At times, the future arrives earlier than we plan for or want it to. Nonprofits—and international development organizations in particular—are grappling with fast-changing realities. While circumstances may seem overwhelming, it helps to remember that there are ways to take on challenges proactively and come out stronger—even if it means making difficult decisions or taking an unfamiliar path. Based on my 25 years’ experience working in global development, here are five tips to help nonprofits be ready to respond to unforeseen challenges.
1. Refine and focus your mission
Let’s begin by reevaluating our mission. Is it still relevant? Does it respond to the major needs of our time and support solutions that will improve the lives of people and communities? Is the mission clearly defined, identifying the communities we exist to support and the places where they live? To remain effective, we need to challenge ourselves to shed activities or structures that don’t advance our clearly defined mission.
At Save the Children, we often have difficult conversations about exit ramps from communities where we have worked for decades. This ensures limited resources go where they’re needed most and can have the greatest impact.
2. Prioritize people and cultivate resilience
The most important element in our efforts to drive the change we seek is our people. This may seem obvious, but it’s often overlooked. Leaders are accountable for bringing resilient and imaginative colleagues into their organizations—and retaining them.
A good question to ask is: Would you want to be with these people in times of crisis? You don’t need a formal training program for creativity, adaptability, and resilience, but those qualities should be an intentional part of the organization’s talent development plan. Prioritizing people can take many forms, such as ongoing reviews of team performance against mission-aligned objectives, creating incentives for innovation, or identifying skills for future needs.
3. Secure multiple funding streams
“No money, no mission,” the saying goes in the nonprofit sector. Yet, most nonprofits build business models that rely on one or two major funding sources. There’s been endless talk about diversification, yet it remains elusive.
Save the Children draws funding from a range of sources: individual donors, corporations, foundations, multilateral institutions, and government agencies. We raise significant funds from the U.S. government and remain hopeful that it will continue to support our critical work to improve the lives of children. But the current terminations of USAID grants put our stability—and, more importantly, our programs for children—at risk.
Fortunately, recognizing the need for diversified funding years ago, we created the Children’s Emergency Fund with unrestricted donations from individual donors, corporate partners, and grantmakers. That proactive decision has enabled us to self-fund critical, lifesaving activities when and where they’re needed most, reducing our reliance on government funding and mitigating the negative impact of these unforeseen challenges to some extent.
4. Build partnerships to stand stronger together
It may be tempting to focus inward in times of upheaval, but doing so can be a mistake. An African proverb says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” In the nonprofit context, this means strong partnerships.
For example, in response to the devastating floods in eastern Kentucky in 2022, Save the Children mobilized swiftly to deliver essential supplies to the hardest-hit communities. This wouldn’t have been possible without leveraging our 90-year presence in Kentucky and strong partnerships with local school districts, community centers, and childcare providers.
Collaboration has consistently allowed us to respond effectively, even in areas where our presence is reduced, like Los Angeles during the recent wildfire devastation. We partnered with local networks and community organizations like Project Camp, which provides day camps where children can learn and play while their caregivers figure out what’s next. These partnerships ensured the distribution of hygiene kits, caregiver kits, and children’s activity kits, while also addressing the mental health needs of children and caregivers.
5. Learn from the past and strategize for the future
It’s critical for leaders to look to the past for stories of how our communities have overcome unforeseen challenges. Looking back over Save the Children’s 100-year history reminds us we’ve endured the Great Depression and World War II and emerged stronger.
However, we also need to develop a strategy for the future we want. Strategy isn’t the same as strategic planning; it’s about creative thinking, taking risks, and adopting a posture that allows the organization to anticipate what’s ahead. At Save the Children, we often do tabletop exercises to test our readiness for change.
While we can’t predict the future, we can build organizations that are agile and ready to adapt. We should focus on what we can influence. The source of true resilience is the people we’ve intentionally brought into our organization—their creativity, experience, and wisdom help us navigate uncertainty. And by simultaneously focusing on our mission, diversifying funding sources, and building local partnerships, we can navigate unforeseen challenges and emerge stronger, together.
Photo credit: Shawn Millsaps courtesy of Save the Children
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