Resources for Navigating Uncertainty + Crisis
We're hearing from many Maine nonprofits concerned about their ability to meet their mission in a rapidly changing context of executive orders and funding changes. Below are resources and tangible steps your nonprofit can take to help you prepare for and navigate uncertainty. This post will continue to be updated as we find new resources.
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- Legal & HR Compliance
- Scenario Planning & Financial Modeling
- Crisis Planning & Management
- Nonprofit Advocacy
- Governance, Leadership & Oversight
Legal & HR Compliance
Nonprofit Legal Compliance in an Unfriendly Political Environment (Nonprofit Quarterly)
List of compliance matters to prepare to address a threat.
Scenario Planning & Financial Modeling
Nonprofit Scenario Planning (The Bridgespan Group)
Guide to build scenario plans to successfully navigate uncertainty of local, national, or even global events.
Nonprofit Scenario Planning in an Age of Chaos (La Piana)
"Scenario planning, like traditional strategic planning, is premised on a belief that with enough data and a sound analysis, an organization can assign a reasonably accurate likelihood to each potential future it may face. But in an era of extreme unpredictability, data collection and analysis are only the beginning. An organization needs to determine its Must Do’s, Won’t Do’s, and Might Do’s."
Scenario Planning Playbook (Georgia Center for Nonprofits)
True Business Planning for Nonprofit (Nonprofit Financial Commons)
(Video) The distinction between business planning, financial planning, and strategic planning; how to present risks to board members; frameworks to analyze your model and explain to stakeholders.
Risk Assessment Template (Tangelo Tree Consulting)
Identify risks; rate likelihood of occurrence; rate potential impact; identity top risks for further discussion; plan to mitigate risk.
What to Watch and Do as Your Nonprofit Enters a Chaotic 2025 (Nonprofit Financial Commons)
(Video) Nonprofit leaders and experts examine key financial trends that nonprofits need to navigate an uncertain landscape.
Scenario Budget Planning Template (Propel Nonprofits)
Think through different possibilities and consider the impact on your programs and organization.
Cash Flow Management & Cash Flow Template (Propel Nonprofits)
Management strategies to help your nonprofit prevent cash flow shortages, and a template to help you understand the ebbs and flows of your cash.
Cash Flow Management: A Tactical Review for Nonprofits of All Sizes (Nonprofit Financial Commons)
(Video) Tools to use for projections and forecasts, and tactics to manage cash after you have identified a potential problem.
Understanding Nonprofit Markets (Nonprofit Financial Commons)
Framework through which leaders can segment the market, develop a shared understanding of relevant forces, and prioritize the most pressing market-based challenges they face.
Do You Have the “Right Revenue?” (Spectrum Nonprofit Services)
Explore “right” revenue as a way of analyzing and deepening your understanding of the connection between financial resources and mission impact.
The Power of Possibility: Exploring Greater Impact Through Strategic Partnerships
Includes discussion prompts for using times of financial crisis or adapting to change as starting points for considering strategic alliances and restructuring.
Crisis Planning & Management
The Future is Now: Preparing for the Unknown Crisis (Nonprofit Risk Management Center)
Tips on creating a practical and actionable crisis management plan
How to Simplify and Streamline During a Crisis (Nonprofit Risk Management Center)
Navigating Through Times of Financial Crisis (Nonprofit Finance Fund)
Assess your nonprofit’s potential financial risks and create a plan to respond to them.
Mapping Our Social Change Roles in Times of Crisis (Deepa Iyer)
Indicators of Financial Crisis: Organizational Self-Assessment (The Foraker Group)
Identifying and Mitigating Nonprofit Risk with a Six-Step Crisis Communication Plan (Blue Avocado)
Forecasting Nonprofit Finances & Pivoting Programs in a Crisis: Download Spreadsheet (Blue Avocado)
Advocacy
Share your story with your elected officials
If your organization or the communities you serve are facing challenges, let your partners in government know! (Representative Jared Golden, Representative Chellie Pingree, Senator Susan Collins, Senator Angus King). MANP's Resources for Advocacy page includes tips for contacting policymakers.
Share your story with MANP
How would a significant delay or reduction in funding affect your nonprofit’s ability to operate or serve your community? Please share your story via this brief form.
Governance, Leadership & Oversight
Leading During Traumatic and Triggering Events (Diversity, Equity, Inclusiveness Consulting)
Emergency Succession Plan Template (Propel Nonprofits)
Craft an emergency response plan should your Executive Director become ill or temporarily unable to perform their duties.
Governing in a Time of Crisis (Propel Nonprofits)
10 actions for boards.
Revisiting the Financial Oversight Role of Nonprofit Boards (Nonprofit Financial Commons)
(Video) The real financial governance challenges of nonprofit boards and how they can function more effectively through redirecting efforts and redefining duties.
Beyond Financial Oversight: Expanding the Board’s Role in the Pursuit of Sustainability (Nonprofit Quarterly)
This article stresses that sustainability and engagement with the work is essential for nonprofit boards as they approach the future.
How Board Members Can Learn to Spot the Red Flags (Propel Nonprofits)
Rather than expecting board members to instantly recognize a problem in the making, let’s encourage boards to learn to ask the questions that will lead them there.
The Board’s Financial Leadership (Nonprofit Financial Commons)
(Video) Recorded webinar to help nonprofit boards understand their fiscal leadership, including fiduciary duties, committees, audit, legal forms, and internal controls.
Boards in Times of Adaptation (Propel Nonprofits)
(Video) Recorded webinar.