1. Start Running your Nonprofit like a Business
a.) Treat your donors as customers/investors
b.) Diversify your revenue streams, in the current climate, you can no longer rely on just donations and grants
c.) Create a long-term growth strategy, most nonprofits work year to year instead of looking at the bigger picture
d.) Make the Mission itself profitable
2. Collaboration
Collaboration within the sector allows organizations to join together and make even bigger strides to bettering the community. The benefits include (but are not limited to):
- Saving on admin costs
- Improving the range of services
- Increasing brand exposure
- Creating new ideas
- Expanding programming
- Increasing efficiency, etc.
There is strength in numbers!
3. We can expect a decrease in government funding and grants
Over the last few years we have had ERTC, PPP, and a myriad of other federal support. These funds are gone and nonprofits can no longer rely on them. Prior to the pandemic, state and local governments were looking for ways to streamline their budgets through cuts to the nonprofit sector. Expect these conversations to be back on the table in 2023.
4. Change in Demand for Services
a.) Health and Services: With our current economic downturn we are expecting to see an increase in poverty which will make the needs for food, housing, and other services more important. Nonprofits will need to evolve quickly to account for this uptick.
b.) Arts and Culture: With less disposable income fewer people will have the money to spend on theaters and museums, etc. We do expect there to be an added need for arts organizations that work with schools as schools continue to cut funding in this area
c.) Education: Private schools and Charter schools are seeing a decrease in enrollment due to cost.
5. Board Members as Advocates/Developers
If you are not doing so already, you should be using your board to spread your mission and for fundraising. Your board members have several responsibilities when it comes to fundraising:
- Making a personal gift
- Thanking and Engaging donors
- Identifying new donors and making introductions
- Attend public and bring prospective donors
All Board members, through their networks, have the ability to expand your organization’s fundraising efforts, they just need the tools to do so.
6. A shortage in leadership at Board Level, C-Suite, and Management
During the pandemic, we saw a rise in retirement rates. 50.3% of US adults 55 and older were out of the workforce due to retirement, before the onset of the pandemic that number was closer to 48.1%. With this uptick, nonprofits are finding themselves with a shortage of leadership.
Kenneth R. Cerini, CPA, CFP, FABFA
Managing Partner
Ken is the Managing Partner of Cerini & Associates, LLP and is the executive responsible for the administration of our not-for-profit and educational provider practice groups. In addition to his extensive audit experience, Ken has been directly involved in providing consulting services for nonprofits and educational facilities of all sizes throughout New York State in such areas as cost reporting, financial analysis, Medicaid compliance, government audit representation, rate maximization, board training, budgeting and forecasting, and more.