With growing numbers of poorly led not-for-profit organizations scratching for elusive funding, is the industry prepared to survive tough times? Is it time for all nonprofits to get better organized and speak with one voice?
Leaders in philanthropy think it is. So on Oct. 16, some 700 delegates and participants will converge on D.C. for an unprecedented national conclave to chart the future of the growing, but increasingly strained, nonprofit industry.
The two-day Nonprofit Congress, sponsored by the National Council of Nonprofit Associations, reflects a from-the-ground-up call to arms, says Jocelyn Harmon, the organization’s director for development and communications.
By the time delegates gather in D.C. this fall, Harmon said her group will have held more than 100 town hall meetings around the country, where nonprofits can air their gripes as well as their priorities for action. All of this input is being folded into a final, all-encompassing agenda that her group will release to delegates and the public next month.
Problems identified so far include poor public awareness of what nonprofits do with increasingly limited resources and the need for a greater voice at the local governments and national level. That voice could be with public officials, Harmon said, but also with business and local community leaders.
“It is a unique initiative and not just a national meeting,” said Harmon, and a way for nonprofits to get “re-engaged” with more focused advocacy, and find “solutions to all of the problems nonprofits face.”
Local delegates are ready for some unusually straight talk on future challenges.
“As someone with a long career in nonprofit organizations, as both paid and volunteer staff, I am concerned about how we are perceived by the general public,” says Del. Marina Streznewski, manager, development and public policy for Community Family Life Services Inc.
Streznewski said she was unhappy with the actions of some of the industry’s giants.
“Admittedly, a few large nonprofits have made some very loud mistakes — and, yes, there are some nonprofits that are simply fronts for other activities. Exhibit A: Jack Abramoff,” she said.
She urged her colleagues to prove “that we are accountable.”
One of her goals for the Congress is to make a start on an educational campaign to teach people how nonprofits really work, including the role of fundraising.
“We need to do a better job of educating the general public about what we do — and what we really need to do it,” Streznewski said. “We’re not businesses that don’t make money — the operational model is very different. We need to do a better job of telling that story if we are to stay viable.”
Streznewski also said she thinks there may simply be too many nonprofits
“I have observed a tendency over the past several years for people to start new nonprofits, rather than trying to work with or change agencies that have operated successfully for many years,” she said.
Del. Jeff Kost, deputy executive director for external affairs of the D.C.-based Center for Nonprofit Advancement, shared many of the same concerns.
“There has been a huge increase in new nonprofit organizations and it is a challenge to support them with resources that are not growing at the same rate,” Kost told The Examiner.
Streznewski suggested that fundraisers contributed to the problem by often offering money only to organizations less than, say, three years old.
“It is unreasonable to assume that older organizations cannot offer innovative solutions — just as it is unreasonable to assume the new kid on the block knows nothing,” Streznewski said. “We need to work together to solve the societal problems we were created to solve.”
She pointed out that no single agency can eliminate the problems that nonprofits struggled with daily, like homelessness.
“We work best when we work together — and I am looking forward to the Nonprofit Congress for precisely that reason,” she said.
Kost, who is helping to organize the D.C. Town Hall meeting on July 19, said he hopes the meeting will serve as a way for nonprofits to assess their value to their communities.
“I think that it is time for a greater awareness of the charitable sector,” he said. “Everyone has been affected by a nonprofit at one time or another in his or her life, but we often don’t recognize or acknowledge it.”
But he was also pragmatic.
“I don’t believe we can necessarily speak with one voice, because the nonprofit sector is too large to get consensus on what that platform would be,” he said. “However, the Nonprofit Congress is going to be a good first step in starting the dialogue.”
Have information about area nonprofits? Contact Frank Sietzen at [email protected].
