What’s on Quad Cities Nonprofits Organizations’ Minds?

Last week, I had the honor of cohosting the inaugural Table Talk session of the OneTable QC initiative, a joint venture between Wastyn & Associates and the Quad Cities Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. The event brought together nearly 60 local nonprofit leaders from various sectors to discuss their realities in the current political and economic environment, to share what they anticipate as the various elements of the Reconciliation Bill get implemented, and to brainstorm ways to minimize these impacts on their organizations and the people they serve.

While I would love to tell you that we came up with the magic answer to solve nonprofits’ woes, we did not. Instead, we found community and commonality in the challenges that organizations across sectors face and anticipate, in their desire to find and implement mutually beneficial solutions, and in a willingness to work together and with policymakers to turn those ideas into realities.

So, what do they experience and anticipate?

“Widespread upheaval” emerged as the predominant theme. Acknowledging that each organization will face different impacts, they expect that all of them will feel some effects; even nonprofits with multiple funding sources and less reliance on federal funds have begun to see changes in their funding, costs, and referrals from other agencies. Between adjustments to safety net programs like Medicaid and SNAP benefits, direct cuts in funding to nonprofits, and policy changes like enhanced immigration enforcement and threats to free speech, they feel a heightened sense of uncertainty and fear.

They also acknowledged the trickle-down effects that these changes will have on other nonprofits and the community. As one person astutely noted, when you pull one thread, the entire safety net unravels. Losing one supportive service will cascade, creating and amplifying needs with fewer federal dollars to help people meet their basic needs for food, housing, health care, education, and employment, among others. Already they see the safety stretch to its limits – and philanthropy doing its best to keep pace. Without an influx of new dollars, they fear these cuts will devastate already vulnerable groups.

In this demoralizing and uncertain environment, nonprofits also face challenges keeping their staff motivated and retaining and recruiting staff. Staff fear their program – or agency – will not exist next month or next year, and they do not want to jeopardize their financial security, so they jump ship. Can you blame them?

Depressed yet? So were we.

Thankfully, the group also began to brainstorm possible solutions. At a high level, they have the desire to:

• More broadly communicate the impact of nonprofits on the local community. They suggested telling stories to legislators at all levels – from DC to the cities. This week, OneTable QC will launch a directory of local legislators and has begun to collect information from local nonprofit leaders willing to serve as a resource for policymakers to facilitate this type of communication. They also suggest leveraging local media outlets to keep the stories Quad Cities focused. Too often, we assume national problems happen “somewhere else,” not here. Telling local stories demonstrates the value of our nonprofits and the needs of our neighbors. Please share your story so we can amplify your message.

• Increase nonprofit collaboration. While Quad Cities nonprofits do a remarkable job of working together, perhaps this time of scarcity calls for more and different collaborations, including bringing more of the smaller and newer organizations to the table and pooling funds to make it easier for nonprofits to access the money they need to make a difference.

• Create more accessible systems. Making existing directories of services and referral networks more obvious and known would improve service coordination for the people in need, stretching scarce resources to maximize their impact.

• Educate nonprofits on important topics such as the difference between lobbying and advocacy. Few board members or executives understand the distinction, so they error on the side of doing nothing. Understanding the differences – and knowing HOW to advocate for your nonprofit – may help limit the damage of these policy changes. Likewise, learning new ways to raise funds and engage new donors will expand the generosity of the community and the funds available to each organization.

One participant suggested that as a sector, we practice radical acceptance: fully acknowledging reality without denial, judgment, or resistance, especially when facing painful or unjust situations or those that lie outside of our control. Similar to what we have written about organizational change, denial will not make the situation suddenly disappear. Instead, we can acknowledge our pain and uncertainly and mourn that we have to adjust how we work and raise money, but then we need to buckle down – or buckle in – and do the hard work of identifying and implementing needed organizational changes.

This discussion and these suggestions intentionally focused on Quad Cities nonprofits, but I would venture to guess that nonprofits across the country face similar challenges and would benefit from similar solutions. My reading of national data and commentary supports this claim.

In the Quad Cities, we launched the OneTable QC initiative to unify nonprofits to make this journey together. Thankfully, we have begun or will soon implement many of the initiatives this group identified. If you have not already signed up to join us, please do. We will have more Table Talk gatherings in the coming months to build on what we heard last week and start to work toward some of these solutions.

Finally, give yourself and your staff some grace. Change is hard, and these times are hard for nonprofits and the people they serve.