| How do I make a big difference with a small organization? | Build partnerships. When you're a small nonprofit organization, partnerships can help you overcome common challenges and achieve big impact. |
If you are reading this, there is a very good chance that you are part of a small organization. “Small” technically means your annual budget is less than $500,000 and fewer than 100 people work there. But, small organizations are the most common type of nonprofit organization in the country. If you are ‘small’, nonprofit partnerships might be right for you.
The word “small” has a lot of baggage. It can sometimes make people think of weakness and unimportance. Small might be something you might feel compelled to apologize for, hide, or try to outgrow as quickly as possible. Yet, small is nimble, and small can specialize, especially when you leverage the power of partnerships.
In practice, “small” also means popular and powerful.
Small organizations play incredibly important roles in society. We are often founded or sustained by a group of committed donors and volunteers and we focus on serving specific communities effectively and with accountability. We can also be creative and experimental, and they don’t need to water down their focus to appeal to as many people as possible.
In nature, small is the beginning of all life — from seeds and shoots to raindrops and eggs. Often the most important pieces of a system are amongst the smallest — from bees to phytoplankton to carbon. These small components are powerful because of their size, and the partnerships they can play within larger systems and ecosystems, not in spite of it.
All organizations need to grow, but growth doesn’t have to mean “get big”. It can mean becoming wiser, more effective, more sustainable, and balanced. An organization that has grown in reaching its goals can still be small. If you want proof, just look at small Canadian charities; 80% of them have been around for longer than 10 years.
You might be small because you fit your community. Maybe you’re small because you have found the most efficient size for your goals. Or, maybe your organization is young and growing; you’re reading this because you are one of the first employees to ever work there. Even with partnerships, there are good reasons to be – and stay – small.
Its normal for small organizations to face some common challenges. If you’re experiencing challenges you might appreciate knowing (a) this is expected; (b) you’re not alone; and, (c) you don’t need to grow large to have a big impact.
Unique challenges of being small include:
Raising money from established funders like foundations and government can take extra effort when you are small. Funding institutions may require specific financial reports that small organizations don’t need to generate. They may want historical information unavailable for newer organizations. Funders may also know established organizations and players from years of interaction, applications from unknown organizations can get lost in the pile.
Getting attention from media and constituents may require more creativity when you don’t have a large marketing budget or a team of people to raise awareness for your cause. When it comes to competing for national media attention, recognizable names and issues usually have an advantage.
Influencing decisions can be hard if you don’t get invited into the right rooms. Sometimes you aren’t invited because you aren’t known. Other times, it’s assumed that larger organizations have things “covered” for the small ones. Bias plays a role, too, as influential people can sometimes (wrongly) assume that smaller organizations are safe to ignore.
Attracting and retaining staff can be hard for small organizations. There are practical issues like offering benefits, supervision, and mentoring. There are also intellectual and social challenges that come with being the only staff member or one of a small number of people on a team.
Small isn’t always a disadvantage. Don’t assume that small always means harder or that you are behind other organizations. Nonetheless, if any of these challenges sound familiar, keep reading. When you’re small, the solution to every challenge is the same: nonprofit partnerships!
You don’t need to be big to have a big impact. In fact, big brings its own set of challenges and difficulties. Most importantly, small organizations can side-step challenges by working together in partnership.
Whether you work with individual partners or through alliances and networks, partnerships are the way small organizations can get attention, have influence, and connect your staff to a community of peers.
You can partner with like-minded organizations to show decision-makers or the media that a powerful bloc is on the rise. Through these relationships, your staff can find training, mentoring, and peer support opportunities that expand their reach and make them feel like part of a large team. Partnering with like-minded organizations amplifies your voice.
You can also partner with distinct organizations to build bridges between communities. Diversified partnerships broaden your voice and create a different kind of power. These partnerships are often the most influential over time. You build a bridging partnership when you collaborate with organizations who are different from you, such as:
In the history of social change and institutional development, no organization or leader has every truly created change without partners by their side. Nonprofit partnerships aren’t always easy to forge or maintain, but they let small organizations have a big impact through working together.
In solving some of your fundraising, awareness, influence, and staffing challenges through partnerships, you also adopt behaviours that lead to meaningful social impact. You unite people with shared interests. You build bridges and find common grounds amongst diverse groups.
Impact is possible because you are small and close to your work. Because you are small, creative, and connected to the community you represent, you have a lot to offer a partnership; and other organizations may have a lot to offer you. The more focused you are in your work and the more consistently you use your voice, the more valuable you are as a partner.
Most of the time, smaller is good. Small is power — especially when organizations push forward, together.
Q: How do I … make a big difference when my organization is small?
A: Build nonprofit partnerships to boost your strengths and solve challenges alongside other organizations.
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