September 23, 2025
The Impact Issue #80: Moving From Surviving To Thriving
Learn how to leverage real-time planning to help your nonprofit thrive.
Hi there!
Ever feel like your organization is constantly operating in survival mode? As challenging as nonprofit work can be, you shouldn’t feel like you’re always putting out fires.
This week’s edition of The Impact is all about how you can move from merely surviving to thriving. We’ll show you how you can leverage expert tips, resources, and tools to prepare your organization for the unexpected and emerge even stronger.
Let’s dig in.
Pitfalls and Pointers
⚠️ Pitfall: Not Having a Structured Crisis Plan
If COVID taught us anything, it’s that we should have a plan in place to account for the unexpected.
Hopefully, that won’t involve navigating a global pandemic again anytime soon. But the unexpected doesn’t have to happen on a grand scale to cause devastating consequences.
Perhaps one of your biggest funders backed out or you’re in the middle of a reputation crisis in the media. Not having a crisis plan can leave your team spinning and unsure of what to do next.
💡 Pointer: Monitor Risks and Establish a Planning Process to Navigate Sudden Crises
No one wants to face a crisis, but having a clear plan in place can help you take action quickly and effectively.
Here’s how to be ready with a strategy that you can execute in real-time:
- Conduct a Nonprofit Risk Assessment. Take some time to think about what your biggest risks are. Sample risks include: cybersecurity incidents, social media issues, theft, compliance, and more. Jitasa put together a great guide to help you think through your potential risks.
- Prioritize creating plans for your most likely risks. Focus on immediate action steps. It’s important to act fast in times of crisis, so consider conducting a RACI exercise to identify who should be responsible, accountable, consulted, or informed during the process.
- Conduct regular reviews of the plans to ensure they work. Perhaps you have an annual review of crisis plans to ensure they are up to date. You can also conduct a table-top exercise where you work through potential scenarios to ensure you know how to react in the moment.
Crises happen, but having action plans in place can help minimize their impact on your nonprofit’s long-term success.
📖 Read on for additional strategic planning best practices for nonprofits!
Tech You Should Know
What:
The Leiga Free Smart Goal Generator leverages AI technology to create SMART goals. You can add a simple statement or a basic goal, and it will expand upon it to be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound). These goals are clear and actionable, providing a road map for you to measure success and start thinking more strategically about your future.
How Grant Writers Can Use It:
- Draft initial smart goals: Put in your unrefined ideas and watch the AI generator do its magic in real-time. You won’t have to spend time agonizing over how to frame your SMART goal thanks to this tool.
- Edit existing goals: Add your current smart goals to the generator and see how they can be improved.
Keep in Mind:
- AI outputs should always be reviewed for accuracy. It can provide you with a running start, but it should not be the final product without review.
- Leiga offers additional project management tools at a cost.
🎩 Generate your SMART goals in an instant with Leiga!
Expert Perspectives
🏆 The Instrumentl Team on How to Break Free From the Survival Mindset
During our Grant Revolution Series, the Instrumentl team came together with grant professionals to help understand what was holding their teams back.
So often, nonprofits see time as a luxury. They spend so much time chasing the next grant or donor that they fail to stop, set up a plan, and invest in their success. However, there are steps you can take toward breaking free of the survival-mindset hamster wheel.
Here’s their expert advice:
- Reevaluate your tools. Nonprofits are used to making do with the tools they have available. They look at tools as expenses rather than investments that can save them time and resources to set them up for success. Consider how much more you could do with the right tools, especially as you look to capture efficiencies and drive results. If you’re not sure where to start, Ted Kriwiel has some great guides for nonprofits navigating the software-purchasing process.
- Commit to learning and development opportunities. Grab coffee with your peers or show up to free webinars—some of which are listed below! Leverage learning and development opportunities to help push you forward. While it can be hard to carve out time, it’s important to keep your skills and knowledge fresh.
- Celebrate your wins. As much as you might wish, you’re not going to win every grant—and that’s okay! You should still celebrate the big and small wins you have with your team. It’s important for them to feel seen, appreciated, and valued for their contributions. Engaged employees want to see their organizations thrive, not just survive.
💥 Keep the grant revolution going and start thriving on your grant search!
🎁 A Gift for You 🎁
A strategic plan gives you a thoughtful blueprint to follow rather than simply chasing every new funding opportunity.
However, no matter how important it is, it can be hard to put pen to paper. That’s why we put together this free Grant Strategy Template to help you get started.
This guide covers what you need to include in your grant strategy and provides a template that you can adapt for your nonprofit to maximize your chances of success.
Opportunities Spotlight
📚 Stranahan Foundation Early Childhood Education Funding
Who It’s For: Nonprofits focused on improving early care and education for low-income families
Next Deadline: Letter of Inquiry due January 26, 2026
Grant Amount: Up to $500,000
The Details:
The Stranahan Foundation Early Childhood Education Funding grant provides resources to help serve early childhood providers and professionals in low-income areas. They invest in innovation and professional development opportunities to empower teachers. Their goal is to develop and retain a high-quality, thriving early-educator workforce to help impact the next generation.
🌍 NextWorldNow - Community Investments
Who It’s For: Nonprofits focused on driving community well-being
Next Deadline: Pre-proposal: March 1, 2026
Grant Amount: Up to $10,000
The Details:
The NextWorldNow - Community Investments grants are focused on empowering and uplifting communities. They prioritize giving to projects that advance well-being, including providing access to water, food, housing, healthcare, safety, education, social activity, and jobs. There are no geographic restrictions on these grants.
🔍 Explore thousands of other grant opportunities now!
Networking Nook
📅 Conference: The Nonprofit Storytelling Conference
November 13-15, 2025 | San Diego, CA
Every nonprofit has a story to tell, and the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference can help you take it to the next level. You’ll learn actionable tips to help you get a stronger return on investment from donor communications, drive strategic asks, and more. You won’t want to miss this opportunity to enhance your storytelling skills with like-minded individuals.
Don’t miss out!
To check out more recent and upcoming live events, go here.
In Case You Missed It
📑 Article: How to Conduct a SWOT Analysis for Your Nonprofit
Strategic planning is a process, and a SWOT analysis can help you understand your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Catch up on how to conduct one and analyze your findings to elevate your strategic plans.
📼 Video: How to Go From Zero to Hero With Your Grant Strategy
Supercharge your grant strategy with this 2-hour webinar. You’ll see how to refine your prospect research, learn steps you can take to prepare your nonprofit for success, and understand how to find your best-fit funders fast.
🎙️ Podcast: The Nonprofit Hub Podcast: Outcome-Driven Fundraising Begins With ROI
Join the Nonprofit Hub’s Katie Appold and GrowthForce founder Stephen King as they explore how to build sustainable funding. Learn how to better leverage your data to demonstrate ROIs you can use to fuel your fundraising strategy.
Take Your Strategy From Surviving to Thriving
Whether you’re in the middle of a crisis or simply looking to plan better, there are steps you can take to propel your nonprofit forward and embrace a growth mindset.
When you’re ready, Instrumentl can help you:
- Locate best-fit funding opportunities, allowing you to focus your efforts on grants you have the best shot of winning.
- Create timelines and tasks on a shared calendar so you can collaborate with your teams and never miss another deadline.
- Store all your important information in a central repository for easy access.
100% Free Grant Writing Resources Straight to Your Inbox
