D.C. Area Nonprofit Leaders Agree: It Is No Longer "Business as Usual"
By Matthew Brown, Senior Associate

This past spring, Schultz & Williams’s Washington, D.C. staff conducted a series of in-depth, one-on-one conversations with a number of Washington, D.C. area nonprofit leaders of both local and national organizations. Meetings covered a range of organizations representing the environment, conservation, arts and culture, education, international and domestic policy, and social services. Our goal was to identify the critical strategic development and organizational challenges confronting these leaders as the economic downturn began to dramatically impact institutions and their donors during the first half of 2009. According to GIVING USA, overall giving in 2008 was down from the previous year by 2 percent or $6.4 billion, the largest decline in giving since record-keeping on the subject began.

What we heard from these leaders was consistent: the nonprofit sector has entered a new phase in which Board leadership, development staffing, donor stewardship, communications and technology, and planning will be the core issues that they must address in order to successfully emerge from our weakened economy. Key to all of these issues is agility, adaptability, and a deeper commitment and involvement by institutional leadership, especially Board members and volunteers.

Clearly it is no longer "business as usual." Working with our clients and partners in Washington, D.C., who lead nonprofit organizations of all kinds and sizes, Schultz & Williams is committed to identifying and addressing those areas in which nonprofits must improve and adapt in order to help strengthen the entire sector and help the nonprofits "manage for recovery." For a summary of our findings from the Washington, D.C., nonprofit leadership survey, please click HERE.

This fall, Schultz & Williams will be conducting a forum with nonprofit leaders from the Washington, D.C., community — many of whom participated in our survey — to further explore these issues as they relate to the current economic environment. The forum will be held at The Phillips Collection and will be preceded by a docent-lead tour of the Phillips new wing and expanded collection. If you would like to join this discussion, please contact Catherine Geist at Schultz & Williams (email). Space is very limited, so make your reservations early. Our grateful thanks to The Phillips Collection for their generosity in hosting this important discussion.