Celebrating Nonprofit Success in 2020 to Help You Continue Growing Your Good Work
There are many nonprofit success stories in 2020 to celebrate! As nonprofit Board members and leaders, I hope you look back on the year 2020 as not only a time of chaos and devastating losses, but also opportunity.
I have listed a few nonprofit successes I have read about and seen in the various organizations I work with. I hope these strengthen your resolve to continue your good work and face tough times ahead.
Nonprofit Success – Reaching More People in Need
For food banks and shelters, the pandemic has significantly and quickly increased demand for their services. At the same time, capacity also decreased due to distancing and gathering restrictions. Many organizations rose to the occasion and adapted. They developed ways to be more efficient with how they operate. This will help them reach more people in need even after the current surge subsides, thereby increasing their long-term impact and nonprofit success.
In this article by Global Citizen, Senior Vice President of Feeding America Nancy Curby describes the challenges the pandemic brought and the ways they adapted to tackle the challenge. Similarly, this story by WNDU 16 News Now demonstrates efforts at the local level.
New Grant Funding Opportunities – Building Block of Nonprofit Success
Another nonprofit success in 2020 stemmed from increases in both government and private grants. The higher number of grant opportunities allowed many nonprofits to take their first steps into grant writing.
I have seen this in my own work, helping several nonprofits gather the Three Key Ingredients for grant writing. We also helped improve organizational functions needed for many grant applications such as financial record keeping and planning and assisted them with The Four Steps for Tracking Impact.
These combined efforts continue to help nonprofits better tell and share their story. With these new tools, they are more prepared to do the work required for grant writing. Most importantly, they gained the confidence and drive to continue to seek grant funding to strengthen their work.
New Focus and Funding – Redefining Your Nonprofit Success
Restrictions or decreased demand for programs and services required other organizations to find new ways to continue their work. For them, the year presented an opportunity to focus on goals and activities outside of their normal operations. This effort often lead to increases in recurring donations and new ways to engage their community.
This is most apparent in the nonprofit arts sector. Theaters, art leagues, museums and cultural centers across the globe shifted from live or in-person to virtual offerings. Their ability to pivot gave the billions of people with an internet connection unprecedented access. People could visit historic places and see works of art and performances that they otherwise may never have experienced. This is most certainly a nonprofit success story! Here are some of my favs:
Coronavirus Quarantine: Take Virtual Tours of the Vatican, Louvre and More by Popculture.com
Dance Lesson with the Radio City Rockettes on Instagram (offered off and on)
BBC List of Free Live Performances
The closures of many of these cultural organizations, while devastating, also showed how important they are to the quality of life and identity of their communities. In turn, they were able to increase the number and amount of donations. This will help them get back open and remain vital parts of their community and our human existence. Just what the doctor ordered!
Thank You!
I hope that reading this has provided you with the inspiration and hope. We all need a bit of both to keep on keeping on with the tireless work of making the world a better place. Thank you for all you do!
Help inspire others! Comment below and share your nonprofit successes from this year and what you have planned in the future. And, don’t forget to subscribe to my blog to get regular tips and information that will help your nonprofit thrive sent to your inbox!
