SPURspectives

Over the last several years the economy has taken an alarming toll on the community benefit sector. For many organizations and foundations income is down 20% to 40% and sometimes more. No business can contract that much without suffering tremendous pain. While the markets have shown signs of rebounding over the last several weeks, other issues cloud the horizon brewing the next potential storm. The financial situation in Greece is believed by some to be the first of more to come. Others are concerned about the massive amount of credit card debt that is still outstanding and could fall into default without significant job gains. Then there’s the looming end to a record 99 weeks of unemployment insurance that could send hundreds of thousands of families into further financial difficulty. It may be nothing. It could all blow over. But any and all of this could put an incalculable strain on the already stretched to breaking community benefit sector.

So, where exactly is the silver lining in this cloud? It’s in your head.

In times of extraordinary stress, you need to think differently. It is time to forget the way things have always been done. The world changed and they won’t be done that way anymore. The community benefit sector will be among the last to recover as you wait on the philanthropic sector to reload. It’s time to design your future. The future will surely come, what it looks like is up to you.

But how do you cut more when you’re already hitting the bone? How will you possibly deliver services to more, perhaps many more, with so much less? Here are four keys that I think can help redesign the community benefit sector in a way that will benefit everyone:

Stop competing for $
Funding is limited and will continue to be for some time. Don’t compete for funding when you’d be better off to cooperate with other agencies.

Don’t duplicate effort
It may be time to merge the five domestic violence shelters or three Habitat for Humanity affiliates in your community. Second day savings scaling to one back office could open up resources for delivering programming.

Deliver total solutions
Create cooperative agreements with agencies that deliver services up and downstream from the service that you offer. Cooperate to solve problems instead of working to deliver your slice of service. Of course most organizations do some of this now. But it is time to look at the community in its entirety and forge cooperative agreements that eliminate duplication of effort and maximize efficiencies across the full scope of the human condition.

Market and fundraise as a team
Everyone is competing for a radically smaller pot. The increase in the personal savings rate to more than 4% from 0% is wonderful news, but it’s money that used to flow into philanthropy. Consolidated marketing efforts that draw attention to the complexity of interrelated social ills will limit the number of choices available. People respond more to fewer choices.

This would require a radical redesign of the entire community benefit sector. However, once completed we would all benefit from a far more efficient and logical use of resources.

Image Kaninaskis Rainbow by Chris and Lara Pawluk from Flickr, used under Creative Commons

Tags: economy, fundraising, marketing, nonprofit