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While COVID-19 continues to disrupt operations, the pandemic is certainly not the last crisis that nonprofit organizations will confront. Responding to crisis is something all organizations will do, and everyone from program assistants to the board chair play a role in. This video series zeroes in on nonprofit board governance amid crisis by providing quick action steps across five areas:

  • Moving from Sustainability to Survivability
  • Leading with Impact
  • Building an Inclusive Strategy
  • Strengthening the Nonprofit Business Model
  • Rebuilding Revenue Strategy

We invite boards to view these collectively and to customize the ideas offered to their organizations to adapt and respond to crises.

This series is made possible by the Barbara Burt Innovative Leader Fund, part of Foellinger Foundation’s Helene Foellinger Leadership Development Initiative.

Moving from Sustainability to Survivability

A crisis can impact any nonprofit organization, though each will be affected differently. Nonprofit leaders may have to cease a certain program’s operations or deliver on increasing demand by completely reimagining a program’s delivery. What is the board’s responsibility while an organization responds to crisis? This video outlines three key areas for board members to focus on.

Leading with Impact

If your organization went away today, who would it matter to and why? This chilling question gets straight to the heart of the reason nonprofit organizations exist. This reason is encapsulated in an organization’s impact, which must be the driver for the board and the organization’s financial strategy. In this video we’ll focus on articulating the intended impact and impact strategy of an organization. By articulating this strategic foundation, board members can make decisions to protect and grow the core of an organization and make a strong case for support from funders.

Building an Inclusive Strategy

What if we could collectively rebuild our organizational strategy? Board members play a crucial role in making sure the organization is reflective and representative of the people the organization serves. They also have a role to play in understanding the market the organization serves – from constituents to funders to staff. Building a truly community-oriented organization, requires thoughtful communication, a deep understanding of the community, and engagement of broad stakeholders.

Strengthening the Nonprofit Business Model

Every single decision organizational leadership makes affects a nonprofit’s ability to accomplish its mission and be financially viable. As a result of a crisis, many organizations will need to revisit and adjust their business models. Doing so may be driven by the financial realities the organization faces, but it needs to reflect the dual bottom line of nonprofits – impact and profitability. In this video we’ll cover the key concepts of nonprofit business models as well as present a quick way to visualize the business model using the matrix map tool.

Rebuilding Revenue

For years nonprofit boards, staff, consultants and academics have searched for the silver bullet of revenue sustainability for organizations. Crises often show that none exist. Unfortunately, as boards come together to discuss revenue, conversations often turn into discussion of, “Who do you know?” This video will focus on looking at revenue from a more strategic perspective including understanding the role of diversity in a revenue strategy and the three key characteristics of any revenue strategy.