Nonprofit Advocacy Priorities for 2021

One word I keep coming back to in 2021 is gratitude. I am immensely grateful to the hundreds of nonprofit organizations across our region who continue to find ways to innovate and serve their constituents every day. According to our latest COVID-19 research, more than 70% of local nonprofits have remained fully operational and continued to provide services since the first local stay-at-home order was announced last March. That’s a pretty incredible number, and goes to show just how essential nonprofits are to all aspects of our community.

Last week, The Nonprofit Center team launched our new series: The Jessie Advocacy Series. Throughout the week we shared the findings of our latest Repositioning For Strength research with the philanthropic and nonprofit communities. In addition to an update on our summer research, we also shared insights from the Philanthropic Insights Survey we debuted late in 2020. Our team shared some key advocacy messages for the local nonprofit sector as we move into 2021, and employee health and wellness is one of the issues that is top of mind for many nonprofit executives. 

I invite you to watch the recording of this event below, view the PDF of our slides, and stay tuned for more resources and materials you can use to discuss this research with your board and staff. 
Some key takeaways from our research:

• 57% of nonprofit executives report that the health and well-being of their team is one of the issues keeping them up at night
• Nonprofits with operating budgets under $1 Million experienced more significant revenue losses than nonprofits with operating budgets over $1 Million
• Nonprofits of all budget sizes lost revenue across many major revenue streams, including donations, business sponsorships, and earned revenue
• More than 70% of nonprofits were able to remain fully open since March of last year, even if that meant switching to a fully virtual service delivery model
• Many of the organizations that could not remain fully open were observing safe distancing guidelines or other public health guidance that limited their capacity to serve constituents and community members

With gratitude for all you do, 
Rena Coughlin, CEO