When I joined The Nature Conservancy’s Asia Pacific Council, one of my priorities was to help our teams think about doing the whole job. Their main focus was protecting ecosystems. That work also needed strong finances, fundraising, and hiring.
The same applies when a funder offers to support a program. You want to make it work. But the budget may cover the service while leaving out much of the work needed to run it. Before making that commitment, I would want to know who will do the supporting work and how we will pay for it.
Vu Le’s Nonprofit AF essay about unicorns and platypuses describes the expectation that nonprofit people can somehow deliver without adequate resources. He gives funders and boards something worth thinking about.
When you agree to provide a service, you also take responsibility for the work that makes it possible. Staff need preparation and support. Someone has to manage the money and keep the operations running.
Leaving those costs out of a budget does not make them disappear. An employee works longer hours. Another program loses staff time. Necessary work goes undone.
If you are the executive director, bring those costs into the funding conversation before you agree to the program. Explain what the supporting work involves and how it helps you deliver the service. If the funding falls short, discuss what you could accomplish with a smaller program or a different timetable.
As a donor, I appreciate an honest conversation about how unrestricted operating support will help an organization achieve its goals. People and infrastructure may have separate lines in the budget, but the organization needs both to do its work.
The board has a responsibility here too. Before approving an expansion, ask the executive director how it will be staffed and paid for. Find out what will happen to the work your people have already committed to doing.
This week, take one program budget and add the work being paid for elsewhere or absorbed by staff. Bring that fuller picture to your next funding or board discussion.
Two questions to ask:
Which parts of this program depend on work missing from its budget?
What can we promise with the people and money available?
Share this with a board member or funding partner before your next budget conversation. My free Applied Wisdom booklet includes more on doing the Whole Job.
P.S. My booklet, Applied Wisdom for the Nonprofit Sector, is now available in Spanish. Request a free digital copy and share it with Spanish-speaking colleagues.