Latest news with #nonprofit
Forbes
4 hours ago
- Business
- Forbes
13 Ways Nonprofits Can Effectively Manage Changes In Leadership
A Woman Giving Presentation to Colleagues Change is constant in today's business landscape. While shifts like staff departures and goal pivots are often accepted as part of the normal business cycle, a change of leadership can rock a company's foundation, especially for mission-based organizations like nonprofits. From developing succession plans in advance to determining how to best communicate happenings to stakeholders at all levels, taking a proactive approach can help nonprofits successfully navigate substantial internal changes. Below, 13 Forbes Nonprofit Council members share advice on how nonprofit leaders can successfully manage leadership changes within their organizations, as well as why these strategies are effective. 1. Make Succession Planning A Priority Succession planning cannot be an afterthought, so make it a prioritized and strategic activity within your organization. Engage in conversations with leaders and board members to outline clear plans for leadership transitions. These discussions should not only address what happens when leadership shifts occur but also how to ensure continuity and maintain organizational stability. - Cortney Nicolato, United Way of Rhode Island 2. Seek Alignment Around A Shared Vision Centering leadership transitions around a shared vision helps create alignment and momentum. When teams actively participate in shaping that vision, they feel a sense of ownership and clarity about where the organization is headed. This inclusive approach builds trust and engagement, minimizing disruption. A co-created vision empowers staff, donors and volunteers to move forward together. - Alan Thomas, Association for Materials Protection & Performance 3. Leverage Storytelling Treat leadership transitions like storytelling, not just succession. Rather than just announcing the "who," explain the "why" behind the change, the values that will stay and the vision ahead. When people feel part of the next chapter, they invest in it. What works is inviting your team and supporters to be co-authors, not just readers, of what comes next. That's how you keep momentum. - Cherian Koshy, Kindsight 4. Implement A Phased Communication Plan A phased communication plan is key. When Well Aware was approaching a leadership transition, we began socializing the leadership change with key stakeholders on a deliberate timeline. For example, prior to the public announcement, we held private calls with key partners to build buy-in. By the time the news was shared widely, the leader had a strong foundation of support, enabling a smooth, successful start. - Sarah Evans, Well Aware 5. Focus On Communication Transparency There is nothing that rocks the boat more than a change in leadership. Fear of the unknown is unsettling. I have found that being communicative and generous with information during the hiring process is key, including timelines, candidates, etc. Conducting team interviews is also helpful, as they create mutual responsibility for the success of the hire. A pre- and post-hire meet and greet helps to break the ice. - Tara Chalakani, Preferred Behavioral Health Group 6. Regularly Meet With Internal Stakeholders Making sure to continue to meet with all board members individually and with staff at all levels is important. Hearing what is on people's mind is imperative, so you need to approach each interaction as a learning experience. - Rhonda Vetere, Laureus Sport For Good 7. Prioritize What's Working Well Focus on the things that are working well. There's no need to "disrupt" things to make your mark, and listen to suggestions from staff members. Conduct town hall meetings with staff to give them an opportunity to "kick the tires." - Gene O'Neill, NAVC (North American Veterinary Community) 8. Lead With Transparency And Continued Support One powerful strategy is leading with transparency and affirmation of continued support. Clearly communicate the leadership change, share the 'why' and reassure your team and community that the mission remains strong. This approach builds trust, eases uncertainty and reminds everyone they're still valued and supported through the transition. - Yujia Zhu, 9. Create Values-Embedded Infrastructure Effective leadership transitions require values-embedded infrastructure. Focus on weaving core principles into daily operations while documenting key decisions to preserve institutional memory. By building distributed leadership capacity rather than hero-driven models, we realize sustainable continuity and are therefore able to keep our focus on strengthening the systems that make us better as we evolve. - Tara Fitzpatrick-Navarro, USTA Mid-Atlantic Foundation 10. Develop A Leader Operations Manual Smooth leadership transitions start by understanding how a new leader learns and leads. A CEO operations manual that captures how the team makes decisions, gathers input and communicates builds clarity and trust faster when paired with team alignment. It's not just about onboarding the CEO; it's about 'reboarding' the whole organization. - Karen Cochran, Philanthropy Innovators 11. Prioritize Cultural Continuity Leadership may change, but the culture that connects your team should remain strong. We focus on consistent rituals like weekly check-ins, celebrating wins and welcoming new staff to keep morale high. A strong culture helps people stay grounded during uncertain times. - Michael Bellavia, HelpGood 12. Maintain The Succession Plan Our organization maintains a robust succession plan grounded in transparency and trust. When I experienced a stroke in April 2023, our COO seamlessly stepped in as interim CEO for 12 weeks. Thanks to clear protocols and open communication, our operations never missed a beat — and neither did our care to those we serve. - Nicole Lamoureux, NAFC 13. Stay Consistent In The Mission And Values The quote, "When your values are clear, your choices are easy" is attributed to Roy E. Disney. Leadership can, and will, change, but the mission and values must stay consistent. Consistency creates credibility. Ensure the staff, board and other stakeholders are all committed to the mission and values of the organization, as it will hold the leadership team accountable and keep the organization moving forward. - Aaron Alejandro, Texas FFA Foundation Forbes Nonprofit Council is an invitation-only organization for chief executives in successful nonprofit organizations. Do I qualify?
