Realism and Balance
I’m a realist. If you’re sick, you don’t ignore it and hope it gets better, you get help. But in these times of reckoning, when the world is facing unparalleled economic stress, it’s hard to find help. What is really happening?
With my face to the wind, I try to find every bit of information I can that can help me understand. It’s difficult. On one side, you have the optimists who tell you that the whole thing will blow over soon enough, the stock market will recover, the credit market will recover and so on. On the other side, there are those who will compare the present state of the economy with the Great Depression. They will say that we haven’t reached bottom yet, that there will be more bankruptcies, and lots more foreclosures. The retail business will tank. More banks will fail.
Even the wealthiest among us are killing themselves because they’ve lost money, and with it prestige, honor and trust.
With the prospect of breadlines, the Dust Bowl and stock brokers selling apples on the street, we have a right to be afraid. We have a responsibility not to let the optimists talk us into lowering our guard. Yet, we must not let the gloom over our financial losses defeat our determination to move ahead.
Exploiting the trouble, many individuals and organizations have organized ad hoc seminars and meetings on the subject of the downturn and its effect of non-profit funding. Mostly these events are uninformative because no one knows what will be the outcome for us of the financial chaos that has engulfed the world.
Listening to our pundits, you would think that nothing much is happening. “Recession?” Maybe, but it won’t last long and then everything will be good again. “Fewer grant dollars?” Of course, but not that much fewer and anyway it will only affect a few grant seekers (the new ones). “A long, extended period of less grantmaker giving?” Only until 2011, and then everything will be back to normal.
I recommend a bit of wisdom: Fundraising In Times Of Crisis by Kim Klein. Klein writes well, analyzes well before she writes, and does not make premature conclusions. Mostly she says prepare to work harder getting small donors, and then getting some of them to become major donors. She explains how to do this in sufficient detail that it can help get a small organization on the way to financial stability. Even in these troubled times. Incidentally, Klein doesn’t mention grants.
With my face to the wind, I try to find every bit of information I can that can help me understand. It’s difficult. On one side, you have the optimists who tell you that the whole thing will blow over soon enough, the stock market will recover, the credit market will recover and so on. On the other side, there are those who will compare the present state of the economy with the Great Depression. They will say that we haven’t reached bottom yet, that there will be more bankruptcies, and lots more foreclosures. The retail business will tank. More banks will fail.
Even the wealthiest among us are killing themselves because they’ve lost money, and with it prestige, honor and trust.
With the prospect of breadlines, the Dust Bowl and stock brokers selling apples on the street, we have a right to be afraid. We have a responsibility not to let the optimists talk us into lowering our guard. Yet, we must not let the gloom over our financial losses defeat our determination to move ahead.
Exploiting the trouble, many individuals and organizations have organized ad hoc seminars and meetings on the subject of the downturn and its effect of non-profit funding. Mostly these events are uninformative because no one knows what will be the outcome for us of the financial chaos that has engulfed the world.
Listening to our pundits, you would think that nothing much is happening. “Recession?” Maybe, but it won’t last long and then everything will be good again. “Fewer grant dollars?” Of course, but not that much fewer and anyway it will only affect a few grant seekers (the new ones). “A long, extended period of less grantmaker giving?” Only until 2011, and then everything will be back to normal.
I recommend a bit of wisdom: Fundraising In Times Of Crisis by Kim Klein. Klein writes well, analyzes well before she writes, and does not make premature conclusions. Mostly she says prepare to work harder getting small donors, and then getting some of them to become major donors. She explains how to do this in sufficient detail that it can help get a small organization on the way to financial stability. Even in these troubled times. Incidentally, Klein doesn’t mention grants.
posted by Schultz and Company | 12:36 PM
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