RE: Nonprofit Mismanagement: Financial Literacy Does Not Equate to Good Financial Leadership
On the subject of inertia, I think this is also a point where we can elaborate further on what we briefly touched on in class - that in the life cycle of a non-profit there is also a time where it is appropriate to pull the metaphorical plug. My mentality is that after spinning your wheels for so long, when do you make that choice to pull out, and what choices do you make before hand?
I think one option to consider, if the non-profit wants to continue on in a way similar to their original model, is to consider fusing with another non-profit whose mission and constituency is akin to their own. We discussed in class how there are so so many nonprofits in Philadelphia's cultural sector. If there are two with similar missions and constituencies, and they're struggling, why not consider joining forces and growing together instead of dwindling away independently? I'd be interested in your thoughts on this.
Only if the merged, weak institutions can offer mission and programs that make a compelling case for new and greater support. Rather than two weak and similar institutions joining up hoping to maybe thrive, better results might be had by aligning or merging with a stronger partner from a related field with some overlapping characteristics in mission and program. But we should talk about the risks in that scenario, too.