Forbes
4 hours ago
- Business
- Forbes
A Quiet War Is Targeting America's Nonprofits—Most Don't See It Coming
Public funding is being weaponized—and the civic backbone of the country is under attack. The Trump administration is triggering a systemic unraveling of nonprofit America. Federal grants ... More have been frozen. Education, healthcare, public broadcasting, the. arts, and global diplomacy programs are all taking direct hits…all while foundations can't keep up with the wave of emergency appeals. The Stakes President Trump's second term is triggering a systemic unraveling of nonprofit America. Federal grants have been frozen. Education, healthcare, public broadcasting, the arts, and global diplomacy programs are all taking direct hits. Foundations can't keep up with the wave of emergency appeals—and many nonprofits are running out of lifelines. With government dollars now used as leverage, the institutions that have long held civil society together are being quietly dismantled. This piece breaks down the damage, exposes the political intent, and lays out five ways the sector can fight back before it's too Trump's Return Is Disrupting the Nonprofit Economy It didn't start with a budget cut. It started with a message: you no longer matter. And for nonprofits across America, that message is now being delivered in silence, shortfalls, and shutdowns.A Tale of Two Crises: Red Cross and Emerson Collective Overwhelmed In early June, the American Red Cross announced it would scale back regional emergency response teams—despite record flooding and wildfires. The reason: a $120 million shortfall tied to rescinded FEMA reimbursements. 'We're flying blind,' said one regional executive. Simultaneously, the Emerson Collective was inundated by emergency appeals—from food security nonprofits in Arkansas to refugee resettlement efforts in Queens. 'Many partners are in existential danger—not from mismanagement, but from political abandonment,' read an internal memo. These aren't isolated events. They are warning flares from a collapsing Federal Grant Freeze That Sparked Collapse On January 23, 2025, President Trump ordered the Office of Management and Budget to freeze all new and pending federal grants. It affected everything from education to public health, the EPA, and even foreign aid. It was framed as a routine 'review,' but insiders made the real agenda clear: halting 'radical leftwing' spending. Within weeks, $6.8 billion in K–12 education funds vanished—including for afterschool, summer, and English learner programs. Thousands of school districts and nonprofit partners were left scrambling. On January 23, 2025, President Trump ordered the Office of Management and Budget to freeze all new ... More and pending fedral grants. It affected everything from education to public health, the EPA, and even foreign aid. (Photo by) Existential Questions for a Sector Under Siege This isn't just a funding crunch. It's an ideological shift. The nonprofit sector now faces questions that go beyond survival:Public Broadcasting and Journalism Slashed Soon after the grant freeze, the administration rescinded $1.1 billion in Corporation for Public Broadcasting funds, cutting support for NPR and PBS. Executive Order 14290 made the cut explicit—and permanent. NPR's Editor-in-Chief resigned. Local affiliates from Detroit to Northern California warned of permanent station closures. Dozens of rural and Indigenous-serving PBS affiliates risk going dark. The result? The collapse of a civic storytelling ecosystem. Arts and Culture Defunded The National Endowment for the Arts was similarly gutted. In New York, Roundabout Theatre Company lost funding for national tours and educational outreach. Other institutions serving youth, rural, and BIPOC communities were also affected, many of them losing the only public arts support they've ever had. 'It's not just lights out onstage,' said one nonprofit leader. 'It's a blackout for creativity, culture, and access.' Arts and culture organizations such as the Roundabout Theater Company—largest nonprofit Broadway ... More theater company—have lost funding that is critical for maintaining services for the public (Photo by) Local Nonprofits Shift to Survival Mode Across the country, smaller nonprofits have gone from planning to panic. The Meriden Boys & Girls Club in Connecticut cut afterschool transportation for 180 students. In D.C., La Clínica del Pueblo—long a lifeline for immigrant and uninsured communities—lost Title X and Ryan White HIV-prevention grants. 'We're rationing public health,' a clinic official said. 'There is no backup.'Diplomacy, Foreign Aid, and Fulbright Crippled The retreat isn't limited to domestic programs. USAID funding across Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia was frozen or canceled, crippling public health and human rights work. The Fulbright Program, a pillar of American diplomacy, canceled over 600 international exchanges. 'We're not just retreating from diplomacy—we're burning bridges built over decades,' said one administrator. Philanthropy Buckles Under the Weight With public dollars vanishing, foundations are being pushed beyond their capacity. Emerson Collective, Tides Foundation, MacArthur, Surdna, Open Society, and Robert Wood Johnson all reported historic spikes in emergency requests. In some cases, demand tripled overnight. Even elite universities—Howard, Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins, University of Michigan—and community colleges in Texas, Georgia, and Ohio saw research and workforce training programs halted due to lost federal funding. 