Making your case in the face of crisis

We created Aperio because we believe nonprofits are essential and should be funded accordingly. Every day, nonprofit organizations meet needs that government cannot, and businesses cannot. In times of crisis, it’s more clear than ever that some needs simply can only be fulfilled by people helping people.

These days, everyone is grasping for relevancy. Every politician has a plan. Every company is a hero. Every celebrity is bringing us new ‘content’ to brighten up our dull days. Our lives could not be quieter, and yet they seem overwhelmingly noisy.

What has surprised me through all this is how quiet nonprofits have been—despite being genuinely relevant. So many organizations seem to be in ‘wait-and-see’ mode, biding time until they can resume planning fall events. Communications have slowed, as organizations hold off on sharing plans and ideas until they are fully formed or, impossibly, certain.

Last week, I wrote about the importance of fundraisers spending their days calling and connecting with donors.

This week, my challenge to all of us in the nonprofit space is: it’s time to take our driver’s seat in the holistic response to this crisis. That means defining and claiming our role. It means casting a bold vision. It means telling our story boldly and often. And it means inviting donors to join us, unapologetically.

The future of our country depends on it.

It’s time to own our relevancy.

Overall, as a community, we are overlooking our own relevancy. We have set the bar for relevancy impossibly high and inexcusably narrow.

In my conversations with nonprofit leaders, I’m hearing a lot of thinking along the lines of: “We’re adjusting how we work, but we’re not directly involved in the response.” Meanwhile, every company I’ve ever walked past is providing me a minute-by-minute update on their response to COVID-19—as though our future hinges on the continued production of the world’s most comfortable sweatpants (these, by the way).

While companies have embraced the spirit of everyone having something to contribute, nonprofits have bowed out of the conversation because we aren’t all literally in the emergency room.

It’s time to let that go. This crisis is not only about health. And it is not a temporary blip we can wait out. It is lasting and an irreversible disruption in all aspects of our lives. That means it’s a crisis of community, of family, of wellbeing, of medicine, of the arts, of animal welfare, of international relations, you name it. 

Every nonprofit is a part of the response. And it is vital that we actually respond. To be sure, our society’s most critical needs are ventilators, personal protection equipment, support for healthcare workers, and special care for vulnerable populations. But we have more needs, and they span every part of life.

To be relevant, your organization doesn’t need to be in the emergency room. Or even in the healthcare sector. The key question is: What is your organization’s unique contribution to the response? What is the one thing only you can do? Why does it matter, as we consider our needs holistically?

Your organization exists because there is something about your mission that the world needs. Whatever it is, I promise you that today we need it more.

It’s time to cast our vision.

None of us can predict the future, but it is increasingly clear that we are in for a tough year(s). We all need to be planning how we will navigate both this immediate crisis and life beyond it, as we resume—and undoubtedly transform—how we live and work.

Many nonprofits are paralyzed with financial crisis. Leaders’ days are consumed with panic-inducing questions: Can we afford to keep our doors open? If we close temporarily, will we ever reopen?

Counter-intuitively, the path out of that panic is to pretend for a moment that finances are not a constraint. We need to cast a vision for how we should be or would be operating if we could. To do so, we need to take the time to answer the questions below in the most bold, creative, and forward-looking way:

• Ideally, how would our organization add value to our national response to this crisis?

• How would we adapt our work so it could continue, despite the constraints of isolation?

• How would we take care of the people that make up our community—our clients, our staff, our donors, our volunteers?

• How would we be preparing now for a resumption of our ‘normal’ work when it’s safe to do so?

• What kind of backlog or special needs will we face when we resume?

• How might the landscape change, and how might the structure of our organization need to adapt?

These questions are important to answer for their own sake—for inspiration, direction, team alignment, and impact.

They are also the foundation of a compelling case for support to donors. Funding gaps rarely inspire donors to give generously because financial woes are not inspiring. That’s even more true now as people watch businesses and nonprofits close all around them. People don’t want to throw their money onto a sinking ship. They want to invest in something that will survive—and, more than that, will meet genuine needs in this crisis and beyond.

To secure critical funding to bridge our organizations through this crisis, we will need to explain how that funding will move our missions forward in a meaningful and sustainable way.

It’s time to share that vision—even in the absence of certainty.

At this point, you probably don’t have all the answers. (If you do, we are all very impressed!) That’s okay. All of America is growing accustomed to living with profound uncertainty. 

What people value now is authenticity. 

They want to know what you’re doing and how you’re being creative to solve challenges. They want to hear about your out-of-the-box approach to continuing your mission. They want to experience your mission through conversations, videos, stories, activities, virtual gatherings, and the like. They want to see you be real and serious about your role—and even playful at times. And they don’t only want to talk about COVID-19.

But more than anything, they want to know that you are planning ahead and doing it now. Your plans don’t need to be fully formed, absolutely certain, or funded yet. (These days, we all subconsciously insert an asterisk on all statements: *Subject to change.) But they do need to be shared. In our current, extra-TMI moment, oversharing is the norm. Too little communication reads as no plan—and therefore no viability.

It’s time to ask donors to join your piece of the response.

Every day, millions of Americans ask: how can I help? People are looking for ways to play a meaningful role in the response to this crisis. And when they think of the response, they are thinking about it holistically.

It’s a mistake to assume that you have to be a hospital, research facility, or food bank to attract donations today. And it’s an even bigger mistake to assume you don’t deserve them.

If you have done the groundwork of casting and sharing your vision, you are ready to start asking people to join you. You are part of the response, and people want to help you do your part.