5 key characteristics for crisis success

This page will walk you through 5 areas that can help you navigate and protect your organization against crises. It also includes tips & focus points to help you build your crisis response plan in addition to insights about scaling this data down to the right size for your situation.

Research varies on what exactly makes a nonprofit successful and on what makes some nonprofits fail to thrive. At this point, scholars generally agree that

successful nonprofits have:

  1. Quality leadership on both their staff & and board

  2. A clear mission that is focused, relevant, and consistently evaluated

  3. Access to external resources and a strong sense of legitimacy

  4. Reliable funding that is diverse and includes some form of earned income

  5. An offensive (not defensive) business model that is proactive and allows for leaders to pivot quickly

But, these things can be hard to maintain at small organizations because:

  1. Staff turnover (especially in leadership) is higher because of low pay supports and high job demands

  2. Funding is much less reliable and success often rides on one key program or income stream because of staff capacity

  3. Structures and business models regularly change out of necessity (often because of staff turnover and unreliable funding).

  4. Staff are already spread thin and have little time to play offense or proactively build plans

Don’t give up hope! These characteristics can still provide a great framework for moving through crisis!

let’s dive into these 5 areas:

1. Quality Leadership

We’ve already discussed the literature on leadership theory here where we learned that quality in leadership is key. We also know that there is no one-size-fits-all method for leadership and that leaders need to understand their specific organization and circumstances to be successful.

But what are ‘quality leaders’ and how do I know if my organization has them?

Scholars define effective nonprofit leaders as team players that are strategic, transparent, quick to respond, prepared, and self-composed.

We also know that, in nonprofits, leadership often consists of a collaborative team and is often based in or defined by community perception/need. Because of this, leadership builds within various levels of the organization—not just at the top. Key leaders might be volunteers, staff members that deal most often with the public, or community partners that interact often with the organization.

Nonprofits that successfully weather crisis tend to have the following:

  • Sensegiving describes the process leaders use to help the entire organization interpret a situation. In this process, leaders ‘make sense’ of the situation and share that with followers. Scholars point to this process as paramount for success in any change or crisis situation.

    Many nonprofit leaders already operate within this framework (although they might not know it) because, by nature of the nonprofit, their purpose it to take to broader societal problems and finding equitable solutions.

    If you don’t operate within this framework, don’t worry. You can easily incorporate it into your leadership style. You’re looking for leaders that:

    • Understand how the crisis affects their organization (in terms of size, timing, & resource constraints) and successfully communicate that to all stakeholders

    • Publicly frame a crisis as an isolated, likely solvable episode and then be able to communicate how leadership can deliver consistency through the episode

    • Highlight crises as opportunities for the organization and community to learn together.

    • Help implement prevention training as soon as they’re through the initial crisis

  • At many nonprofits (especially smaller ones) staff are asked to wear millions of hats; they’re constantly asked to pivot, learn new skills, and do things wildly outside of their initial job descriptions. While is is exciting and fun for some, it’s an added layer of pressure in moments of crisis and is often the final straw for already over-stressed employees.

    We also know that staff turnover (and the hiring process) drains organizational resources at lighting speed, so it’s crucial to support, foster, and keep staff as much as possible. To do this, staff needs to be motivated by more than their alignment with an organization’s mission during crisis—i.e., we can’t rely on the overused ‘they’re not in it for the money’ trope. You need staff to have multiple layers of investment because things will get tough and they will need a reason to stay!

    Staffs that are equipped to weather crisis are:

    • Well trained and regularly encouraged/motivated to seek more training

    • Well compensated at market rates (they are in it, at least in part, for the money; it’s not fair to suggest otherwise)

    • Have room on their plates to pivot

    • Clear about their roles and responsibilities (both in and outside of crisis)

  • We learned here that boards need to be agile and already engaged when crisis occurs to they know how, where, and when to step in. We also know that board governance isn’t black and white; it’s hard for board members to understand their purpose in the organization (which can lead to a lack of engagement).

    We also know that small nonprofits tend better suited for collaborative leadership. This means it wont work to simply delegate tasks to your board. You need to make sure they know exactly what’s going on and be included in the conversation from the get-go so they can actively (not reactively) help.

    You also need to ensure that your board is diverse (in all ways: socially, economically, racially, job-wise) so that they can serve as a support and knowledge base for staff.