'We're no longer choosing who to fund,' said one program officer. 'We're choosing who we let die.' Interestingly, not all funding news is bleak. In mid-July, Forbes reported that Bill Gates, Charles Koch, and three other billionaires have pledged $1 billion toward economic mobility programs, including tech training and AI-related workforce initiatives. While welcome, this level of private giving only reinforces the deeper truth: philanthropy is being asked to patch holes that were never supposed to exist. And too many communities are falling through. In the wake of dramatic government cuts to nonprofits, Bill Gates, and other billionaires, have ... More pledged $1 billion towards economic mobility programs, including tech training and AI-related workforce initiatives as well as research. (Photo by Dave Thompson - WPA Pool /Getty Images) A Systemic Dismantling—By Design This isn't budget tightening. It's strategic disinvestment. A May 2025 Urban Institute report found that nearly 1 in 3 federally funded nonprofits had already laid off staff or shut down services. The Foundation Center reported that even the top 100 funders could only replace 28% of lost public investment. And it's accelerating. A June DOJ memo floated additional cuts to nonprofits deemed 'ideologically biased'—a clear signal that civil rights, reproductive health, and legal advocacy organizations are next in line. How Nonprofits Can Respond: Five Strategic Imperatives 1. Get Louder, Not Quieter Silence won't protect you. In fact, it's a liability. Nonprofits must function as storytellers, truth-tellers, and public advocates. Expand media strategy. Activate supporters. Speak up before others rewrite your story. This isn't just about being seen—it's about being trusted. 2. Don't Just Diversify Funding—Insulate It Funding diversity is no longer enough. Nonprofits must build insulation from political volatility. That means cultivating unrestricted gifts, long-term philanthropic partners, earned income, and community-aligned donors. Build reserves. Think like an institution, not a startup. 3. Invest in Institutional Power Stop playing small. Nonprofits are essential infrastructure. Strengthen boards. Grow policy capacity. Upgrade tech. Train future leaders. Organizations that endure won't be the loudest—they'll be the most prepared. 4. Reclaim the Middle Polarization is a trap. Nonprofits must reclaim their role as civic connectors—trusted, nonpartisan conveners who serve all communities. This is not about neutrality. It's about moral clarity and public trust. 5. Radical Transparency Is Protection In an era of politicized audits and online disinformation, transparency is armor. Publicly share your funding, partners, governance, and outcomes. Make it harder for bad actors to distort your mission—and easier for allies to defend it. What's at Stake—and What Must Happen Now This is no longer about nonprofit viability. It's about the unraveling of the public good. When government abandons its role in education, health, journalism, diplomacy, and the arts, the institutions that sustain civic life begin to vanish. Foundations cannot replace public infrastructure. Nor should they be asked to. What's needed is not just more giving—but more organizing. Not just more funders—but more resistance. Not just survival—but a defense of civil society itself. Support the nonprofits under siege. Contact your representative. Don't wait until they're gone.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Open source X rival Mastodon begins raising funds with new in-app donation feature
Open source X and Threads competitor Mastodon will begin experimenting with a new way to raise funds: in-app donations. The organization on Wednesday announced it's launching a campaign that introduces banners inside its Android and iOS apps, prompting users to make a monetary donation. Initially, the feature will be shown only to those on the Mastodon servers the nonprofit itself operates, and These banners will be easy to dismiss, Mastodon says, and will only be shown to people who have accounts that have existed for at least four weeks. The organization promises that it won't continually prompt users to donate, either. Such campaigns can work well for nonprofit organizations at scale. Wikimedia Foundation, for example, brings in the majority of its funding from individual donors, including those who donate through the pop-up banners that occasionally appear on Wikipedia. However, Mastodon has a much smaller user base: 8.1 million registered accounts, and fewer than 1 million monthly active users. Still, the banners could encourage people who haven't actively sought out ways to contribute to now do so, as it makes the process more seamless as an in-app feature. Mastodon says it will later expand the campaign to the web and, if successful, make it available to all other Mastodon instances. The latter would allow individual server admins to receive direct support from their own users, which could help keep them operational. As an open, decentralized social media platform, Mastodon faces challenges when it comes to financial support. Unlike Meta and X, which are supported by ads, Mastodon so far has relied largely on user donations from Patreon. It has also accepted a handful of donations from open source-focused funds and foundations over the years. In 2023, Mastodon raised €545,000 in total donations, up 65% year-over-year, but its Patreon donor base dropped nearly 23% to 7,400. (Its 2024 report is not out yet.) That decline could have pushed it to look into more aggressive fundraising tactics, especially as competition from Meta and newcomers like the VC-backed startup Bluesky is growing. 'We know that collecting money can present complexities and questions,' a Mastodon blog post stated. 'We'd like to figure out how to do this well, together with the community. This is not a corporate fundraising campaign: it's an effort to secure the future of a more ethical and independent social web.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
