How nonprofits can thrive in tough times: A framework for leaders

Most leaders get it wrong in a crisis. They focus on what to cut. Not how to lead. Nonprofits across the country are facing the toughest budgets in years. Demand keeps rising. Funding keeps shrinking. Here’s what I’ve seen: Some organizations rush to slash programs and lay off teams. They call it “efficiency.” But cutting alone does not build resilience. Here’s what stands out about those who navigate financial crises successfully: - They are radically transparent with staff, boards, and even funders. No secrets and no spin. - They sharpen their focus on mission, asking: “Which programs create the most impact right now?” - They foster creativity under constraint by inviting ideas from every level, not just the top. Across dozens of organizations, I’ve watched this approach pay off. Teams rally around the mission instead of retreating into fear. New partnerships and volunteer solutions surface, filling gaps that funding cannot. Donors and communities stick with organizations that communicate honestly. When cuts happen behind closed doors, trust fades. Innovation dries up. Scarcity sets in. The leaders who rise up in tough times do three things. 1. They communicate, even when answers are not easy. 2. They reallocate resources with purpose, not panic. 3. They see their teams not just as employees, but as innovators. If you are seeking a framework to guide your organization through more with less, send me a DM. Happy to share what I have seen work in the hardest moments.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲 Leadership turnover. Federal funding cuts. Weakening fundraising in a tough economy. This is one of the harder environments for nonprofits in years. Most nonprofits are operating in ongoing crisis mode. This is exhausting. Draining on volunteers, staff, leadership. It's also expensive. Crisis thinking creates a scarcity mindset. When you're in survival mode, you don't examine operational inefficiencies. You don't question vendor relationships. You don't ask where money might be leaking from your budget. You just try to hold on. Here's the cruel irony. That mindset actually weakens your capacity to deliver impact. You're so focused on managing the immediate crisis that you miss the operational blind spots costing you 15-25% of your budget every year. The money for better fundraising capacity is there. The resources to serve more people more effectively exists. The capital to weather these challenges is available. You likely already have it. Sadly, it's trapped in vendor contracts you haven't reviewed. Price creep in areas where no one is focused. Technology costs that compound without oversight. You’ve watered down the process of approving next years budget to an exercise of acknowledgment instead of a process to improve organizational health and provide better outcomes. These things will likely remain unseen in crisis mode. Breaking out of this mode doesn't mean ignoring real challenges. It means refusing to let urgency prevent strategic thinking about where your resources are actually going. This requires leaders to be curious enough to challenge assumptions and be comfortable asking, What aren’t we seeing? The organizations that will thrive through this period aren't the ones with the most funding. They're the ones willing to step back from crisis long enough to ask, Where might we be stronger than we realize? What would you see if you weren't in survival mode? 

Anchored Leadership: Resilience and Accountability in the C-Suite When the storm came, the whole organization turned to Janet. As the chief executive and founder of a rapidly growing social change movement, she’d faced hurdles before, including economic uncertainty, budget shortfalls, and changes in donor priorities. But this time it was not. A critical partnership had abruptly fallen apart, and with it, almost half of the organization’s annual budget. The news spread quickly, and anxiety began to creep through the staff. Janet didn’t panic. She assembled her senior team and coolly announced, “We are going to get through this together. Let’s figure it out, and we will learn, adapt, and be the better for it.” Her ability to remain cool under pressure would undoubtedly become a theme. Rather than passing the blame, she accepted responsibility for an oversight that contributed to the reliance on a single partner. “I approved that strategy,” she admitted during an all-staff meeting. “So, it’s my responsibility to fix it.” Her honesty surprised many, but it also rekindled trust. In the weeks that followed, Janet was tirelessly at work, meeting with staff, donors, and field partners. She promoted an open discussion, telling field officers to managers: All ideas are on the table. Several new theories of change emerged: spreading funding streams, building local alliances, and reducing non-essential expenditures. Janet managed to turn the crisis into a collective learning experience, showing that leadership is not about being perfect, but about being accountable and resilient. Months later, the movement had not only recovered but had expanded to two additional countries. The fact that the team had faced proven setbacks but approached them with honesty and conviction could serve as a giant slingshot forward. Janet, with her staff, during a reflection retreat, used to tell her staff: “We’re like bamboo in the storm; we bend but don’t break. We get up again, stronger and wiser.” Her leadership path is a powerful reminder that real growth doesn’t come from avoiding failure, but from rebounding strongly after it, with resilience, accountability, and an unwavering sense of purpose.