    Here are some simple things you can do to engage and diversify your board right away:

    • Send a weekly update to them (especially during crisis) so they can chime in easier

    • Give them clear roles so they know when you expect them to engage

    • Make board applications an open call. You can still recruit people and funnel them through the application, but your network will expand exponentially if actively reach out to your community

    • Don’t stack the board entirely with passive donors (this isn’t common for small organizations anyway); you will need manpower and labor to get through the crisis!

    • Look at community demographics and see how your board measures up; it will be easier for your board to be an ambassador for you in the community if they can relate to your community

  • It’s no secret that shit gets hard when you’re going through crisis. Most people will not be at their best, will make mistakes, or feel unsteady during the entire process. It’s paramount to make sure there are supports in place for people to seek and get help when they need it.

    Here’s what you should shoot for

    • Establish a policy of transparency ASAP. Crisis happens because of some sort of surprise; you can’t afford another one!

    • Establish HR protocols (if you haven’t already). You don’t need a department or a huge thing here (we know you don’t have a lot of time or money). You just want to build a way for people to speak up and deal with conflict when it arises. This might mean an advisory committee on the board, a staff member who has the emotional skills to do this, or a google form where staff can anonymously voice concerns.

    • Make sure there is a fair compensation policy (we already discussed how you need people to stay; their love for the mission won’t cut it). You also need to be transparent about pay—especially if it’s on the line because of crisis. Communicate early and honestly if you will have to withhold wages and then work with staff to discuss cutting hours and what goals need to be prioritized.

2. Mission Clarity

We discussed mission and how it relates to measuring organizational success here. We learned that nonprofits are unique because their structure and success are tied to mission rather than profit. This is because nonprofits must provide socially valuable goods (i.e., things that government/for-profit entities weren’t able to fit into their business models).

So, if nonprofits exist to fill a need another industy couldn’t, why are we still using their evaluation methods to track nonprofit progress?

According to some scholars, they shouldn’t be. Instead, nonprofits can use their mission as a roadmap for measuring organizational outcomes, tracking progress in terms of impact, capacity, and activity. A clear and focused mission allows nonprofits to effectively plan, use resources, and track progress when for-profit metrics of success fall short. Moreover, scholars have noted that organizations who already have a solid grasp of their mission spend less time re-inventing the wheel when a crisis occurs and therefore are better equipped to tackle that crisis.

In other words, your mission is your roadmap to success.

Nonprofits that are well-primed to tackle crisis tend to have missions that include:

  • We learned how leaders are successful when they can make informed, empirical decisions based on defined metrics here. We then learned that mission is the best metric to use in measuring organizational success here. We now know that the more abstract the mission is, the more difficult it is to develop meaningful measures of outcome or mission impact.

    So, your mission needs to be focused, specific, and relevant.

    A clear and focused mission will state:

    • Who you serve (in therms of both location and demographics)

    • What you do

    • Why you do it

  • If the mission is your roadmap, you need to make sure your programs are on that map.

    We’ve all heard about ‘mission creep’ and how it can drain resources and be hard to reign in. This is partially because program success can be informal and hard to track using for-profit metrics of success. As a rule of thumb, if your mission can’t help you decide the success of a program, it’s not something that’s supporting your organization. You’ll either need to adjust your mission (not often recommended) or adjust your program.

    We’ll talk about how to evaluate all of this in the next section.

  • We’ve established that for-profit and government methods for evaluation aren’t always applicable for nonprofits here. Researchers John Sawhill and David Williamson propose three metrics related to mission that work better in understanding organizational and programmatic success at nonprofits: Impact, Activity, and Capacity.

    Within these areas, nonprofits can use their mission to ask the following questions:

    • Impact: Are we making progress towards fulfilling our mission and meeting our goals?

    • Activity: Are our activities achieving programmatic objectives and implementing our strategies?

    • Capacity: Do we have the resources to achieve our goals?

    These questions should be asked regularly (at least once each budget cycle; more during crisis) and will help leadership decide what programs and goals need to be prioritized.

3. External Resources

We learned how scholars have discussed and posited that organizational resiliency is key to weathering crisis here. Our key takeaways were that no organization can exist on an island and that the three best predictors of crisis survival are how deep its community connections are, organizational age, and budget size.