New York Times
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
How to Host a Hamptons Gala for the Super-Rich
She had tried to think of everything to make this year's gala perfect. Celebrity attendees were confirmed. Starting bids on auction items were locked in. The floral centerpieces had even been pared back so that diners could talk across them. (That had been a problem last year, when the orchids got in the way.) 'They're buying a $2,000 or $3,000 ticket — they want to have a good experience,' said Mónica Ramírez-Montagut, the executive director of the Parrish Art Museum, who was overseeing its annual Midsummer Gala. 'So it's really important for us to be able to deliver that.' The gala at the Parrish, situated amid the tall grasses of Water Mill on the East End of Long Island, is among the signature events in a series of high-end fund-raisers that are a staple of Hamptons summers, with their champagne upon arrival, designer outfits, air kisses and general hobnobbing among billionaires and millionaires who make up some of the nation's wealthiest elite. This year, the pressure on nonprofit institutions to raise money at events like these is higher than ever. Federal support for the arts has become unreliable, and tapping just a little bit more of the immense wealth in the Hamptons could make or break an institution. That means more pressure on directors such as Dr. Ramírez-Montagut, who must work harder than ever to please sometimes finicky benefactors. 'A good gala is increasingly critical and instrumental for museums' sustainability and financial stability, which is why we go all out,' she said. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Serenity Recovery Network Launches $4.5 Million Capital Campaign to Expand Recovery Services for Women and Families
'Recovery | Reunify | Transform' initiative to fund major campus expansion in response to region's growing addiction crisis CINCINNATI, July 23, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Serenity Recovery Network (SRN), a Cincinnati-based nonprofit committed to abstinence-based recovery housing, proudly announces the launch of its first-ever capital campaign: Recovery | Reunify | Transform. This bold initiative marks a transformative moment in SRN's 20-year history of helping individuals and families overcome substance use disorders. With a total campaign goal of $4.5 million, the first two phases — budgeted at $1.6 million — will fund the initial development of a comprehensive recovery campus. SRN's board of directors is pleased to share that over 45% of the Phase I and II goal has already been raised, thanks to generous support from board members, alumni, individual donors, and foundational grants. " said Kurt Platte, President of Serenity Recovery Network. The new campus will address the urgent needs of women and their families by providing expanded housing and critical recovery services. Planned developments include: Renovation and expansion of apartment units to offer safe, sober living spaces. Transformation of the existing carriage house into a vibrant community hub featuring a childcare room, meeting spaces for AA/NA groups, and wraparound support services. Increased residential capacity and parking, enabling SRN to serve more individuals. Creation of outdoor gathering spaces and classrooms, designed to foster a welcoming, healing environment. Lead gifts have already been committed by Leslie and Dan Nowicki and Beth and Kurt Platte, with significant foundation support from The City of Cincinnati, Hamilton County via the One Ohio Recovery Foundation, and The Spaulding Foundation. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), over 187,000 Greater Cincinnatians are directly affected by addiction. Since its inception, Serenity Recovery Network has served more than 1,540 individuals, offering structured housing, compassionate care, and a path to lasting recovery. said Allison Marchioni, Executive Director of SRN. SRN's efforts were recently featured on Fox19 News, highlighting the organization's mission and the impact of this new campaign on the region's recovery landscape. The Recovery | Reunify | Transform campaign represents the future of recovery support in greater Cincinnati. SRN invites the community to join this transformative effort. To learn more or make a donation, visit Recovery. Reunify. Transform. Capital Campaign — Serenity Recovery Network About Serenity Recovery Network Serenity Recovery Network (SRN) provides safe, sober, and supportive housing for individuals recovering from substance use disorder. With two decades of proven success, SRN empowers residents through structure, accountability, and community — helping people heal and build lives they're proud of. Contact: Allison MarchioniPhone: 513-263-0367Email: allisonmmarchioni@ in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
