How Nonprofits Can Weather An Economic Crisis

A poor economic turn can be hard on all business concerns. However, what might be merely challenging for a large conglomerate, can prove all but devastating for a nonprofit. As with all entities that rely on monies, the challenge is simple. As revenues decrease monetary needs go up. What to do? One option is to cut costs by omitting programs, or portions of programs. The problem is that programs are for people. People are hurt when programs are changed or dropped. What can also happen, is that donors fall off. This is a result often overlooked. Program directors, anxious to balance the books, start defunding. While it seems to be a proactive move, it ends up hurting the nonprofit as those mentors see that their monies are not doing what they want those monies to do. The alternative is finding new and creative ways to increase the revenue streams you have. Even if you already have dedicated donors, consider new strategies in approaching them. Try online fundraising and direct mail options. Consider virtual meetings and videotape ads. Develop monthly giving and crisis campaign options. Whatever the problem is that has put your non-profit in the red, it is possible to identify it and understand it and deal with it.

Key Takeaways:

• During economic crisis nonprofit organizations can suffer from two different problems: or their expenses are too elevated, or their revenues are not high enough.
• If the challenge is that the expenses are too high, the logical response is to cut expenses, however, this needs to be done cautiously.
• In the case of finding that the revenues are too low, there are several strategies to try to solve the problem. Some of them are increasing the monthly giving programs, asking for special gifts, etc.

“If you’re able to find new revenue sources, you balance your budget without sacrificing the types of programs and services on which your constituents rely.”

Read more: https://bloomerang.co/blog/how-nonprofits-can-weather-an-economic-crisis/