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Nonprofit Resilience: What is it and how do we get it?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fearless_Girl
Be Fearless!
I have been thinking a lot about the work I do, to help organizations improve their plans or think about what they can measure for example. What is the common thread?  Well I really think it has something to do with "resilience".

I work with nonprofits to sometimes face a crossroads, sometimes to even keep going at all; sometimes the organization needs clarity, to refine their mission; other times they need to be able to better measure what they do and demonstrate the impact they are having.

Last year, Beth Kanter wrote about nonprofit resilience in her blog.  She wrote about it in the individual sense, that people who work in nonprofits have a high degree of stress and can burnout. Therefore, we need to think about the resilience of nonprofit staff.

I use the term resilience in a broader sense, in terms of the whole organization. Organizations may change and morph over time, adapting to the world around them, or may stay stuck in an earlier time, or may abruptly close.  All of these scenarios are possible and yet we understand very little about why some nonprofits "make it" while others do not, even given the same circumstances.

I believe resilience is more than survival, on life support.  Resilience is accepting that change happens all the time and you can prepare for that, accept that, and still be focused on your goals.

Currently, I am researching an organization in Chicago that was started in 1894 and survives to today.  I am curious how it was able to make it during world wars, depressions, migrations etc. What makes this organization resilient and others not?  I'll keep you posted as I dig into the archives for this one.

I plan to focus my research interests around this topic of resilience, examining resilience when it comes to leadership, planning, finances and other areas.  Let me know your thoughts. I hope to pull apart this notion of resilience and share what I learn so that other nonprofit organizations can learn what it means to be resilient too.
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Location: DeKalb, IL, USA

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