I have heard people rant and rave and bellow

That we're done and we might as well be dead,

But I'm only a cockeyed optimist

And I can't get it into my head.

“Cockeyed Optimist”
From the musical South Pacific

by Rogers and Hammerstein

“Woe Is Me!” – ENOUGH ALREADY

If by now all you non-profits out there don’t know that times are going to be a little rough for a while, well, you must have been hiding under a rock these past several months.

So yeah, times are not good, but you know what? SO WHAT? Has it ever been easy for you? Even when times were good, were you getting all the money you needed to do all the things you wanted to do? Haven’t you constantly had to find new and innovative ways to find capital to pay your staff and your rent, to purchase equipment and supplies, to provide the services you set out to do?

So I suggest you get your chin off your chest and, hard as it may seem and as ridiculous as it may sound, look at this as an opportunity to take positive steps for your organization.

• Use this time to reconnect with the supporters that have been with you through the years and let them know how much they mean to you and ask what you need to do to keep their involvement.
• View the months ahead as a time to look around at other non-profits in your community or field and find ways you can combine efforts and create strategic partnerships.
• Increase your efforts to increase volunteer involvement
• Get your board more active in developing strategies to reach out to individual donors
• Try to create unique events that raise funds and increase awareness about what you are doing.

Finally, don’t stop submitting grant proposals to foundations, corporations and even government agencies. Instead create documents that make your organization stand out from all the others that are chasing the same dollar. If you don’t keep your name out there where the funders can see you they may just assume you don’t exist anymore and when things do turn around you’ll be at the bottom of the list when the economy turns around and there is more money available.

We here at EssickWrite are ready to help you in any way we can. Visit our website at www.essickwrite.com, then give us a call (347-668-7652) or send us an email (www.info@essickwrite.com). Let’s talk.