Nonprofits face inherent disadvantages in comparison to for-profit companies including compensation and, at times, irregular schedules and working conditions, and the stress of working diligently to serve vulnerable individuals and communities. Since January, the current administration’s agenda and flurry of executive orders have created palpable threats to funding and a menacing cloud of uncertainty that has forced many organizations into inertia.
Against this fraught backdrop, nonprofits must be resourceful and creative to advance their organizations. The Leadership Council for Nonprofits helps its member organizations enhance their organizational development. But, in these times, even the shepherd needs guidance to help support its back.
We’ve previously written about how the Leadership Council for Nonprofits is countering longstanding challenges
nonprofit organizations face in the employment marketplace. The Leadership Council has launched the A Force for Good program, which touts the ways that 501(c)(3)s provide an economic impact that matches their societal influence.
Last fall, the organization applied for a grant to support A Force for Good. The grant was offered by the Cincinnati chapter of Social Venture Partners Intl. (SVP), an innovative philanthropic organization that provides professional expertise to complement funding in helping diverse nonprofits embrace and effectively leverage innovation.
Founded in Seattle in 1994 by software magnate Paul Brainerd with more than 40 global chapters, SVP’s Cincinnati chapter launched in 2007 to provide “Greater Cincinnati’s home for engaged philanthropists who wanted to do more than write a check,” according to Lauren Merten, the chapter’s executive director.
“Our basic tenet is that this group of people wants to invest through providing expertise as well as their money,” she said.
In 2021, looking for ways to bolster its contributions to its selected nonprofits, SVP launched the
XLR8 program, which reinforces financial contributions with guidance from industry experts on how to manifest innovative organizations and projects. The XLR8 venture includes three phases: EXPLORE, LIFT, and REALIZE. During the initial EXPLORE phase, which launched last fall, SVP bestowed $1,000 to 30 organizations with its assembled knowledge providing an initial round of counsel to the nonprofits.
From there, SVP winnowed the field down to six organizations to achieve the LIFT phase of the XLR8 grant. Merten said the organizations that advanced to the next phase, which gained them access to further instruction and collaboration in enhancing the nonprofit’s operational gaps. Every nonprofit encounters its own challenges, but she noted that most common areas of opportunity include fundraising (it often comes back to money, after all), marketing, optimizing HR functions, and creating annual projections to improve long-term planning.
The eight-month process culminated with the selection of three organizations for the third XLR8 phase, REALIZE. Its investees, as Merten refers to them, include the
Leadership Council;
Oh, She Built That, a traveling woodshop that addresses the underrepresentation of girls in woodworking and STEM fields by offering accessible wood workshops; and
Rising Leaders Cincinnati’s Leadership Institute, which provides professional and life-skills training to those in their early twenties who’ve endured childhood trauma and/or poverty and help them overcome these roadblocks.
“We’ve had organizations of varying sizes and missions receive the [XLR8] grants,” Merten said. “Sometimes, it’s a startup nonprofit where its core mission is an innovation, whereas others are new directives within well-established organizations.
The three recipients will receive $20,000 annually for the next three years, as well as ongoing coaching and mentorship. While the “treasure” the grants' funds provide is certainly significant, the “talent” provided by SVP’s coterie of experts is a powerful support component. Its pool of 60 subject-matter experts include executives from 5/3 Bank, Scripps-Howard, and American Modern Insurance Group, among others who engage the nonprofits’ leaders in developing plans to enhance their operational acumen, relationship building, and fulfill other needs.
SVP’s leaders have also learned from their investees. Merten said its team has become more adept at pinpointing nonprofit leaders’ individual strengths and, when circumstances suggest, letting the investee take the lead in crafting a plan. And, when Refugee Connect was an investee during the first XLR8 cohort, it became a teachable moment for the whole SVP organization.
“As we talked to our experts, they began raising their hands, saying, ‘We don’t know anything about refugee organizations and how they work, and aren’t sure how to help,’” she said. “We brought Refugee Connect’s leadership team in to make a presentation to gain a better understanding of how they serve this community, and the type of organizational support they need. It was a win-win for everyone.”
Beth Benson, the Leadership Council’s executive director, has been in her role for just over three years, and has worked with nonprofits for more than three decades. Her organization has grown and thrived thanks to its board and leadership team adapting to changes in the nonprofit landscape. But the current atmosphere can also be potentially chilling for nonprofits.
“I think the biggest impact is uncertainty,” Benson said. “Even organizations that don’t directly receive federal funding will be impacted by larger economic factors. It’s a significant impact that can cause them to take their eyes off their mission wondering if they’ll have to change language in how they market themselves, make layoffs, or reallocate resources to meet new realities. It’s a distraction, and I would say the exact impact will be more defined by the end of this year.”
About the XLR8 award, she said that the Leadership Council’s collaboration with SVP will help the organization refine its ideas to strengthen A Force for Good as a nonprofit workforce initiative. She was grateful for SVP’s coaches, who “served as a ‘brain trust’ as we looked at the sector's needs and our vision for A Force for Good.”
Benson noted that its work for SVP will address three focal points:
- Present nonprofits as workplaces of choice that attract employees.
- Introduce nonprofits as a career choice at ongoing education touchpoints from elementary school to four-year college-degree programs.
- Present the economic importance of the nonprofit sector to the larger business community.
Vanessa Freytag serves as Leadership Council’s board chairperson and is the
current executive director of 4C For Children (she retires at the end of June), which provides education and support for parents, teachers, and daycare-facility caregivers. She noted that grants could become a larger ingredient in nonprofits’ fundraising recipe, but that their inherent competitiveness could compel them to refine how they present themselves.
“I am hopeful that the philanthropic community will [access] grants which would help stabilize the delivery of needed services,” she said. “However, as the need for funding from grants grows, [they become] more competitive. Organizations should work to better distill value propositions in their RFPs.”
The combination of expertise and funding gives LC not only the financial help to explore the project but also provides the needed scope of skills and people to help LC work on this. Small nonprofits like LC often find themselves with important work and forward-thinking ideas, but not the bandwidth to work on those innovations.
Freytag was appreciative of SVP’s opportunity for the Leadership Council, noting that nonprofits often find themselves fulfilling important roles through creative programs, but they often lack the capacity to define and execute operational improvements. She looks forward to engaging experts to help the Leadership Council explore ways to overcome nonprofits’ common challenges with retention, growth, and burnout, noting optimizing project management as another recurring hurdle to overcome.