How to Prepare Your Nonprofit for an Uncertain Future

The only thing that’s certain right now is that the future is uncertain. Ever since we were thrust into this pandemic, every day comes with new surprises and anxieties.

So how can you lead your nonprofit when the future is so hard to predict?

You Are Not Alone at Your Nonprofit

Although it may feel like it sometimes, you are not alone. Lean on your board, your staff, your volunteers, and even your clients for ideas and recommendations. Use this time to take stock of the new reality in the face of COVID-19 and reassess your nonprofit and your options.

Assess where you can go from here.

You can do an assessment / evaluation formally or informally, and in one-on-one or group settings.

To begin the conversation, gather together a few key staff and board members to brainstorm via Zoom. Ask for out-of-the-box ideas about how your nonprofit could move ahead. In an ideal world, how would your organization look and function in 2, 6, and 24 months from now?

Be sure to give everyone who joins the meeting an opportunity to participate by calling on them by name. Go around the virtual room at least twice to be sure everyone gets multiple chances to contribute. Their ideas will give you something to work with as you consider the perils and possibilities.

An Opportunity to Reinvent and Reimagine the Future

Use this worldwide pause to reinvent and reimagine the future of your organization, as well as your service delivery model.

Consider your service delivery model.

A few examples of organizations that have changed their service model or reinvented themselves over the past months include:

• Public radio stations have successfully been reporting and broadcasting from home
• Schools are operating online and with remote learning
• Animal shelters are operating without shelters through new “foster at home” programs
• Soup kitchen have transitioned to doing take out-only

Not only that, but costly offices in high-rent areas now have staff all working from home and reevaluating the need for all that space.

Many of these changes would have seemed unimaginable only a short time ago. Now, these nonprofits and many others are operating in entirely new ways. The new ways may not be ideal, but they force new thinking — so make that thinking count.

Preparing for an Uncertain Future: Plan for Many Contingencies

When the unknown looms large, it’s important to think ahead and remain flexible. That may mean having multiple plans in place for a variety of scenarios.

3 scenarios you should contemplate…

For example, consider these three scenarios:

1. What happens if you raise a lot of money?
2. What happens if you raise some money?
3. What happens if you raise no money?

These scenarios will include things like services provided, staff hired and fired, etc. Ask yourself the difficult questions and start putting some plans into place to mitigate and/or leverage whatever the future may bring your way.

Push yourself to consider tough questions.

Then probe deeper with regards to the immediate reality forced upon us by this pandemic. Ask questions you’ve never discussed as a team before. For example:

• Could some or all of your staff work from home?
• Do you really need to have fundraising events to raise money?
• Can you provide your services differently?

There’s no more “because that’s the way we’ve always done it.” So don’t let that sort of thinking influence your plans. You need to be flexible and forward-thinking.

Discuss Each Scenario with Your Board Members and Donors

After you’ve had time to consider different scenarios on your own, it’s time to engage others in your planning. To what extent will board members and donors pitch in to get you to make scenario #1 a reality, or prevent scenario #3 from coming to pass? Use this opportunity to engage and involve others like never before.

Lead your team into the future by being thoughtful, flexible, and resilient. If you can do that, you’re much more likely to carve out a positive future for your nonprofit.