Serving the smaller nonprofits: why pro bono might not be the answer
I’ve been deep into consulting for about 2.5 years now (and have spent over a decade in the nonprofit sector and over a decade before that in academia and government collaborating with and volunteering for nonprofits). Over the course of that time, I have been continually racking my brain, trying to figure out to best way to support the smaller/smallest nonprofits.
At first, I offered a large percentage of my time pro bono. It might seem, at first, like this is the best option from the viewpoint of the nonprofits, but, counter-intuitively, I’m not so sure that it is, and here’s why: it’s not sustainable or even inclusive.
Consultants bring extra magic to the table.
There are a myriad of ways in which external consultants can be worth their weight in gold to any nonprofit. Whatever the project is, the consultant brings with them the benefit of an external perspective (which helps pull the nonprofit team out of their bubble, habits, and assumptions and also lets someone else deal with those 800lb gorillas), specific expertise that is not present within the team, and experience working with a range of nonprofits facing similar challenges.
Ongoing consultant relationships benefit the nonprofit.
Consultant relationships aren’t always (or even usually) short-term and discrete. The best relationships continue to build on a foundation. For example, a consultant may start as an executive coach, getting to know the organization and its challenges. From there, the board can harness that mutual trust and deeper under understanding of the organization by hiring the consultant to provide them with training, training that emphasizes what the consultant knows are the biggest challenges, training that is facilitated by someone who knows the participants. Maybe the next year, that deepens into facilitating the strategic planning process, made all the more productive by the layered relationship with the consultant. Iterative collaboration like this also allows for deeper work on follow-through so that the financial investment doesn’t evaporate into a great board retreat whose momentum died shortly thereafter. The organization benefits from having someone in their corner whom they trust and who has an increasingly richer understanding of the organization.
Smaller nonprofits should be able to reap those benefits as well, but pro bono places significant limitations.
Smaller nonprofits understand that, for example, it would be beneficial to hire a consultant to facilitate their strategic planning process. However, what usually happens when trying to procure that external help is a time-intensive (i.e. salary-intensive), scatter-shot search for free help or reduced-price help . . . . and that usually eventually leads to the conclusion that they should just run the process in-house. On the rare occasions when free or greatly-reduced help is found, it is usually quite limited in scope, and/or is often a one-time thing with little to no chance for an ongoing relationship or follow-up, and/or, sometimes, is meh or even harmful (because cheap price equaled cheap results). When the nonprofit has need of follow-up help or expertise on a new project, they have to jump back into that hamster wheel of finding free or reduced-cost help; and, if they do find it, it’s usually with someone different who has to be “trained” in the ways of the organization all over again. So the smallest nonprofits who can least afford to do so are using valuable staff time to chase rainbows that quickly disappear.
From the consultant side, most of us running solo and small firms simply cannot afford to offer much pro bono work (whether it’s whole projects for free or part of the work for free) — we’re piecing together a salary as it is and are consulting for nonprofits, not Defense contractors. Most of us also don’t have the staffing (or contractor budget) to design an application system for receiving applications for pro bono work, which means it’s not necessarily meted out in an inclusive way and almost certainly not in a transparent way. An additional limitation on our pro bono work is that we take it very seriously and treat those clients the same as any other client paying the full rate — so, finances aside, since there are only so many clients we can help without overloading our schedules and thus making outcomes worse for every client, we’re severely limited in the number of total nonprofits we can support, small or large.
Avoiding accounting for consulting in the budget is just not good planning.
When small nonprofits are working to find ways to get consulting for free or cheap, they often avoid adding it to the budget or recording it in the accounting. Consulting should be built into every nonprofit’s budget, just like all the other expenses. If the board decides to donate the money for a board training, for example, the training needs to be added to the expense budget and the donation added to the income. If the organization receives pro bono consulting, the value of it should be added to the expenses and then it should be balanced by the “in-kind” donations in the accounting. Training, strategic planning, coaching, everything consultants provide are part of what it takes to keep a nonprofit healthy, running efficiently, and effectively meeting its mission. Therefore, avoiding adding consulting to the budget or not recording it in the expenses means that the financial statements aren’t a true reflection of what it actually takes to run the organization. Not only is that (inadvertently) dishonest accounting (and thus not proper stewardship of the public trust), but it means that the board does not have enough data to make strategic decisions about fundraising, spending, and budget approval. It also means that each year is a new “fight” to get some consulting money into the budget instead of seeing it as a necessary part of maintenance and evolution.
If pro bono might not be the answer, what is?
First, fundraise for it.
