Execute Your Philanthropic Program with Less

Having enough is magic. It makes life easier and more comfortable, while, hopefully, prompting gratitude. Enough allows for growth and creativity, unlike scarcity which breeds fear and distraction. When needs are met, higher order considerations like fulfillment and sharing are possible. Enough is a sign of strength and stability in society. Unfortunately, human services programs are being cut outright, with little indication that there will be reshaping.  

Staff must know they matter

As organizations continue to shift to operating in scarcity, the detrimental impacts to staff and meaningful outcomes will escalate. What is there to do? Empower each level of the organization to hone in on the evidence and stories their programs are generating. First, staff must know and feel that their experiences matter. In times of disruption and great stress, it is not reassuring to see leadership ignore or minimize the new context out of their own fear or discomfort in how to respond. It is the responsibility of leadership to address the shifts with honesty and brace for the changes with strength and unity. This approach requires transparency about the mission and how staff can actively participate in supporting the response. It is not the time for passivity.

Plot possible outcomes to inform strategy

Second, running 'what if' scenarios without analysis is simply worry, but with analysis it becomes strategy. What was the direction of the program in the prior environment? What in the environment enabled those outcomes? What are possible directions of the program in the new environment? What in the new environment enables those outcomes? Plotting the possibilities from least to most likely gives a frame that can provide primary and secondary expectations. This type of analysis is also an appropriate time to also allow for intuition. What new directions resonate? Why? For example, if you only have a small amount of internal programmatic funding that remains, does it better align with the organization's mission and strengths to innovate to a new audience or stay the course and attempt to offer off-shoots of the program to generate intermittent funding until stability returns?

Focus on strengths

When resources are scarce, it is the time for bolstering strengths in staff and the organization, not focusing on weaknesses, which can be addressed with outsourcing. If your program generates "gold standard" evidence, but struggles with disseminating the results, then now is the time to keep generating the evidence and bring in expertise to address dissemination. An additional benefit of taking a strengths-focus is to staff morale, as strengths are an abundant resource that can reinvigorate growth and creativity. 

Connecting with staff, processing the possibilities, and taking a strengths focus are all predicated on functional team interactions. Ideally, there are already processes in place to support open dialogue and awareness of the operating environment for the program because of its criticality to the story, a necessary component of achieving impact. If they are not, then use the changes affecting human services programs as the impetus to start. In approaching the revised story, stay true to organizational culture and timeless, not political, qualities. 

Bottom line: Executing a program in a context of scarcity or threat requires proactive tactics with a strategic, strengths focus centered on staff, with a need to tell a professionally transparent story.

Where to Learn More

If your non-profit or donor program needs more support to Make It Matter, then check out our services and on demand resources.