Every nonprofit starts with a mission to fill a need or serve a community, often as a result of an individual or small group’s passion for a particular cause or community. Where the need is real and the passion is shared, nonprofits find support and grow, and when well-managed, they thrive. Over time, however, community needs may change, sources of support, both financial and manpower-related, ebb and flow, the landscape of organizations addressing similar needs and competing for similar sources of support changes, and thus the stress of maintaining momentum increases, especially in the face of economic and political uncertainly.
In particular, over the past few years, nonprofits have faced enormous pressures. Inflation, rising labor costs, workforce shortages, and increased demand have strained operations. Philanthropic dollars haven’t kept pace. Government funding is at best restrictive or slow and increasingly at risk. And in many communities, dozens of organizations with overlapping missions are each trying to do more with less—on parallel but uncoordinated tracks.
Now, more than ever, it’s time to look around.
Parallel Paths, Shared Struggles
In city after city, you can find multiple nonprofits supporting youth, housing the unhoused, serving survivors, promoting the arts, or advancing education. Their missions may differ slightly, their histories may be distinct—but many are tackling similar societal challenges. And they often face the same pain points: underinvestment in infrastructure, fragmented fundraising, and a chronic need to do more with fewer resources.
Each organization builds its own development department, finance function, communications strategy, and technology platform. Each negotiates its own leases, competes for talent, cultivates its own donors, and tries to be visible in a crowded field. The result? A well-meaning but inefficient patchwork of efforts, with limited ability to scale or sustain impact.
This is not a criticism—it’s a reality born of how the nonprofit sector has grown. But it is also an opportunity. Because if we can look up from our own day-to-day, if we can look around, we may find partners in proximity—and the chance to build something stronger together.
Collaboration: Not Just a Buzzword
Too often, collaboration is talked about in vague terms—something we should do but rarely get around to. It’s time to get specific. Consider just a few of the ways organizations can partner more intentionally:
Shared Services: Could several organizations use a joint back-office platform for finance, HR, or IT? Could they share a CFO, a grants manager, or even a facility?
Co-Branding and Joint Programming: Could programs be delivered together, with each partner bringing a unique strength? Could branding be aligned to amplify impact and visibility?
Mergers and Strategic Alliances: Are there organizations with similar missions that would be stronger as one? Could a network model or umbrella organization offer economies of scale?
Joint Advocacy: Could coalitions of organizations speak with one voice to influence policy, increase funding, or elevate public awareness?
Collective Fundraising: Could funders be approached jointly with a more coordinated, strategic vision that builds confidence and commitment?
These aren’t radical ideas. They’re pragmatic responses to a tough environment—and they’re already being tested in communities across the country.
What Gets in the Way
Of course, collaboration isn’t simple. It requires trust, time, and often a cultural shift. Board members may be hesitant to give up perceived autonomy. Staff may worry about job security or mission dilution. Funders may not yet reward joint efforts in the ways they should.
But these are not insurmountable barriers. In fact, they are signals that we need better structures and conversations to support collective thinking.
Boards have a unique role here. As stewards of mission and strategy, they can ask bold questions:
Who else in our region is doing work similar to ours?
What would it take to coordinate more closely—or even combine forces?
Are we investing in infrastructure that others are also duplicating nearby?
Are we competing where we should be collaborating?
Staff leaders, too, can take the lead in fostering dialogue—with peers, with funders, and with their boards. They can build trust across organizations, identify shared values, and frame the case for partnership as a win-win.
Mission First, Ego Last
At the heart of all this is one principle: mission before ego. The goal isn’t to preserve the name on the letterhead or the history of an individual organization. It’s to advance outcomes, improve lives, and do so in ways that are sustainable, effective, and scalable.
Sometimes, that may mean letting go—of a brand, a structure, or a silo. Other times, it may mean leaning in—to partnership, to innovation, to the difficult but necessary work of change.
No one wants to see a good nonprofit fail. But when we insist on going it alone, when we duplicate instead of consolidate, we make failure more likely—by spreading resources too thin, exhausting staff, and confusing funders and clients alike.
The Moment Is Now
In the years ahead, organizations that thrive will be those that think systemically, act collaboratively, and adapt structurally. They will not see other nonprofits as competitors, but as potential partners in a shared mission. They will ask, not just what do we do well? but what could we do better together?
So, if you’re a board member or staff leader, take a moment. Step back from the urgency of the moment. Lift your head. Look around.
Who’s doing work like yours? Who might benefit from your strengths—and whose strengths could help you go further? What conversations have you been avoiding that it’s finally time to have?
The future of our sector depends not just on individual excellence, but on collective vision. Let’s build it—together.
Looking Ahead
In future posts, we’ll dive more deeply into different avenues of partnership and collaborations and explore some of the issues and opportunities associated with each.
Is your non-profit experiencing challenges
Capitalizing on the pivotal opportunity that leadership transitions offer, Interim Executive Solutions (IES) strengthens nonprofits by placing and supporting experienced leaders who work inside organizations to provide confidence, reduce stress and take action that prepares the organization to thrive. Our core values are:
Inquisitiveness: uncovering and prioritizing organizational needs and capabilities
Inclusiveness: embracing the power of diverse perspectives, experiences and orientations
Transparency: gathering and sharing factual information to improve operations
Collective Action: building the capacity of team-members to sustainably achieve the mission
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About the author:
I lead Interim Executive Solutions, a national organization exclusively dedicated to placing and supporting professional interim leaders for nonprofits. We get nonprofits to what's next. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dcharris/
This focus on outcomes is easier said than done but hard isn't impossible. You make a great point that looking internally (e.g. back office functions) as important as looking externally (e.g., funding and programs) when thinking about outcomes. "The goal isn’t to preserve the name on the letterhead or the history of an individual organization. It’s to advance outcomes, improve lives, and do so in ways that are sustainable, effective, and scalable."
Great newsletter! In my experience there are two types of nonprofits & NPO leaders: 1) those who say “these are MY clients, donors, programs—don’t even look over here. “ 2) those who say, “hey we work with the same population and provide similar service, maybe we should collaborate?”
Collaboration needs to happen more. Funders need to encourage it! Even admin tasks should be collaborative or “grouped” (HR, payroll, etc).