Keeping Your Nonprofit Strong in a Down Economy

With the economy in turmoil, nonprofits are becoming even more stressed about finances. Where will the money come from? How do we retain cash-strapped donors? What can I do?

We don’t have any easy answers, but we’re sharing a list of resources we’ve come across, to help your organization weather the storm.

Responding to the economic crisis – Kathleen Enright, the executive director of Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, urges leaders in philanthropy to hold steady with their support to nonprofits and communities who need it now more than ever.
The Economic Crisis: Centralized Information Resources for Funders and Nonprofits – Associated Grant Makers regularly updates a list of resources available to keep you current on the impact that the financial crisis is having on nonprofits. The section Compiled List of Links features information to help nonprofits navigate the difficult times ahead.
It May Be Hard Times – This compendium of Nonprofit Quarterly articles was compiled to support your thinking and action while you monitor the current chaos in the world’s financial system.
Now’s the time to save on expenses – Accounting Management Solutions offers suggestions based on work with a wide cross-section of for-profit and nonprofit entities.
Nonprofits in a faltering economy: Where’s the bailout for agencies that help our neediest?
OpEd in the December 1, 2008, Los Angeles Times By Teresa DeCrescenzo.

Open Letter to Governor Deval Patrick from the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network

At the end of September 2008, as the economy went into a tailspin, the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network Board of Directors sent a letter to the governor of the Commonwealth, calling on him to make sure that the state budget, facing income shortfalls, does not disproportionately harm nonprofits and the communities they serve.

September 25, 2008

Governor Deval Patrick
Massachusetts State House
Boston, Massachusetts 02133

Dear Governor Patrick:

Nonprofit organizations now represent the largest sector of the Massachusetts economy with nearly 14% of all jobs in the commonwealth. This number is larger than financial services, manufacturing and other sectors. To fix our state’s economic problems by cutting its major source of jobs is not wise, particularly when one considers three key facts: (1) these jobs won’t relocate out of state; (2) these jobs deliver services that are not "optional," especially in tough economic times when more and more citizens of the commonwealth will turn to us for help and (3) we’re by far the leading employers in neighborhoods and gateway communities that can ill afford to have major job losses on the heels of a foreclosure crisis.

We know that Massachusetts is facing some tough times. Although our state economy seems to be more resistant to the economic downturn than other states, the reality is that it will be impossible to avoid the effects of the poor management of the economy nationally, and it appears that our state budget is in trouble. In reaction to this, one thing that the state should not do is balance the budget on the backs of the communities served by nonprofit organizations.

Nonprofits are already reeling from the meltdown in private philanthropy that is coming with the collapse of financial services. "9c" cuts to nonprofits, coupled with the private philanthropy decline, could seriously destabilize the state’s leading employer, to say nothing of the consequences of eliminating essential services at a time when our residents will need those services more than ever.

We went through this "perfect storm" in 2001-03 under less enlightened leadership in the state house. We would like to believe that we can learn from the mistakes made seven years ago and not exacerbate an already dire economic forecast for our communities. We are looking to you for that leadership, and we are willing and eager to work alongside you as well as leaders from other sectors affected by this crisis to find viable solutions that protect our economy and our communities. If at the federal level we can find a way to provide $700 billion to bail out Wall Street, surely we can find a way at the state level to save nonprofits on our Main Streets.

Sincerely,

Massachusetts Nonprofit Network Board of Directors

Bill Walczak, President MNN, Codman Square Health Center, Dorchester
Georgia Antonopoulos, Easton
George Bachrach, Environmental League of Massachusetts, Boston
Julia Burgess, Martha’s Vineyard Community Services, Vineyard Haven
Jim Canavan, Northern Berkshire United Way, North Adams
Sylvia Dehaas-Phillips, Springfield
Rebecca Donham, Metrowest Nonprofit Network
Susan Egmont, Egmont Associates, Boston
James Hunt, Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, Boston
Dan Hunter, Massachusetts Advocates for the Arts, Sciences and Humanities, Boston
Joe Kriesberg, Massachusetts Association of CDCs, Boston
Crista R. Martinez Padua, Families First Parenting Programs, Cambridge
Stephen Pratt, MY TURN, Brockton
Carol Lavoie Schuster, Boston
David Shapiro, Mass Mentoring Partnership, Boston/Springfield
Jonathan Spack, Third Sector New England, Boston
David Turcotte, Nonprofit Alliance of Greater Lowell
Michael Weekes, Massachusetts Council of Human Service Providers, Boston