Nonprofit Leaders Answer: What Partnerships Have Helped Your Nonprofit Weather Financial Uncertainty?
Hard times demand stronger connections. Learn how seasoned nonprofit leaders use field-tested community partnerships to build organization-wide resilience.
Funding cliffs hit without warning, and frontline mission programs are often the first to bleed. But, instead of freezing services or burning out staff, some resilient community leaders rely on partnerships to help them split operational overhead, share back-office infrastructure, and negotiate credit lines — before the emergency cash runs dry.
We recently asked the Blue Avocado community, “What partnerships have helped your organization weather financial uncertainty?” and, as always, the responses were thoughtful, creative, and full of practical wisdom.
Here’s a summary of some of the best answers we received:
Building Financial Freedom Through Survivor-Owned Businesses
Shyne’s strongest partnerships combine funding, professional expertise, community visibility, and pathways to capital. These relationships help us move beyond one-time support and build lasting financial freedom through survivor-owned businesses.
— Cynthia Austin from Shyne
Expanding Youth Opportunity Through Collaborative Community Partnerships
At the Pearl Foundation of Puget Sound, partnerships have allowed us to expand our impact without allowing financial uncertainty to limit what we can offer young people.
One example is our Career Readiness Workshop, which was developed in response to a challenge we saw within our community: too many young people are reaching adulthood without a clear pathway to college, skilled trades, employment, or other forms of post-secondary education and training.
Data showing lower rates of post-secondary participation and completion within the communities we serve reinforced the need to create programming that could help young people better understand the opportunities available to them after high school.
Rather than attempting to build that expertise entirely in-house, we turned to partnership.
Working alongside Foss High School and community partners including WorkSource Pierce, Tacoma Community College, and Bates Technical College, we created a workshop that connected more than 40 students with professionals and institutions that could speak directly to employment, career exploration, college, technical education, and workforce opportunities.
For a small nonprofit, this collaborative model has been especially important during a period when nonprofit funding is increasingly uncertain. Our partners bring knowledge, trusted relationships, subject-matter expertise, and access to resources that would be difficult and costly for us to replicate independently.
The Pearl Foundation provides the community relationships, program coordination, and youth-centered environment necessary to bring those resources together.
The result is a program that delivers greater value to young people without requiring any one organization to carry the entire financial burden.
Partnership has become more than a way for the Pearl Foundation to stretch limited resources. It is a central part of how we operate.
By identifying organizations that already do something well and creating opportunities for them to work together around the needs of young people, we are able to remain adaptable, financially responsible, and focused on our mission even when the broader funding environment is uncertain.
— Vernon Hadley from Pearl Foundation of Puget Sound
Reinventing Library Fundraising Around Our Mission with an Upscale Pub Crawl
We are a small nonprofit foundation supporting a city library system (Redwood City Library Foundation). COVID-19 prevented us from continuing our annual fundraising gala (it was past time to retire it anyway).
The challenge to think up an alternate annual fundraiser was one of the best things to happen to us! We wanted to create a fundraiser closer to our mission and decided to focus on Banned Books Week.
Five years ago, we organized an Upscale Pub Crawl. “Upscale” because it was for thinking folks who wanted more information on the freedom to read; “Pub Crawl” because our main library was located in the heart of downtown, surrounded by restaurants and drinking establishments.
By partnering together, we celebrate downtown businesses while educating the public about censorship — all to support the library. Foundation volunteers staff each pub which feature two banned books and education materials.
Attendees buy tickets, start at the library, receive a map of participating pubs, receive discounted drink and snack vouchers, and discover the stories behind challenged and banned books (why these books matter and why someone wanted them removed). Best of all, their ticket donation supports vital initiatives at Redwood City Public Library.
We are in our fifth year and have doubled attendance from 300 to 600. The “pubs” love this event because it is held on their slowest day (Wednesday); the volunteers love meeting community members and discussing banned books and how to protect the freedom to read; and we (the Foundation) get to highlight the impact of library programs in the community and all the initiatives that the Foundation supports.
It has been a win-win for everyone! Other community organizations have even copied our event model with wine walks, books and brews, etc. — replication being the highest form of flattery!
— Lisa Hicks-Dumanske from Redwood City Library Foundation
Leveraging Community Foundation Partnerships to Weather Uncertainty
One of the most important partnerships that helped our organization weather financial uncertainty was the relationship with our local community foundation.
As our organization completed a years-long renovation to our historic building, the project faced many of the same challenges felt across the country: COVID-19 delays, rising construction costs, and unexpected building needs that surfaced during renovation.
Fundraising carried the project a long way, but as we neared completion, our board turned to our endowment fund, which is held and managed by our local community foundation.
The community foundation helped provide a path forward by granting a loan from the endowment fund, originally structured to be repaid over eight years. Thanks to the generosity of many donors and the commitment of our board and community, the note was paid off in just 18 months.
This saved the organization significant interest expense and helped return our community Arts Center to stronger financial footing.
I like to think of our community foundation as a wellness clinic for nonprofits in our valley. They helped our organization move through a challenging financial moment with care, trust, and partnership.
Today, our Arts Center is back in full swing as a beacon for community arts, with theatre, dance, music, visual arts, ceramics, exhibitions, classes, and events happening throughout the year.
That kind of partnership is exactly what helps nonprofits not only survive uncertainty, but come out stronger and ready to serve.
— Alysa VandenHeuvel from Gunnison Arts Center
Tried-and-True Partnerships: TechSoup and QuickBooks
Shout-out to the tried and true: The TechSoup and QuickBooks partnership, offering incredibly affordable services to nonprofits for a long time now.
This has helped many a nonprofit get off the ground, save money, and be audit-ready!
— Erica Pothier from Mental Health America of Greater Houston
Note: The opinions and product/service recommendations expressed above are solely those of the participants and do not necessarily represent those of Blue Avocado. Submissions may be edited for length and clarity.
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