The Sky is Falling?

Is anyone else tired of the doom and gloom of the economy? Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t know how many more articles I can read about “Chicago/New York/ Philadelphia Non-profits Concerned about Economic Downturn”. Is that really news? Really?

It would be nice if someone could write about something we can do in this time of economic crisis. How do you rally people in hard times? How do you encourage giving when we are concerned about our economic future?

Non profits have bills just like the rest of us. However, they are reliant on the kindness of others to pay their bills. What can each of our nonprofits do to make ends meet and get the money in the door? People want to slash their expenses and cancel events and cut back on marketing. Is that helping your cause? Is making your presence less known helping you meet your budget? How about celebrating your accomplishments and what you do for your community. Don’t let them forget the important work that you do.

Maybe cutting costs means teaming up with another nonprofit to combine forces for marketing or events. Create a monthly city arts mailing to promote events for all arts organizations that chip in for the costs. You may also find that funders are very willing to donate to “collaborative” projects. Updating a website usually costs little money and including your website information on all printed information is a great way to get people to see your website.

Think grassroots. How did you do things before you had the budget to do what you do now? Even combining efforts within our own organization can be a great way to save money. Why can’t a marketing piece have information about how to make a donation? Work smarter.

And donations? Who says donors have to pay them all today? Most people don’t anyway. Remind people they can pay over the course of the year, monthly even, because some money is better than no money. Ten dollars a month sure sounds less intimidating that $120 right now.