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Apropos of absolutely nothing, let's talk about Non-Profit Organizations. Since I graduated college in 2006, I've worked in the non-profit sector at organizations of all sizes and across different verticals (Arts & Culture, Healthcare, Political Activism/Advocacy, Education). 1/?
Even most nationally recognized non-profits work with a shoestring staff. Most of the funds they raise are designated by donors to specific projects or initiatives and thus can't go to staff salaries and daily operations. 2/?
Imagine you are on the staff of a small, local non-profit with regular annual contributions of, oh, let's say around $100,000. Since you're not legally allowed to make a profit, you keep your expenses to as close to that amount as possible. 3/?
Now let's say something happens in your community that makes national headlines. Something that your organization's mission is uniquely suited to help with. And over the course of less than a month, you receive over $30 MILLION in contributions - an increase of 29900%. 4/?
Let me repeat that: Over the course of LESS THAN A MONTH, you have received 29900% MORE than you normally do in A WHOLE YEAR. This is the kind of money you've always dreamed of having to accomplish your mission, but you're not in any way set up for having that kind of money. 5/?
The first thing you have to do is process all that money - hundreds of millions of dollars from thousands of people - and make sure it is all properly accounted for, including sending acknowledgements to everyone who donated, which you are LEGALLY REQUIRED TO DO. 6/?
If you're lucky, you have one person whose job it is to process all that money and make sure it is properly recorded and acknowledged. For context, I have been that person for most of my career, at organizations that typically raised between $1-10 million per year. 7/?
So you have AT MOST one person who is used to processing $100K over the course of 12 months who now has to process over $300M over the course of 1 month. And since that money was designated to a specific program, you can't use any of it to hire someone to help. 8/?
Once the money is processed, you now have to get down to the business of spending it. This is your organization's bread and butter. Your programming people have been dying for this amount of money to do what they do best and work their magic. 9/?
But now, your programming people have increased demand. Remember, this is a crisis large enough to have attracted national headlines, so your community's need has grown exponentially. You have the funds to meet that need and then some, but do you have the staff? 10/?
Your office is now receiving more phone calls and emails inquiring about your services. Maybe dozens, maybe hundreds. How can your staff - likely a shoestring number, likely even volunteer - possibly meet the increased demand without more people? 11/?
Your organization has never been set up to deal with this level of demand, and most if not all of the massive amount of funds you just received was specifically directed towards your programming. And now in addition to the increased work, you also have a national spotlight. 12/?
What do you do in this situation? You do as much as you can with what you have. There's nothing else you can do but go about your mission as best you can, doing your best to meet the increased demand with the staff and volunteers you have. 13/?
You could hire more volunteers, or staff if you're lucky, but then you have to train them, which takes time away from your community. If you're lucky, you are able to meet your community's needs. But what if after that, you still have an excess of funds? 14/?
This will make people upset. They will yell at you that you are not doing enough. They will want to know where their donations are going. They will rage that only a small fraction of what they donated has been spent. 15/?
You are a small organization suddenly thrust into the national spotlight. All eyes are on you as you are forced to grow in order to match the need of your community AND the increased finances you have received. 16/?
And if you have had the good fortune to be in a situation where the finances you have received have outpaced your community's need? What do you do with those extra funds? 17/?
There are options. You can ask your donors to allow you to use the funds elsewhere, or in future years, or to support other organizations doing similar work who may not have the funds. Or you can hope that the need eventually meets the funds you have. 18/?
Each of those options, though, are fraught with difficulty and potential pushback. So you're essentially damned if you do and damned if you don't. 19/?
Non-profits occupy a very difficult space. Every single one wishes for a windfall that they can use to accomplish or even expand their mission, but almost none of them are equipped to deal with that should it happen, because THEY CAN'T BE. 20/?
And when anything is forced to grow too large too quickly, something bad is bound to happen. So, if there happens to be an organization out there that is going through this kind of situation, PLEASE give them time to figure it out. Let them go about it smartly. /END
