Letter to the Editor: Nonprofit work is survival of the fittest

Dear Editor,

I have read and reread the Springfield Business Journal series on dispelling the myths of nonprofits. I appreciate the focus and the comments made in these articles. Nonprofits typically are concerned about direct or end-benefit services and initially most revenue is spent providing these services. However, the larger you get, the more administrative infrastructure you need. This creates a dilemma because all of a sudden you have greater human resources needs, outcome reporting requirements, data collection, etc. In addition, you have to keep up with technological advances with ever-changing, pricey software and equipment, while competition for grants and other funding sources increases.

As a growing nonprofit, when you reach about 25 employees, there is a small shift in how you deliver services. But when you reach the 50-employee mark, everything changes because of labor laws, Family and Medical Leave, benefits, etc. You are faced with meeting all of the legal administrative demands, while still meeting increased demands for direct services.

It’s a delicate balancing act. A misstep either way can cost the nonprofit drastically.

For example, I work for a nonprofit – the only center for independent living across eight Ozarks counties. It’s located in Springfield, an urban core with totally rural areas outside the core, creating dramatically different service delivery needs. The costs for delivering services are different, too.

Demographics affect nonprofits, but meeting these changing demographic needs is exacerbated by funding shortfalls. Meeting these needs often requires you to think outside the box, using collaboration with agency partners, sharing space, using technology for virtual offices, etc.

In the end though, nonprofits are an integral part of our community, and you have captured this well. Again, I appreciate the nonprofit exposure given by SBJ in this series. I agree with all of the comments in the series, and I sleep really well at night, because I am both fulfilled and exhausted.

—Gary E. Maddox, CEO, Southwest Center for Independent Living[[In-content Ad]]