I don’t throw that out there lightly — I know that isn’t as simple as it sounds. Nevertheless, getting in the habit now of devoting some of your income-generation and investment efforts towards the continued stability of your foundation will serve your organization well. Your state’s nonprofit association can direct you toward capacity-building grants or free services (free for you but the consultant is paid by the state, a foundation, etc.) for which your nonprofit would be eligible. You can also talk to your most loyal donors about earmarking a portion of their gifts for capacity-building and professional development — they may even increase what they give each year to cover this. Consider adding an option on your donation page to give a little extra for capacity-building. Your supporters want to see your organization (and their donations) thrive.
Second, here’s what I’m trying.
Sometimes, the fundraising just doesn’t come through at the level you need. And sometimes, it comes through one year but not the next, putting you right back where you started. Therefore, the problem I’ve been trying to solve:
how to provide professional services to more small nonprofits each year and create the opportunity for continued relationships
how to provide those services at prices they can actually afford (without a bunch of extra fundraising) in a sustainable way, over the long term.
Training, Coaching, and Consulting: The (Not So) Lonely Leader Substack
For training, coaching, and consulting advice about typical challenges, I rolled it all into one — The (Not So) Lonely Leader Substack. Basically, this means that you are sharing the investment with all the other subscribers AND getting to network with them as well. And I can spend time creating quality, useful content that more organizations can access, more inclusively. The low monthly subscription cost also means that many small nonprofits will be able to afford to sign up several people (e.g., the ED and Board Chair); and the training videos are short enough to share in staff or board meetings.
With a $15/mo subscription, each month you’ll get one article that covers a real-life challenge in nonprofit leadership with concrete, actionable advice. You also get resources that wrap around that article and provide further capacity-building:
Easily digestible 10-25 min recorded video micro-training on the topic of the month.
When relevant, templates and other downloads relevant to the topic of the month and adaptable for your organization.
Exclusive access to (Not So) Lonely Leader Subscriber Coaching Office Hours:
two 30 min. sessions per month
come ask me your burning questions about the topic of the month, and connect with fellow nonprofit leaders who can become an extension of your support system
Access to archived articles and downloads.
6 - 10 chances per year to win a free 1:1 coaching session.
Founding Members also get 1 month of intensive Executive Coaching or 4hrs of Executive Coaching to use over the course of the year.
You get even more when you refer your friends and colleagues — things like comprehensive, free Strategic Planning Guides, 1:1 coaching sessions, and access to the NSLL Slack community (where you can drop me a question and network with each other).
Strategic Planning
External facilitation of the Strategic Planning process is often out-of-reach for most nonprofits. And it’s also often too time intensive for consultants to take it on pro bono. My solution has been to create a comprehensive Strategic Planning Guide. The Guide takes you through everything that I would do if I were facilitating the process for you. It explains what strategic planning is, why it’s important, and how to keep it nimble (without getting bogged down in subgoals and conflating tactics with goals, etc.). It then walks you through how to facilitate the process internally, including recommendations for who does what and how long it will take.
With the Guide as the basis, I’ve then created packages (ranging from $595 to $4935) that include increasing amounts of time with me to help answer questions, work through crunchy spots, etc. This model makes expert external help accessible and also makes running a mostly in-house process far easier, smoother, and more efficient.
Executive Transition
Every organization could benefit from external help in planning for and navigating executive transition. Even under the best of circumstances, this can be an emotionally-charged situation that a neutral 3rd party can help you expertly navigate. Again, most small nonprofits cannot afford a full-service recruitment firm. So, similar to Strategic Planning, I created an Executive Transition Guide. It walks you through the board’s role, the outgoing ED’s role, and what needs doing at every step of the timeline, from before there’s any plan for an ED to leave to after the new ED has been hired.
Like with Strategic Planning, I’ve created packages that all include the Guide and then increasing amounts of time with me. Also like with Strategic Planning, this model makes expert external help accessible and also makes running a mostly in-house process far easier, smoother, and more efficient.
These aren’t the only answers.
Of course, these aren’t the only answers to making expert consulting accessible, sustainable, and truly budget-able for small nonprofits and for the consultants themselves. And mine certainly isn’t the only consultancy offering accessible options like group coaching (instead of 1:1), low cost pre-recorded (not live facilitated) trainings, etc. And, in some cases, pro bono and other free services might still be the very best way to go. I look forward to working with even more nonprofits and evolving my offerings as we go, learning even more about what works best for you. And if you ever need help finding some of these lower-cost services (even if not mine), I’m happy to help you find them.
