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Nonprofit Leadership During Crisis

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A crisis can tell you a lot about your organization. If your nonprofit is functioning at healthy levels, you are able to build upon these strong foundations to weather storms and continue to further the mission. On the other hand, a crisis can often bring up fundamental issues within an organization that need to be dealt with. Here are some areas to take a closer look into to ensure that your organization is set up to withstand and come out of a crisis situation thriving.

It is a Team Effort 

When determining the health of an organization, one needs to look no further than the leadership of the Executive Director or CEO and the Board of Directors. These individuals should be cultivating a productive culture centered around the nonprofit’s core values and mission. Each individual must have a clear understanding of the mission and display commitment through making unique contributions to its success. 

When crises emerge, these individuals must remember why they are here. Their actions always need to take into account the good of the whole. It is vital to be able to do the right thing even when it is hard. When there is this kind of leadership at the top of the organization, the rest of the staff and volunteers will organically follow their example.

Focused and organized

As a board member or Executive Director/CEO, if you are committed to this type of leadership, you will be able to carry out your mission in a focused and organized way. This will allow you to be able to move through any potential fear surrounding a crisis, see challenges as opportunities, be creative and collaborative and continue serving your mission.

Executive Director/CEO relationship with the Board of Directors:

It is essential as an Executive Director to be able to facilitate discussions that are organized and clear to ensure that a nonprofit is always moving toward mission based action. Everyone must be rowing in the same direction. Miscommunications and disagreements must be handled swiftly and moved past in a safe space where the leaders can work collaboratively. Here are some key focuses for an Executive Director when fostering this relationship with the board of directors. 

  1. Accountability. As the Executive Director, you must be clear about your own commitments and accomplishments and how they further the mission. This will give you the ability to follow up on board commitments and accountability. 
  2. Communication. You are the one who is in the day to day operations and will be able to have a clear insight into what is happening within the organization. It is important to understand the best way to communicate with each board member to keep them informed and on the same track and avoid miscommunications.
  3. Appreciation. Board members are volunteers who make efforts to support the mission and you. Showing appreciation goes a long way to build these relationships and continue to move productively forward together. 
  4. Outreach Efforts. Effective communication about your organization’s impact needs to reach your community to garner continuous support. Know your board and understand how each person can individually support these efforts. 

The Board President

As a Board President, or Chair, you must be one of the most dedicated individuals to the mission of a nonprofit. You must be able to provide clarity if the leadership team ever veers off mission and hold them accountable to doing what they have committed to doing. Here are some focuses that will lead to effectiveness as a Board President.

  1. Culture. You need to be able to partner with the Executive Director to always guide the leadership team with the core values and mission. Part of your role is to hold each individual on the team accountable to operate with these in mind. 
  2. Responsibility. You have a huge impact on the health of your board. It is important to understand the different capacities and capabilities of the board and how they can best serve the organization. Don’t let board members waste energy on efforts that don’t make sense. When issues arise, ask the right questions in order to be able to deal with the issues and move on. Board members should be able to depend on your consistency, honesty, communication and organization.
  3. Productivity. Make sure that efforts are always moving forward and that the team is being proactive and adjusting efforts when it makes sense. If something seems to be stuck, deal with it as quickly as possible so it won’t get in the way of the nonprofit’s momentum. 
  4. Strategic.  We cannot stress enough how important it is that efforts are always supporting the mission. You need to continually be able to take a step back and see how each effort fits into the big picture of accomplishing and growing the mission.

Donor Communications in Uncertain Times

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This year, nonprofits are facing challenges that they have never seen before. However, even in the midst of all of the uncertainty, we have hope. Nonprofits, more than most organizations, are used to having to do more with less and adapt and evolve to best accomplish their missions. Organizations who are strong in these skills and are open to looking for creative opportunities to best serve their clients during this time will survive and be able to eventually thrive again. One important key in this is to have clear and consistent communication with donors and prospects that you have been cultivating in order to sustain support.

Get your nonprofit in order

Before you can communicate with donors, you need to be very clear about how your organization is shifting operationally, staying true to its mission by adjusting to your client’s needs and what plan or plans need to be in place for sustainability. These plans must demonstrate an understanding of the current nonprofit landscape and how your cause fits within that landscape. Strong leadership is needed and some difficult decisions may need to be made during this time to move forward in the most responsible way. Some nonprofits are seeing a need to go into hibernation for a time or reduce staff or services. 

Once your organization has clear plans in place, they need to be sure that those plans can continue to be supported financially. Communication to donors is vital to nonprofits surviving this time. Because crises tend to bring clarity to what is really important, nonprofits have the opportunity to present and plead a very clear case to donors for support. 

When to use enewsletters and mailers

There are a variety of channels for communication that can and should be utilized to maximize outreach during this time. For a wider donor base, nonprofits should be using social media, enewsletters and mailers. We discussed social media platforms in last week’s blog, A Nonprofit’s Guide to Online Communication, and those channels are best used for brief updates on what your organization is accomplishing during this time to keep your audiences informed and engaged.