In other words, nonprofits (especially small-midsized ones) must rely on support from a broad network of community members, peer organizations, and government agencies in order to funnel their already limited resources towards mission.

Building a strong & supportive network means establishing:

  • This goes back to Sutton’s Process Model for Organizational Closure (1987) discussed here. This model argues that organizational death occurs through a process where stakeholders transition their understanding of the organization from one that is thriving to one that is defunct.

    Perception is key here.

    If the community or members of the organization perceive it as disconnected, failing, or in dire straights closure is almost inevitable.

    Here are some suggestions for building legitimacy, both in crisis and as a preventative measure:

    • Establish connections with people & businesses outside of your organization ASAP. If perception is paramount, you need people to have a baseline. The more support you have, the more likely you are to get through it!

    • Don’t sensationalize your story (if possible) and always frame it as positively or neutrally as possible. It can be easy to fall into a ‘we’re a poor struggling nonprofit’ narrative or to point fingers, but this discredits your work, the community who’s trusted you, and opens your organization up to major scrutiny.

    • Formalize a plan and publicize is ASAP. It doesn’t have to be perfect or complete. You just want to show that you’ve got this under control before perception of your organization changes.

  • We learned how it’s vital for organizations to partake in advocacy to stay relevant here. By nature, arts nonprofits have to strike a balance of doing valuable community work and acting as innovative leaders the art world. They’re also frontline spaces for people to engage, process, and express themselves. Don’t overlook your organization’s role as an advocate, no matter how small it is.

    Because nonprofits act as both servants and innovators, they have a unique opportunity to champion and advocate. In turn, advocacy helps with community connection and legitimacy; in other words if you’re willing to advocate for someone/something, they’re a lot more likely to advocate for you.

    Tips for building an advocacy network at your organization:

    • Build partnerships with diverse organizations (especially ones that are unlikely pairings!)

    • Be clear about your stance on things (even if it pisses some people off). You have a platform for good and it’s okay to use it! Just ensure that your stance matches organizational priorities and the people you serve (or that it isn’t one person/staff/board member’s left field personal opinion).

    • Be willing to speak up and step in (especially when asked)

    • Highlight other people and groups working in your community (social media is the perfect, free and easy way to do this)

  • We learned from Hager et al., (1996) that nonprofits only thrive if there is a community base large enough to support them.

    This is partially because nonprofits play an active role in their communities by nature; they were originally formed to fill a community need (and if that need isn’t there anymore, it might be time to look at metrics of mission completion).

    Building a community base is key to success! Nonprofits need to reach out to people, other organizations, and government agencies regularly to nurture community.

    Tips for building community:

    • Ask for input regularly and often

    • Ensure access to programs, resources, and your mission (such as clear scholarship opportunities, fair fees-for-services, and clear operation hours/procedures)

    • Actively invite people in (don’t assume they know they’re welcome)

    • Go to community events whenever possible (even if it’s just showing up at another organization’s fundraiser and saying hi; visibility matters!)

    • Ask for and offer help when you can

    • Be clear on who and how your mission serves the community

4. Reliable Funding

We learned that financial stability is the biggest indicator of organizational closure here because financial stability allows staff to focus efforts & resources on mission-related activities instead of income. Moreover, we know that financial crisis is more common in small and mid-sized nonprofits because they tend to have fewer resources to begin with.

These resource constraints often force small & mid-sized organizations to depend on insecure income sources such as a singular major income stream (like a key program), an unstable stream of government & donor supports, or a staff that has little time or resources to develop new income opportunities.

Scholars have come up with various methods of resiliency to combat this, many pointing to revenue diversification as a key method to do so. All in all, there are various ways to build reliable income but there’s no one-size-fits-all method (although I’d like to highlight community-centric funding models as the most successful method for small, community-based organizations; I’ve compiled a primer on this topic here).

Leaders should focus their efforts on thoughtfully developing a reliable and realistic funding model that incorporates the following:

  • Taking a break from grants can be tempting when you’re overwhelmed—don’t do it! You’ll need their support the second you get through the immediate crisis.

    Grant & foundation funding can be incredibly overwhelming. It’s hard to know what you’re eligible for, how to apply, and very few small organizations have staff time to dedicate to the lengthly applications. This all gets a bit more tricky during crisis because grant timelines can feel excruciatingly long and useless when you want to be using resources to find money ASAP.