This week, I want to share an article about how values misalignment affects organizations, how it happens, and what the journey back to authenticity could actually look like: A nonprofit chases funding at the expense of mission. A social enterprise optimizes for metrics while losing sight of impact. A community organization adopts corporate practices that undermine the collaborative culture it was founded to create. Each choice seems justified in the moment. But collectively, they create a gap between who the organization says it is and how it actually operates. The symptoms show up everywhere. Decisions feel hollow, teams work harder but accomplish less, people perform the organization's values rather than living them. https://lnkd.in/eTD35CWT

Last week, I met with over a dozen nonprofit professionals online. We talked about their fears and their plans as they look toward 2026. The energy in the (virtual) room was clear: things are shifting. Fast. Here’s what the smart nonprofits are already doing: 1️⃣ Diversifying revenue streams – Moving beyond grants to build sustainability through partnerships, earned income, and individual giving. 2️⃣ Investing in brand + visibility – No more “best kept secrets.” They’re learning how to tell their story in a way that gets attention and support. 3️⃣ Prioritizing staff well-being – Recognizing that burnout is the biggest risk to mission impact. Healthy teams = stronger communities. 4️⃣ Measuring impact differently – Shifting from vanity metrics to outcomes that show transformation, not just transactions. 5️⃣ Building collaborative ecosystems – Partnering across sectors, not competing, because big challenges demand collective solutions. Nonprofits who wait until 2026 to start making these moves will already be behind. The question is: which of these shifts are you (or your organization) leaning into right now? How can I help?

Entropy is the real cause of nonprofit burnout and mission ineffectiveness. Left unattended, organizations drift: missions blur, programs sprawl, data decays, and meetings multiply. We chase the urgent instead of the essential. It isn't bad intent. It's a lack of guardrails. Entropy wins when left unattended, and it destroys your organization and its staff. Signs to look for: - Drift: the case for support is fuzzy, and people can't articulate what you do. - Friction: it takes more clicks, forms, or approvals to give or receive service than it did last year. - Sprawl: new initiatives launch faster than old ones are retired. - Fatigue: staff spend more time reporting on work than doing the work. Countermoves to consider: - Clarity: one sentence for mission, one for strategy, one for this quarter's priorities. Keep it where decisions are made. If you don’t define the work, the work defines you. - Cadence: weekly priorities, monthly metrics, quarterly strategic deep dives. If you don’t set a cadence, urgency sets it for you. - Courage: for every "new," simplify or sunset one "old." Protect your resources. If you don’t prune, sprawl wins. - Log: capture why you chose X over Y. It compounds learning and reduces relitigation. If you don’t log decisions, you’ll debate them again. Entropy never sleeps. It doesn't care how you feel. With discipline and fidelity to purpose, you keep it in check. Where is entropy creeping into your shop right now? #Nonprofits #Philanthropy #Mission #Burnout

Nonprofits are navigating a perfect storm of funding cuts and staffing shortages. Investing in technology, talent, and strategic partnerships—especially pro bono work—can accelerate their reinvention. Discover how sector leaders are adapting. Read the full article. #Resilience #ImpactStrategy #MarshMMA

Nonprofits are navigating a perfect storm of funding cuts and staffing shortages. Investing in technology, talent, and strategic partnerships—especially pro bono work—can accelerate their reinvention. Discover how sector leaders are adapting. Read the full article. #Resilience #ImpactStrategy #MarshMMA

According to a 2024 survey, 95% of nonprofit leaders are concerned about staff burnout. 💔 Your investment in people is the best way to fight it! When you run your nonprofit like a business, you unlock the resources to invest in the most vital thing: your people. Your team is your greatest asset. And the first step to investing in them is truly understanding where they are: 💖 What their strengths are 💖 Where they're hungry to grow 💖 What support they need to thrive When you invest in your people, you're choosing to build confidence, unlock their full potential, and create a culture of growth. That energy becomes contagious, and it directly multiplies your impact! Investing in your team is one of the most powerful strategies you can have. It’s how you build a team that is united in purpose and ready to make a lasting impact together. Do you want to take the guesswork out of team investment? TCC Group’s Core Capacity Assessment Tool (CCAT®) can help your nonprofit understand where you are now - and where you should go next! https://lnkd.in/g7zHmDbt #kblimpactpartners #frameupforfunding #engagement #sustainability #nonprofitgrowth

The lessons that have stayed with me in this field rarely came from things that went right. They came from mistakes that felt awkward in the moment but revealing in hindsight. As a grantee, I once accepted funding for a project that satisfied every donor requirement but had little to do with our strategy. We delivered the outputs, the donor was content, and the team was quietly miserable. It taught me that you can secure financial survival while slowly starving the mission that gives the work its meaning. Later, on the other side of the table as a donor, I made the opposite error. I tried to make the “perfect” grant, building in layers of conditions and frameworks to keep it “strategic”. The partner carried out exactly what I asked for, but it was not what they truly needed. It was not defiance or failure, only the predictable result of trying to manage work from too far away. Everything looked right on paper, but the heart wasn’t in it anymore. Both experiences return to the same dilemma: who sets the agenda, and who defines success. If I could redo those moments, I would ask more, not to tick a box, but to let partners define what mattered, and to let their answers unsettle my certainty. Not because trust is a fashionable word these days, but because it is probably the only way collaboration becomes possible. Philanthropy does not always need another fancy mechanism or design. Sometimes it needs funders who can sit with the discomfort of not being in control. That, I learned, is more difficult than it appears.