Enewsletters and mailers can be effective tools if you are very intentional with communication and understand what your audience is feeling and what will resonate with them. Many people are reporting currently feeling overwhelmed by the amount of information and updates they receive in their email inboxes during this time. Because of that, many nonprofits are turning to more traditional mailers to reach their donors. Both methods can be effective if the content is relevant and cuts through high volumes of communications. Enewsletters should be used for consistent concise communication with a clear purpose and relevant information. They can also be used for special announcements or to share stories. Mailers can also be effective when used to announce something important or tell a story and can be exciting for an audience that is feeling stuck at home. Mailers are more of an investment so it is important to look at what return you can realistically expect to receive back compared to the cost to ensure that it is a good investment for your nonprofit.

Tips on messaging

When designing content messaging for either newsletters or maileres, nonprofits must first identify what their objective is for each specific communication. Understand who you are trying to reach, what they care about and what you want them to do in response to your message. 

Messaging that will cut through the noise and stand out will be focused on establishing a human connection. People want to feel strongly about what you are doing in order to support your cause. An example of this could be to tell stories about donor impact rather than just reporting your fundraising metrics being met. 

Many nonprofits aren’t sure what length will work best for their communications. It is important not to include irrelevant or unorganized content. This can overwhelm the readers and cause them to stop reading. Only include a message that is related to your objective. On the other hand, when trying to be concise in your message, it is also important not to just boil content down to the top three bulleted points and miss out on telling the story that will result in establishing a human connection with the audience. 

Communications with major donors

Nonprofits must connect with their major donors during this time. Rather than relying on mass communication channels, calls should be made or personal letters sent. It is important to remember that relationships can become stronger when you face difficult times together so this is an opportunity to build even stronger relationships. Your donors haven’t forgotten you and still care about your cause. 

Remember also that a relationship goes both ways and you need to be sure that you are there for your donors and understand where they are and how they feel. What are their current needs or concerns? Are they still able to support your organization? 

With donors who have capacity there could be opportunities for you to work together to brainstorm innovative new ways to serve your clients. Some donors may not have the capacity to be faced with more challenges so it would be important to focus on communicating about what you can do and solutions rather than problems. 

Remember, they know you need money. Let them know you need them. Each relationship is unique so be sensitive to what each donor is dealing with and continue to build these vital relationships during this time.

The Purpose and Importance of a Gift Acceptance Policy

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A Gift Acceptance Policy is an important document for following best practices in nonprofit fundraising. This policy determines in advance which type of donations or gifts the organization will or will not accept. It might seem odd to think of turning down any type of donation when nonprofits are usually so strapped for funds, but that’s one of the primary benefits of developing a Gift Acceptance Policy: to anticipate and think through unusual situations related to donations or gifts to the nonprofit before they occur.

This type of policy is normally used to determine how to handle “Non-Standard Contributions” to the nonprofit. Having a policy for gift acceptance to review non-standard contributions is not legally required, but it is considered a best practice for nonprofit governance. The IRS defines these types of gifts as the “contribution of an item that is not reasonably expected to be used to satisfy or further the organization’s exempt purpose and for which (a) there is no ready market to liquidate the donation to convert it to cash, and (b) the value of the item is difficult to ascertain or speculative.” https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/tools-resources/gift-acceptance-policies

Therefore, if the potential contribution doesn’t further the mission and values of the nonprofit, it could be difficult to deal with and might cause a distraction from your normal activities. For example, a nonprofit that provides some form of housing might be offered a parcel of land with a home. While this might seem to further the mission of the organization, it could end up being a distraction if the property needs major repairs, has tax issues, or raises any other concerns that would make it hard (or impossible) to sell or use for the intended mission of the nonprofit. Trying to deal with the gift might take a long time and require countless staff hours, impacting your already limited budget.

Of course, there could be non-standard gifts that the nonprofit can handle and turn into an asset for the organization. The Gift Acceptance Policy allows you to determine where the offer falls, and can help head off any awkwardness with a donor if you know right away that the gift does not meet the nonprofit’s donation criteria. Having a clear-cut guide for gift eligibility also lessens any chance for misunderstanding or miscommunication with potential donors.

While you might not face the issue of a non-standard contribution, it is an advantage for a nonprofit to have this policy as it clarifies what the organization will or will not accept, and why. It lets the Board of Directors think through donation issues before they arise in order to better address them. The first consideration should always be that any gift accepted by the nonprofit must support and further the mission and values of the nonprofit. It also helps to define the type of in-kind contributions that the nonprofit can’t handle or dispose of easily or safely.

Your Gift Acceptance Policy doesn’t have to be elaborate. It can be as simple as a statement from the Board of Directors saying the organization “reserves the right to turn down any gift that is not in keeping with its mission or that it feels it cannot properly steward.” Alternatively, the policy can be more detailed and extensive depending on how the nonprofit is structured.

A Gift Acceptance Policy must be disclosed on IRS Form 990 by completing Schedule M, as well as reporting any non-cash contributions/in-kind gifts. (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f990sm.pdf)

Upholding a Gift Acceptance Policy is a best practice for nonprofits. You can learn much more about these policies and get guidance to develop your own from the references in the article and this additional resource:  

Gift Acceptance Policy Template https://bloomerang.co/resources/templates/gift-acceptance-policy-template/

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