    Some foundations have the ability to speed up their timeline if it’s an emergency—especially if you already have a relationship with them. We saw plenty of them escalate and implement new programs during the pandemic. Keep building these relationships as long as you can—and if you already have a few foundations that support you, go to them for help first!

    If you’re completely overwhelmed by grant funding, here are a few tips to help you:

    • Use a solid database to help you search. Most libraries have free subscriptions you can use while on their network. We recommend Candid’s Foundation Directory, grants.gov, and checking local state/city/county pages for current grant opportunities.

    • Be smart about what you apply to; look at who’s been awarded their grants in the past to help gauge your odds

    • Reach out to the administrators and ask questions, bounce ideas, or just to introduce your organization

    • Be extra careful about formatting and eligibility regulations; always confirm eligibility right away so you don’t waste your time

    • Look ahead (not at covering current debts). You probably won’t find any grants to help you pay for things retroactively; these are super competitive and typically limited to larger organizations anyway.

    • Enlist help from your board or community! Most grants consist of copying and pasting things from other applications. You can share a few successful applications (or one you think will do well) and have them help format and tweak things for each application. This will help take a lot of time off your plate—just make sure a staff member reads things over and does the final submission

  • Scholars tend to agree that earned income is a great way for nonprofits to diversify revenue and build financial stability. In fact, most arts and cultural organizations are already used to this; they sell tickets to shows, charge for classes, sell memberships, etc.

    As a general rule of thumb, you want at least 3 financial legs—or income streams—to stand on (4 is even better). By spreading out the organization’s income stream reliance, you’re building a safety net that can buy time if one leg falls or breaks.

    In moments of crisis, earned income can be the key to cash flow and allowing the organization to continue operations (even on a reduced level). But it’s tricky to build that model, especially if you’ve relied more on grants or individual donors in the past.

    If you’re just building an earned income model here are some tips:

    • Make sure it relates to your mission. One of the perks of being a nonprofit is the tax exempt status! If your income strategy aligns with your organization’s purpose you wont end up with a crazy tax payment down the road.

    • Look for small ways you can expand that wont add too much work for staff. For example, if you already have a membership program, look at adding one higher paying tier. You can use it as a great support narrative so people will fell good about making the jump.

    • Don’t quickly increase program fees as a knee-jerk reaction. Remember your community is key here and you might do more harm if you start to filter people out who can’t afford your services anymore. Most organizations that do this actually end up seeing a revenue decline in income.

    • Keep it simple. You don’t have to add a wide suite of new programs; instead focus on one or two initiatives where you see potential for income

    • Be clear about how earned income affects your bottom line to the community. It’s okay to say something like “the items in our gift shop really help us get through when finances are tight; thank you for helping us continue to grow!” This helps them feel connected to your organization and supportive, even if they’re not sure about making a straightforward donation. Earned income is also a great place for low stakes community buy-in and a way to start fostering future donors.

  • We all know that nonprofits have historically run on donations. Individual donors are key to financial stability at any nonprofit because they are the easiest and quickest way to bring in money. There’s plenty of literature available on best practices for stewarding and cultivating donors; chances are, your organization has a specific plan in place already (if you don’t, you might want to start here).

    All this goes to say that nonprofit professionals are no strangers to asking individuals for money. Despite that, it can be hard to continue to ask (especially because you’ll likely have to increase your ask) while navigating crisis.

    So here are some tips to help you get through:

    • Don’t stop asking for donations (even if things are looking bad). Research shows that people will continue to give, even if they think its a sinking ship because they want to support you

    • Use donation tables to break up your goal into smaller bits. It’s a lot easier to show a potential donor specifics so they know where they can fit and it will help you celebrate progress

    • Don’t be afraid to cold call, email, or mail prospective donors

    • Ask for help from your community

    • Be clear about what you need (donation tables can help this not look less overwhelming to donors)

    • Don’t discredit the small or micro donations! They add up and can help you build community quickly

    • Steward every donor the same no matter that they contribute (i.e., consider a community centric approach so you can quickly grow your donor base). You’ll need to thank and acknowledge every donation possible; you don’t have to get crazy here, just be sincere and honest.

