Daily Times

Douglas Adams, an English author, said: “To give real service, you must add something which cannot be bought or measured with money.”

I think most of the charities were provoked with such high ideals. Although most of the leaders of the nonprofit sector began small, they had very high intentions. Their perseverance gradually grew their network of services to reach more and more deprived or exploited people. Ironically, only noble intents are not deep enough to allow ship of welfare to float in the waters of services. The fuel of finances is required to place necessary equipment and well-trained staff on deck and to travel to the far-off destinations; dropping off goods and services to target segments of society.

The true champions of the nonprofit sector are those who keep cultivating their passion for welfare services while learning to sail through the rough waters of fund generation. Funding is essential for an organisation to secure three types of capital. Facilities capital to get physical infrastructure for housing the offices and programs; working capital to continue, grow and improve its core services and a permanent capital in the form of endowment fund – a safety for the rainy days.

Upright charities gradually develop their funding models or styles which suit their vision, nature of services and network of donors. If we look at big nonprofit organisations within Pakistan, we can identify certain prominent trends. Edhi foundation received funds on the credibility of its founder, the great Abdul Sattar Edhi. Shaukat Khanum Cancer hospital built its funding base on the supreme quality and impact of their services. Meanwhile, Sundas Foundation uses brand ambassador and heartfelt cause descriptions for their campaign. The Citizen Foundation has a very vigilant volunteer engagement model in the form of their mentoring program. Once the donors are associated directly with the youth being served, they become a member of the organisation with very strong emotional ties. Such model minimises the risk of funder loss.

Universally, nonprofits face many common challenges. Alford, a consultancy firm for nonprofit organisations, reported that non-profit organisations are always striving to collect ample funds to smoothly run their programs. Few common challenges, which keep boards and executives of nonprofits on their toes, include grant tracking, competing for grants, financial planning with uncertain cash flow, lack of coordination in financial and marketing teams, the continuous hustle of staff acquisition and retention and efforts to diversify the funder base. In the case of restricted funds, it becomes difficult for the management to cover the administrative costs associated with program delivery. So they end up spending trust money poured in by individual donors on the program delivery and administrative costs. In the end, most organisations are left with no or little resources for permanent capital or endowment funds, which keeps them vulnerable to unpredictable cashflow restraints or sudden polarity to donor priorities due to emergencies. These challenges increase manifolds amid natural calamities and socio-economic crisis. Charities Aid Foundation of America reported that most charities had been negatively affected by COVID 19 outbreak.

Most organisations are left with no or little resources for permanent capital or endowment funds, which keeps them vulnerable to unpredictable cash flow restraints

In a report by Stanford business school, it was strongly argued that in order to avoid unpredictable restrictions in cash flow, a non-profit organisation should avoid relying heavily on a few big donors. Increasing the emotionally attached multiple donors provides a more emotionally, socially and financially broad base of support. Charities should work harder to engage the donors through different activities such as establishing volunteer chapters, arranging social or virtual gatherings, and keeping donors updated about the impact of their donations through progress reports, newsletters and reports. Such elaborated and proactive volunteer engagement program minimises the risk of donor decline, and also helps in understanding the expectations of donors. By soliciting the advice and suggestions of donors, programs can be tailored into more engaging, fulfilling and rewarding projects.

In order to survive in the “new normal,” it is significant for non-profit organisations to change pre-existing patterns and creatively discover more funding sources, develop more donor engaging activities, promote brand existence by communicating its impact more meticulously, dilute public scepticism associated with nonprofit organisations through transparency, and increase indigenous financial resources earned in return of services, consultancy, products etc.

Civil service organisations shoulder the heavy load of service on their shoulders and continue to support governments in reaching out to un-reach. Vaness Wakeman, a strategist for nonprofits, said in a recent interview that demands of COVID 19 had been extravagant and the existing nonprofit sector had to aptly adapt their services to facilitate their target population amidst the outbreak. Vaness further said that as a futurist and strategist, she foresaw that if organisations did not adapt to the changing realities of the world and hesitate in taking technology-oriented solutions for taking their services forward, they would be bound to face bigger funding crunch.

In present testing times, most of the philanthropy is targeted towards the challenges associated with the pandemic, and realistic organisations have to think creatively to ensure that they not only facilitate their target population through this outbreak but also bring innovations to their programs to stand out among others working in the same service areas.

According to Hank Rosso, “Fundraising is the gentle art of teaching the joy of giving.” A giver wants to contribute to a cause that has an impact on his own life. A watchful nonprofit organization learns to portray its mission and impact in a way that people can relate to it and can emotionally connect to it.

Having been associated with the nonprofit sector for more than two decades, I think innovative programs, quality services, meaningful communication, sound financial management and authentic leadership are the key ingredients of success for civil service organisations. Different departments cannot work in silos and expect to come up with a comprehensive organisational strategic plan. Those organisations are going to survive and come stronger from present crises whose financial, marketing and program teams work collaboratively to constantly improve the credibility of their organisation, develop realistic financial plans and practice vigilant financial controls.

In my opinion, in the “new normal,” innovation and adaptability are going to be the catalysts in the survival and growth of charitable organisations.

The writer is the director of Programs & Projects, Rising Sun Education & Welfare Society