Nonprofits are always in a crunch. They have many pressures on them, some for their own survival. They are often doing so much with so little.
Which then leads to them to approach any issue (or opportunity) from a “lack of” mindset, meaning they always think that they don’t have:
- The manpower
- The time
- The money
The “Scarcity Mindset” takes over. It pervades nonprofits’ approach to their jobs in this world (their job being to fulfill their missions), and it comes through in their grant proposals (oh, poor us!, we need, we need, we need!).
And maybe most nonprofits don’t have adequate manpower, time or money. But I argue that they really come from a position of strength. They really are The Brains and The Brawn behind their funders’ wishes and missions. Without their ideas, passion to get it done, and legions of staff and volunteers all pushing behind the same vision, no funder would get their dreams to come true — no matter how much dough they threw at it.
When Grand Plans to break free of the Scarcity Mindset are presented to them, they often revert to the same message: we CAN’T (manpower), we CAN’T (time), we CAN’T (money). Even when the Grand Plan comes complete with a way to:
- Get it done (manpower)
- Figure it into the schedule (time)
- Pay for itself (money)
Nonprofits are so used to thinking the same way: we CAN’T. In other words, the Scarcity Mindset.
I suggest instead that they — you, me, all of us! — instead adopt an “Abundance Mindset.”
“Why, Carolyn?”
For those answers, I refer you to Happiness.com, where they talk about WHY we should develop this mindset. Once this mindset is internalized, everything becomes possible.
“How, Carolyn?”
Well, there’s loads written on that very topic.
- Forbes lists 5 ways to go about this.
- The Professional Leadership Institute has 6.
- Chopra lists 10.
And there’s a bunch of books on the topic too.
As a consultant, part of my job is to come in to a client’s situation as an objective observer, and offer my opinion. And as a consultant, my Abundance Mindset comes through. I am more of an optimist.
But a lot of that optimism comes from having more perspective, which comes from having associations with multiple clients over a number of years and being in a position to absorb information from multiple sources. I have been exposed to multiple ways to assess a situation and see more than one way to address an issue.
And I also see the Big Picture, because I don’t have to get in the weeds about carrying out a Grand Plan. I have distance.
Coming to a new client or potential client and seeing their situation and figuring out a way to improve it is what my perspective affords me. And I see the potential of nonprofits to unlock funders’ missions beyond just being wishes and dreams, and turn them into reality. Because nonprofits have the ideas (programs they sustain or projects they pilot), they prioritize it (they devote the time to getting it done), and they engage followers (staff and volunteers) to amass the manpower to get it done.
I would hope that nonprofits see their value and allocate resources to professional development for their staff and volunteers (from the board level on down). Invest in strengthening their value to your organization.
I would hope nonprofits see their value and assume their position of strength in their grant proposals. Make the message “We are the best at this, we know what we’re doing, we have the great ideas to accomplish it, and the dedicated and driven workforce to see it through.”
And, as an aside, I would hope nonprofits see THEIR value and make sound decisions as to how AI will help them grow. I believe AI has the potential to really help us achieve that Abundance Mindset. It can actually help us get past the “We Can’t” mindset. Maybe with AI, we CAN!
[More on that later!]For more on this and other grant topics, visit my website.