  • No nonprofit can exist on an island—even if its mission is unique. We also learned here how organizations that are more tapped into their communities are more likely to weather crisis.

    In fact, nonprofits exist in a complex ecosystem of other nonprofits, for profits, & government agencies who are all working together to solve complex societal problems. So it makes sense to acknowledge that ecosystem in your fundraising efforts, right?

    If you want to quickly up your game in terms of community partnerships, you’ll want to:

    • Look at which businesses or organizations already engage with your work (either as an organization or within it’s staff)—you might be surprised how connected you already are.

    • Look for ways your programs and mission could actively support another organization. Does a local government building need some new art for its walls? Do you have a good connection for local music at an in town bar that’s looking to add a concert night? Can you connect art vendors to a local festival?

    • Look for areas in your work where partnerships would expand or stabilize programs. Can you add a service via a partnership? Could another organization temporarily take some burden off your staff if they’re already doing something similar?

    • Assess what your community is looking for. Who are people turning to for things not related to your mission? What has your community supported in the past?

  • Instead of leaning into traditional, donor-centric giving models, Community Centric Fundraising encourages nonprofits to work from a perspective of social and economic justice.

    In CCF, priorities are shifted slightly; the model still seeks to respect and build strong relationships with donors, but the community is centered instead of the donor.

    In short, Community Centric Fundraising seeks to:

    • Prioritize community over individuals or organizations

    • Value time & expertise equally to money

    • Foster belonging & interdependence

    • Take a holistic approach to transactions

    • Encourage mutual support between nonprofits

5. Offensive (vs Defensive) Business Modeling

We learned how every nonprofit needs a strong and flexible business model here. Our main takeaway was that nonprofits might have different needs and goals, but they still exist and operate in a for-profit market. Therefore to stay active in those markets, they need to strategize, evaluate, and build an competitive edge.

Building a business model can seem incredibly overwhelming. And for small nonprofits, there’s not a lot of research on what you need to include in your model. Many organizations fall into the ‘scaling down’ trap that many scholars have presented. While logically it might make sense to scale down a model that works for a bigger organization, this ultimately will leave you stuck because small nonprofits don’t operate like mini versions of larger organizations. They have different priorities, different threats, access to very different resources, and therefore have to operate and adapt in very different ways.

So, what do you do if you want to build a business model, but have nothing to model yours after?

Don’t panic; here are some quick & easy things to consider:

  • Think ahead and be prepared! Sure, crisis is defined, in part, by being something that’s unexpected. But scholars generally agree that the best way to prevent crisis is to expect it—which is why the first thing you should do in a crisis is go on a major fact finding mission.

    If you understand all of the factors that got you there, you’ll be able to better predict and proactively respond instead of reacting to any situation.

  • Staff turnover in small organizations is high, and because staffs are small, one person is usually doing things way outside of their job description. Adopt a collaborative mentality of skill sharing with your staff and board. You don’t want anyone to be completely ‘indispensable’ or holding all of the knowledge. That way if someone leaves, you’ll have at least one other person who can fill in (at least in the interim) until you can get to your next step.

    You’ll also often find yourself pivoting because priorities get re-arranged all the time when your resources are already tight. If you design policies that all have a similar flow, it will be easier to pivot and jump around.

  • You will need time to pivot often. Think about the scale of your priorities, the timelines, and the capacity of your staff. Then add a 20% margin of error timeframe into every plan.

    Keep in mind that when your org is in crisis, you’ll need to compromise on some things. If you know which things are negotiable or can be delayed ahead of time, you wont waste time when you’re in the thick of it.

  • Your budget and cash flow need to be your bible both inside and outside of crisis. They should be tracked monthly (at minimum) and all staff and board should be aware of this progress at all times.

    Each person needs to understand how your tight resources flow into the big picture and when/how to expand & contract if something comes up. This will not only help you predict financial tight spots, but know exactly where you can pivot and flex.

    Don’t have these already or don’t know where to start with these documents? Try starting here with resources compiled by the National Council of Nonprofits.

Okay, so now we understand what makes an organization more likely to weather crisis and how to build those strategies into your nonprofit. You’re probably thinking

But what do I do with my current problem? I need a plan!

It’s time to build your very own Crisis Response Plan.