Brothers and Sherman’s book comes in. Changing organizations is never easy, which is why managers need the right set of maps and tools—like this one.” Jon Pratt, Executive Director, Minnesota Council of Nonprofits.

What’s Included?

Chapter One:  Change as a defining force in the nonprofit sector

Chapter Two – Chapter Six: Examines the five life cycle phases of organizations, including a discussion of how an organization in decline can navigate a turnaround

Throughout the text the authors:

• Make the case for a deliberate change process, yet also acknowledge the very real challenges
• Provide a context for the struggles that nonprofits face
• Offer success stories
• Offer frameworks and tools that leaders can apply in their own organizations.

Building Nonprofit Capacity is a highly useful guide for nonprofit professionals who want to focus on capacity building efforts that will yield the greatest impact. Books can be ordered at Amazon.

John Brothers, is a Senior Fellow at the Support Center for Nonprofit Management  and the owner of Cuidiu Consulting in New York City.

Anne Sherman is an Associate Director and Co-director of the Strategy Practice at TCC Group in New York City.

“The case for leveraging philanthropic dollars by fortifying nonprofits’ fundraising capability seems like a no-brainer. But is it?”  In this Stamford Social Innovation Review blog post, TCC’s Paul Connolly says new research conducted for the Packard Foundation says NO.  Paul reports that “grantees that concentrated on improving fund development capacity reported inferior longer-term outcomes compared to those that focused on strategic planning, organizational learning, or leadership succession. Why? “Oftentimes, fundraising difficulties are a symptom of a deeper underlying problem..”  Read Paul’s post and what others in the field, including the Support Center’s Don Crocker, have to say about this issue.

“When thinking about strengthening nonprofit fundraising capacity, many foundations believe in the old adage, “Give a person a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a person to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” They wish, “If we could only improve nonprofits’ ability to generate revenues, then they would become more resilient…and less reliant on us.” Most nonprofits concur: “Just fund a development director position for us,” they implore, “and it will pay for itself in a year, enabling us not just to survive but to thrive.” Fundraising advisors encourage this support too. At the Council on Foundations annual conference in April, Dan Pallotta, author of Uncharitable: How Restraints on Nonprofits Undermine Their Potential, proclaimed to a ballroom full of grantmakers, “We should be capitalizing on the multiplication potential by funding the fundraising operations that can fund the programs.” He contended that investment—whether it’s in a major gift campaign, a planned giving or special event program, or the expansion of development staff—consistently generates a positive return.” Read more

The nonprofit sector is fortunate to be able to attract many smart and idealistic young people into its ranks each year. But how do we make sure they stay and prosper to handle the leadership and governance challenges of the future?

While University and college-based programs have clearly made great strides in preparing young leaders to enter the sector, many potential leaders who come into the sector are faced with learning critical skills on the job. For example, a well-functioning executive director needs to have good instincts and skills in fundraising, financial management, board relations, and staffing. Most leaders have one or two of these strengths, but do not know where they can turn to get support or skills training in the other areas. Some are even reluctant to ask because they know there is little funding in their organization for it, and they also do not want to be perceived as weak.

A few creative examples of how funders are helping to support nonprofit leadership and staff development shows how a little funding can go a long way to creating welcoming learning environments:

• Cohort Learning – American Express Foundation has provided funding for our Trajectory Leadership Group and Robert Wood Johnson’s New Jersey Health Initiatives program supports a CEO Roundtable. In both settings nonprofit CEOs can bring their issues to a larger, objective group, and hone their skills through interaction with peers and other more experienced executive directors.

• Personalized services – Numerous funders in our region have supported the development and refinement of leadership skills through personalized services such as one-on-one executive coaching, or the short- or longer-term use of a consultant to develop a specific professional capacity.

• Workshop “just-in-time” training – Still other funders (for example, PSEG in New Jersey and the New York State Council on the Arts) provide scholarship support to the Support Center so that their grantees can attend one or more of our many in-person workshops. In this option, the grantee has the flexibility of choosing the courses and timing that best fits their needs and schedules.

• Webinars – This format is good for introductions to a topic or for learning discreet concepts. Bank of America has been hosting numerous webinars to benefit the sector. This, of course, provides ultimate flexibility in reaching staff pressed for time. However, it is not a substitute for the networking that can occur in an interactive, in-person environment.

What will fuel future success is when more grantmakers see how even small investments in their grantees’ staff will have long-term benefits to our communities and those who live in them.

What is working for you, and what would you like to see in philanthropy’s investment in our future? E-mail me at dcrocker@supportcenteronline.org or leave a comment.

Read about capacity building, change-oriented consulting, executive transitions, and more in my recent interview with Laura Cronin in Philantopic here.

Your comments are important to us—tell us about your experiences related to any of these topics.

-Don Crocker