Managing Nonprofits Under Financial Stress

As we read about the current economic downturn and its impact on the sector, organizations need to develop strategies to help them adapt to increasingly challenging conditions. There are a number of resources at the Foundation Center library/learning center that can help you explore this topic.

For example, our librarians can help you find a copy of Dennis Young’s Wise Decision-Making in Uncertain Times (Foundation Center, 2006), which contains a chapter on managing financial stress.

In this chapter, professor Frederick Lane points out that while external pressures can be a major cause of fiscal stress, organizations should also recognize that internal factors (such as over-expansion or staff turnover) can also play a role.

Lane provides several steps that can be taken before and during a crisis, “With layoffs likely, morale is a serious issue. Even under these conditions, work hard to retain the best staff.” In addition, he suggests that organizations should, “Adapt to the new normalcy as quickly as possible, and encourage creative thinking about the tasks that have to be done.”

To find other resources in the library on this topic, search the Catalog of Nonprofit Literature.