(This post is from Beth Gaglione, Director of Development, University Settlement. It's her first for Philanthropy Front and Center Cleveland.)
I attended Ohio Grantmakers Forum's luncheon program and town hall meeting (10/29/08) to hear about the state of philanthropy from the people who are making decisions about current and future giving. Just two things keynote speaker Perla Ni, Great Nonprofits, said during her presentation really resonated with me. Waning are the days of expensive printed annual reports and special events that take up valuable staff time and result in next to nothing. As nonprofit administrators, we must get smarter.
Maybe more beneficial than the luncheon address was the after-lunch discussion that gave nonprofit administrators a chance to talk to each other about how they are managing now and planning for next year, in light of economic challenges that continue to present themselves. What I heard was a lot of what I’ve heard before like, collaborate more; tighten your belts; and stick closely to mission. Now is the time to stick with a game plan that has proven itself and that works. As fundraisers, instead of looking for new foundation donors to fill in the gaps that will inevitably be left by those who tighten their purse strings, we must look at this time as an opportunity to develop better relationships with the people whose attention we already have.
But I also heard discussion about the possibility of tailoring new service delivery methods for “new clients” who might be overcome with pride to access them in the traditional way. Attempting to do this at a time of such critical need for so many felt like an affront to those of us trying to do less with more in the most efficient and creative ways possible, providing as much as we can to as many as we can. Instead of creating new service delivery methods that meet the needs of the new client, why not make our proven methods better for all clients? I cannot imagine that many foundations would be interested in testing a new method for getting the same service to client “a” that already reaches client “b” just fine. We all need to adjust a bit in tough times.
At University Settlement, we are planning the best ways to serve our clients in these tough times. We are talking a great deal about self-sufficiency and what it will take to survive, not just as an agency, but also what it will take for our clients to survive.
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