Asking for Nonprofit Resilience Funding: Guidelines for Organizations

Nonprofit resilience funding allows nonprofits to step back from day-to-day delivery, take a holistic look at their strengths and weaknesses and then strengthen strategic and operational practices to improve long-term sustainability. Nonprofits are increasingly aware of the need to invest in central functions and strategic work to build their organisational resilience and be prepared for future challenges, underscoring the importance of asking for nonprofit resilience funding.

However, the biggest challenge is finding funds for resilience work is much harder than securing funds for direct work with the people and groups they support. Funders can be reluctant to move away from supporting direct delivery to investing in core and long-term operations where outcomes may be harder to track and it can take longer to demonstrate impact.

Opportunities, however, do exist. So how best can you approach creating these opportunities for your charity?

When to Ask for Nonprofit Resilience Funding

1. Do Your Own Research

To get started, clarify your understanding of issues your organisation faces. Where are the gaps in your knowledge? Have you identified the solutions you wish to implement to resolve them?

This is where you show funders that you have clearly scoped the issue, are serious about addressing it and understand the necessary resources. Clarify if you are asking for funding for staff time or external expertise, or both. Show how the support you need fits into your strategy.

It is possible that you are not yet able to fully identify the solutions and that is part of what asking for nonprofit resilience funding could help with. You could ask for flexible funding to both help identify the solution and then implement it. Also provide evidence of what is not working, such as data showing time lost on inefficient processes or referrals you cannot take on.

2. Seek Diverse Perspectives When Asking for Nonprofit Resilience Funding

Speak to your employees, volunteers and trustees to clearly map the challenges and gather a range of perspectives about asking for nonprofit resilience funding. This stage might require bringing in an outsider’s perspective to ensure your business case is robust.