"Welcome back to Ask a Nonprofit Expert, NPQ 's advice column for nonprofit readers, by civic leaders who have built thriving, equitable organizations. As always, this series offers Leading Edge members the opportunity to submit tough challenges anonymously and get personalized advice. In this column, we'll publish answers to common questions to strengthen our entire community's capacity. In today's issue, longtime nonprofit strategist and organizational change consultant Jeanne Bell answers a reader's question about pivoting in a time of crisis."
"For a range of complex factors-from our values of equity and belonging to our habits of conflict avoidance-nonprofits are not very good at initiating graceful separations from people who are no longer thriving at the organization. In some cases, we prioritize the needs of a single person over the wellbeing and flow of the rest of the staff. Or we allow people to remain in roles that are no longer strategically necessary to the organization's theory of change."
Nonprofits should consider three uncomfortable but essential pivots for long-term sustainability: initiating necessary staff separations, reducing or eliminating office space, and walking away from misaligned funding. Income diversification and strategic planning with board and stakeholder engagement remain important complementary actions. Staff separations are often avoided because of equity commitments and conflict avoidance, but retaining people who do not fit strategic roles harms staff wellbeing and organizational flow. Crisis moments clarify who must be part of the organization's future and reveal redundant positions. Reducing physical office footprint cuts fixed costs. Declining funding that undermines mission preserves organizational integrity.
Read at Nonprofit Quarterly | Civic News. Empowering Nonprofits. Advancing Justice.
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