What does the economic downturn mean for NGOs

For most of us, we are living through our first, large scale economic crisis in decades. From an economic viewpoint, there is a shortage of money supply. People are not buying. Governments are trying to change this situation by pumping funds into the system under what is called a stimulus package. Get people working, and get people spending.

So how does this impact the NGO's? When people are trying to survive debt, firings or layoffs, they are less apt to give money away to help others. What will you do?

As corporations tighten their spending so must NGO's. You must see where in your own organization you can be more efficient. Perhaps there is a service or program that is really not essential to client success. Perhaps you are trying to offer too much. Maybe, you need to do more partnerships with other similar agencies to offer more with less.

Now is also the time to decide where in your organization you really need the money. Making focused asks that specifically outline where the money will be used and how it will improve client success are your best chances of succeeding. Asking donors for an increase from last year is no longer effective.

Larger NGO's will need to refrain from doing capital campaigns since those campaigns drain money from other NGOs. Even if the NGO has enough wealthy donors to support it, the rest of the community will suffer. There is no longer enough money to support all the demands.

Now what will you do to survive?

Something to think about!

Labels: economic crisis, impact, NGOs

posted by Brenda Northey @ 3:58 PM