Each of us are adjusting to the impact of COVID-19 differently. These questions on mindfulness resonate with me. I hope they can be helpful to you as well.

During this incredibly challenging time, you are working diligently to do what must be done, for the near term, to keep serving your clients. We know how urgently you need to make mission critical decisions about how to best utilize your resources. SCC’s Renae Oswald-Anderson is offering a one-hour pro bono consulting session with any nonprofit organization that would like guidance and/or a sounding board for how best to address their present situation and prepare for the post-pandemic future.

By now, everyone is aware of the challenges associated with continuing to work from home. Zoom meetings may or may not be successful. Children are running in and out of the make-shift bedroom home offices, interrupting important conversations. Spouses are walking in at the wrong moments and everyone is tired of staring at screens. It is not difficult to fall into a pessimistic mindset in which this whole situation feels like a buzz kill, while our programs are suffering and our funding is diminishing.

As we all struggle to navigate the quickly evolving challenges brought on by the coronavirus, nonprofits must not only assess how they move forward, but how they communicate to their stakeholders including employees, volunteers, and those they serve. The SCC team has a strong link to Fred Anderson, a MPH-trained epidemiologist, who stands ready to consult with organizations on pandemic plans which include writing employee and client safety procedures.

The first time that I reached out to a foundation, I was uneasy. I was nervous that I’d say something wrong. Even worse, I dreaded the idea of not adequately representing my employer, a food shelf, due to my lack of experience. We needed to grow our capacity to provide children with much-needed food on weekends and school breaks. What if, instead, I jeopardized our chances?

I recently had the pleasure of attending the Nonprofit Lifecycles Institute in Scottsdale. The Institute was founded by Susan Kenny Stevens Ph.D., author of the seminal book, Nonprofit Lifecycles-Stage-Based Wisdom for Nonprofit Capacity. There are clearly identified diagnostic/assessment characteristics for management, governance, financial resources, and administrative systems across all the life stages or cycles an organization can experience, from Start-up through Maturity, Turn-around, and even Decline.

So, you did an evaluation and you have recommendations, but NOW WHAT?! All too often evaluation reports get swept under a pile of paperwork and forgotten about until the next funding cycle. Here are a few strategies to help ensure you put your evaluation to use and make the most of the work you’ve already contributed to the project.

Letting go of something that is no longer working for us can be painfully difficult and the question or decision may be met with resistance. However, in order to allow for growth and/or forward movement (whether as individuals or organizations), there will be things we must let go of.

Strategic Consulting & Coaching is conducting a candidate search for an executive director for our client, the Steve Rummler HOPE Network.

It’s projected that 75 percent of nonprofit leadership will be retiring within the next five to ten years, representing a huge transformation in leadership. While you might think of succession plans as only being for CEOs of large corporations or perhaps larger nonprofits, they can become a critical tool in transitions, even for smaller organizations. Success planning can help your organization avoid the turmoil of an unplanned departure.