What Nonprofits Need to Do Now: Ep. 19 of Red Sky Fuel for Thought Podcast

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

·     How the 3 P’s (Pandemic, Polarizing Politics, and Protests around social justice) have affected nonprofit organizations

·     Why partnerships between nonprofits and grassroots organizations will be essential to equity

·     How nonprofits are reimagining their operating models to survive and thrive after the pandemic

The pandemic affected nearly every organizational system around the globe, and the 1.3 million nonprofits in the United States were no exception. As a follow up to Red Havas’ June 2020 white paper Too Good to Fail, these challenges and opportunities were revisited 18 months later in a new updated report, which includes interviews with executives and communicators from various U.S.-based nonprofit organizations.

In this special episode, Red Havas’ Linda Descano, CFA^® is joined by fellow Redsters, Melanie Klausner, EVP, and Joseph Giumarra, AVP, to expand on the numerous ways nonprofits have adapted in recent months, including by utilizing partnerships with other organizations, adjusting operational models to survive the pandemic, and re-evaluating DEI and employee outreach to meet the moment.

“The truly smart nonprofits have created a space to have real conversations with their stakeholders, employees, volunteers, and donors” says Melanie on the latter. “It's no longer enough to rely on the fact that your organization is doing good and is purpose-driven. You need to be actionable by denouncing racism and intolerance and hold yourself accountable to those actions.”

To make it through the pandemic, many nonprofits had to change their operational models altogether to adjust to a rapidly changing world. “What I would say has defined the nonprofit sector over the past 18 months is agility and resilience,” says Joseph. “Many nonprofits had to reassess their strategy and had to be agile to understand what they were going to do because they didn't have the same lanes of fundraising, and the needs for their community were completely different. Now, they're more innovative than ever before because they understand what it is to go through a crisis.”

Partnerships between competing organizations also factored into the survival of many nonprofits, especially for grassroots organizations which were more likely to experience a drop in funding in the last year. “The economic downturn led to a lot of fear within nonprofits that donations were going to dry up, so they set aside the competition and leaned on each other,” says Joseph. “The digital transformation and loss of door-to-door communications caused grassroots organizations to shift and reprioritize.”

To wrap up the discussion, both guests provided advice for brand managers moving forward, reflecting on lessons learned in the last 18 months.

“It is okay to be overwhelmed with everything that is going on,” says Joseph. “You have to embrace that. But don't be paralyzed by it. You're in the position you are because you know what the mission is, you know the organization, and you know the community. So, take a step back and look at it holistically. There is a solution to everything that is out there. It's just a matter of time until you find what that solution is.”

Says Melanie, “You always have to expect the unexpected, and try as best you can to plan for it. You need to make sure that you have alternative solutions and have thought through best and worst-case scenarios. Be proactive in controlling what you can control and navigating the unknown.”

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Also mentioned on this episode:

·     Too Good to Fail: How Nonprofits Can Meet the Communications Challenges of a Pandemic-Altered World

·     Too Good to Fail: How America’s Nonprofits Can Communicate to Rouse the Most Support

·     Team Rubicon Vaccination Efforts

·     Feeding America DEI Initiatives

·     Broadway Cares COVID-19 Fundraiser

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What did you love? What would you like to hear about next?

Remember to rate and review today’s show; we’d love to hear from you!   [LD1]Should we add the two white papers for completeness? Didn’t we also reference something from Step Up that was also in the white paper? Let’s include that.