Giving Compass' Take:

• Research featured in 'The New Normal: Capacity Building During a Time of Disruption' discusses how well-being should be at the forefront of nonprofit organizations infrastructure, especially because of the current political climate. 

• How can the strategies discussed in the article help advance well-being of employees and nonprofit as a whole?

• Learn about how to deal with online harassment while working at a nonprofit. 

Eager to understand how nonprofits are faring in this challenging environment, we recently interviewed a number of diverse leaders about their capacity-building needs.  Funded by The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, our research was recently published in “The New Normal: Capacity Building During a Time of Disruption.” What we learned—among other things—is that “wellbeing” has become a new capacity.

Why? Many nonprofit leaders and organizations are literally under attack in this political environment. In our interviews, we heard stories of physical attacks on clinics, on individuals being served, and on staff.In addition to facing these attacks, many nonprofits are seeing a rising demand for their services and are scrambling to secure revenue in the face of impending budget cuts.

If there is good news, it’s that the old social change model is breaking down, and we now have a chance to invent a new one. We think this begins with social sector leaders adopting a “both/and” mindset and navigating the following tensions. These leaders must:

  • Be responsive and strategic. The lines between “strategy” and “capacity building” are
 blurring, if not outright disintegrating.
  • Build internal and external capacity. Invest in capacity at different levels of systems, and they must also build the resilience and capacity of their staff.
  • Think systemically and act proximately. Social change leaders must see the systems of which they are a part and understand their role, while simultaneously staying proximate to needs on the ground.

Read the full article about wellbeing of nonprofits  by Heather McLeod Grant, Adene Sacks, and Kate Wilkinson at Beth Kanter's Blog