Why “Succeeding Against All Odds” is Killing Your Nonprofit’s Impact
One of the unfortunate narratives in our society is that social good organizations will be able to make a significant, proven impact with limited (or nonexistent) resources. With duct tape, twine, good hearts, and plucky ambition, nonprofits are expected to solve societal issues that both the government and the private sector have failed to address.
What exacerbates this narrative is when nonprofit organizations and leaders lean into it – showing that they can, in fact, conjure miracles out of thin air. These organizations are applauded and often pointed to as examples of how the nonprofit sector should operate.
The story goes like this: an inspiring executive director and small, but dedicated team of volunteers with hardly any funding, infrastructure, or community support overcomes countless obstacles and succeeds through sheer will and determination to make their community a better place.
It makes a great movie plot – but it’s not a great strategy for sustainable growth and meaningful impact.
That’s because succeeding against all odds always takes a toll – on you as a leader, on the people who power your organization, and on the people you serve.
While this mentality has been prevalent in our sector for decades, its damage is especially visible right now. Two years into a global pandemic, burnout, exhaustion, and illness are affecting massive swaths of the workforce. Many organizations continue to struggle with reducing employee turnover, adopting a digital-first approach to their work, securing and cultivating donors, and demonstrating impact. All of this leads to missed goals, program interruptions, gaps in operations and fundraising, and other issues. And while the pandemic has certainly created its own pressure around these areas, the root causes were in place long before.
How to know if you’re expecting to succeed against all odds
Many social good leaders I speak with have been operating in this way for such a long time that they may not recognize it or understand there’s a different way to be.
If you’re not sure whether you and your organization are operating with a “succeeding against all odds” mindset, here are some common signs to be on the lookout for:
Your strategy, theory of change, or priorities aren’t clear, as evidenced by the fact that managers and staff throughout the organization can’t easily recall and explain what you’re focused on
You haven't increased your budget for technology in the last three years
You are expecting to reach and serve more people without making any fundamental changes to the ways you are currently working
You have organization values, but you haven't reviewed them recently and asked for feedback from staff or supporters on whether the organization is truly living up to them
You continue to introduce new programs for funding and have a “we’ll figure it out later” approach for how you’ll execute the programs and support them via operations and other centralized resources, but haven’t spent much time analyzing your existing programs and determining how to improve, expand, or adjust them
You have repeated the tired tropes about nonprofits – pay in our sector is always lower, we can’t afford to offer strong compensation and benefits packages, we need to keep our overhead low so everyone has to cover extra work – instead of asking good questions about what your team members need and how you can support them
Despite all of the change happening in our country and our world – a global pandemic, a racial justice reawakening, the great resignation, the rise of remote work, the prevalence of personalized technology and content in every aspect of life – you haven't really changed your strategy, policies, or resourcing to prepare for what's next
This isn’t an exhaustive list, but you get the idea. While there is plenty we can’t control, the examples above are all self-made barriers that are limiting your mission impact, your ability to fundraise, and your ability to attract and keep the talented staff, volunteers, and supporters who power your organization.
Getting to sustainable success
Here’s the good news – the fact that these are self-imposed barriers also means you have the power to remove them. And in many ways, the path forward involves work you already know is important, but it requires intentional, committed action to make the change.
It starts with authentic values, actionable strategy for the whole organization (not just programs or fundraising), and a commitment to ongoing communication, both listening and messaging, to all of your key audiences. At LaFemina & Co., this is exactly the kind of work we do with nonprofit organizations and their leaders.
These are foundational elements of healthy, sustainable, and successful social good organizations, and while you may be able to pull the occasional miracle out of your hat, it’s difficult to rely on miracles if you want to maximize your impact.
Success in the social sector is hard enough as we tackle some of our society’s most complex problems. By moving away from a “succeeding against all odds” mentality and into a “sustainable success in fulfilling and funding our mission” mentality, we can reduce self-made barriers and increase the chances we’ll change the world for good.