Renewed Vigilance for Nonprofits - The need for Advocacy in a shifting Political Economy

This has been a hell of a week, it’s not over, and there’s only 207 more to go hereafter. The recent rescission of OMB’s Memorandum M-25-13, connected to the President’s recent Executive Order, is unfortunately only a partial victory. This pause of funding has threatened the stability of essential services, underscoring the critical importance of secure diverse funding streams.

Yes, we should breathe a sigh of relief. However, we don’t have clear information yet on the staying power of the root Executive Order, and it is indicative of the chaos our sector will face for the foreseeable future.

Key Takeaways for Nonprofits:

Advocacy: It’s really important to understand the power of organizing together as an industry. The interventions of the past 48 hrs have proven that when the nonprofit industry in the U.S. puts its mind to it, we can achieve great things together. I am personally concerned though, because while I understand from the news and multiple sources that the memorandum has been rescinded, we don’t have clarity on the future of the underpinning executive order that spawned the memorandum in the first place. This is what I understand will be decided in court next week.

If we look forward as an industry, this kind of chaos is going to become our new norm.

So the greater messages I hope that we’re taking out of this debacle are:

1. How do we strengthen our ties to each other?
2. How do we ensure vulnerable funding streams can be shored up quickly, either through major donors or other means of philanthropic intervention?

The next four years promise to be chaotic, with potential policy shifts that could impact funding and operations in both the near and long term. There are folks behind this that have been playing the policy and organizing “long game”, even if it feels like these sweeping orders are coming out of nowhere.

We must be prepared to fight now while also planning strategically for the future - it is both a sprint AND a marathon at this point.

If you are at a Nonprofit, some things to consider…

Keep up the good work that you’re likely already doing, and the merits of which have been discussed at great length:

• Strategic Planning: Develop long-term strategies that align with your mission while remaining adaptable to immediate challenges.
• Capacity Building: Equip your team to handle both ongoing projects and sudden emergencies, ensuring resilience in the face of change.

Consider next diving into the continuity of your literal operations:

• Scenario Analysis: Regularly assess various funding and operational scenarios to prepare for potential disruptions. Funding opportunities come and go, but literal continuity of operations is more akin to how emergency services are delivered. This applies to your staff, your physical and digital infrastructure, and your organization’s data.

Nonprofits have never faced a direct federal threat like the one that revealed itself this week, and now is the time to start thinking out of the box, and with informed vigilance.

For example:

Did you know that all of the ambulances in Los Angeles County don’t just rely on digital maps and GPS, they literally have printed map books because cellular service is not guaranteed in a crisis?

From days gone by, I know of a nonprofit that had everything saved to a rack server and had it all destroyed when their basement flooded during a hurricane - they lost all of their data. They wanted to move to cloud data operations in the likelihood of this kind of scenario.

If nonprofits in the United States will continue to experience the outcomes of capricious federal interventions into their funding, ask yourself in what else the current administration may be interested: your data, your donors, your constituent files and records, your personnel. The precedent has been set for funding disruption, what happens when it shifts to key infrastructure and people? What do you have planned in that scenario?

So, how do we take immediate steps to harden continuity of operations and delivering missions in light of a direct threat from the Federal government that is acting opposite to how it previously shepherded Nonprofits in the U.S., and how do we do it together?

Read the NPR article here

Read the Atlantic article here

Read the AP article here