We’ve all been through the pandemic, the shock, the transitions, the setbacks, and reactions to the start and stop of funding and keeping our mission on track.

So, now that we are on what looks to be the other side of the pandemic, how do we take our lessons, our courage of fighting through the pandemic, and move our mission forward again?

Sabeen Perwaiz has some great tips:

Collaboration

as a nonprofit, we tend to keep our fundraising and donor information under wraps, not that everything needs to be shared, but collaboration with other nonprofits is going to benefit you from their trial-and-error issues, and vice versa.

Honesty

excepting that we don’t have all the answers. But being willing to learn is where collaboration will help in this space. Nonprofits (and for profits) cannot have a metrics driven only process. Truly embrace a trust-based philanthropy.

Perhaps one good thing that came from Covid’s pandemic is the term “co-op-itition” (a blend of cooperate/collaboration and competition). Donors resonate with new ways of nonprofits sharing their story. Nonprofits can’t keep doing things the same old way as before the pandemic. But this doesn’t mean we as nonprofits have to compete for donor’s dollars.

Technology

most nonprofits don’t have a huge surplus for tech costs, so most are operating on a pretty tight budget and don’t have the funds for the latest CRMs, databases, etc. Investing in some of the new technology can help automate several fiddly tasks and keep that mission top of mind.

Staff

with the Great Resignation or Reshuffle, many nonprofits lost staff. This is a great place look at adding funding for…many are ready to come back to an office and have support from their fellow team members, or just have a chat with like minded individuals at the water cooler. Bringing back staff or investing into your remaining staff helps further your mission, as well.

Outsourcing

many tasks can be outsourced to save in-house hiring costs, but also think of outsourcing your communications plan to professionals. Many nonprofits think “I have to have all the platforms for our communication” like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, etc. but then don’t actually connect with their followers or even update their pages. Just having the channels doesn’t do anything.

Cyber Security

first on many lists, systems locked, need to not only have a plan to recuperate your website and trust that funders understand how dire this is for your website.

Trust

Saying “here’s where we could go” if we had xx dollars. If we’re really operating in a trust-based philanthropy we can know our donors is seeing what is important to moving the mission forward.

So, do you have the courage to move your mission forward again? We hope you do. These tips and thoughts are not the only way to move your mission, but a great starting point for any nonprofit (or for profit) organization.

If you want to Connect For More, just reach out to Liz and learn how we can move your mission forward again.