Dear Readers, here is the much-requested recovery roadmap for nonprofits to come out of lockdown 2.0 with a flexible fiscal strategy that reflects the post-pandemic reality. To say that COVID-19 shattered our lives is not an understatement. Most of us don’t even recognize our lives anymore. We work, eat, workout, and donate differently! Unfortunately, millions of Americans have lost their jobs, are going hungry, and are overwhelmed. They are forced to make burdensome health or financial choices unthinkable just a year ago.
It’s also been a tough year for nonprofits!
Understandably, the need for charitable and nonprofit organizations is at an all-time high given this grim reality. As we make our way out of lockdown 2.0, leadership teams in the public sector should brace themselves for an uptick in hard work, long nights, and loads of stress. Consequently, this blog has put together a recovery game plan to help directors, executive teams, and the board of directors manage fiscal stress and continue to do the great work the many communities desperately need.
Welcome to new and returning readers to the Branding24Seven community!
The JMS team is back with valuable insights that will inspire you to be fearless in the pursuit of your dreams. Dear Readers, if it’s your first time here, welcome, and thanks for stopping by the JMS blog. FYI, JMS is a consulting firm located in Philadelphia that advises people and companies to manage risk and avoid organizational or fiscal paralysis. To that end, the JMS team is in the business of designing recovery plans as robust as possible that avoid behavioral or productivity inertia. Therefore, Dear Readers, this blog will help you make sense of these unprecedented times without feeling devoid of motivation and utterly defeated. Now, let’s go over the two golden rules you need to have a speedy fiscal recovery after an interminable lockdown 2.0.
In the last nonprofit article, this blog discussed the two strategies executive directors need to survive 2020 as donations plummet amid new COVID-19 restrictions. Today’s publication is your guideline to learning how to effectively manage prolonged fiscal stress since the global pandemic appears to be lingering longer than expected.
Nonprofit Finance Golden Rule One: People give to people.
The assumption that your mission statement is what compels donors to support your nonprofit is erroneous. Yes, Dear Readers, if there is one thing you should take away from today’s publication, it’s this one truth. Not convinced? Well, let’s think about it. How many nonprofits are in your city or town serving similar communities with related service offerings? Quite a lot! So why are all of them able to attract donations? Because donors are people who relate to people.
Of course, this blog does not suggest ditching your mission statement altogether! Rather than obsess over the look of the “about page” of your website, Dear Readers, this blog invites you to put in the time to cultivate current, past, and lapsed donors. The more you can connect with people, the better your donation prospects will be in the short and long term. There is no better return on your investment than to spend some of your valuable time talking, connecting, laughing with people. The more people get to know you, the better chance to turn them into believers and donors! Do you know a better way to assure a speedy recovery after lockdown 2.0? Leave a comment below!
Nonprofit Finance Golden Rule Two: Encourage your staff to recommit to your mission.
This rule builds upon the first one. Anyone who works for nonprofits believes that the mission statement is the beating heart of the organization. And this blog is not challenging this belief, Dear Readers. Understandably, the mission statement is essential to the work nonprofits set out to accomplish. You could even say that it is the raison d’être of many executive directors and founding members. However, it is not so for employees, no matter how dedicated they may be to their positions!
Indeed, nonprofit employees are busy like everyone else! They live complicated with competing interests, especially now as the pandemic rages on and children are still learning remotely! Dear Readers, they are juggling many priorities at once, and you cannot expect them to put the organization ahead of their welfare or that of their loved ones. Therefore, it falls on the nonprofit leadership team to encourage their employees to explore all avenues to strengthen their connection to the mission. All you can ask, Dear Readers, is that they remain committed to fulfilling their contractual duties while at work and pray that they do not burn out on the job!
So, Dear Readers, how can employees ease the likely fiscal management stress you have been wrestling with since your state entered lockdown 2.0? Well, this blog suggests finding ways to inspire them without being in their faces! Your employees will emulate your actions. So, if you want to convince anyone to give an extra inch to support the organization, Dear Readers, you must lead by example and show them what to do. For instance, if a speedy fiscal recovery is a priority, then you’ll have to show them new ways to engage with potential donors through their work.
Golden nugget for your next capital campaign.
When working with nonprofits on capital campaigns, the JMS team always aims to raise a third of funds through in-house generated donor leads. Contrary to popular belief, such leads do not come from the work of the development team. Instead, donor leads materialize because potential donors have had the opportunity to see nonprofit employees in action. It is usually the employees’ commitment to the organization that spurs further giving!
In short, Dear Readers, the more engaged employees are, the more committed they are to the mission, and the more likely they are to share their enthusiasm beyond work hours and with unbeknownst yet potential donors. Do you know a better way to assure a speedy recovery after lockdown 2.0? If you need help to devise a strategy to explore how you can implement a revamped engagement process of seasoned employees to double overall productivity and, therefore, increase donation levels by 25 percent, email us at jms@branding24seven.com for a free 15-min consultation today!
Final thoughts.
There you have it, Dear Readers! Thank you for taking the time to read today’s publication. This blog invites you to come back every week for fresh, thought-provoking content that will inspire you to change the framework you use to evaluate untapped channels to bolster your brand messaging and reach.
So, Dear Readers, what changes do you plan on making to make up for the potential shortfall in charitable giving this year? Do you have a strategy to encourage employees to cultivate potential donors rather than confining charitable giving to the leadership or development team? Have we missed anything? How has the pandemic affected your work? We’d love to hear from you in the comment section below, by email jms@branding24seven.com, or by mail at JMStrategy LLC,
21 S. 11th Street, 2nd Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19107.
For more, Dear Readers, learn how leaders like you can promote resilience and double the productivity of your teams even amid a pandemic.
Leave a Reply