How can we celebrate?

We’re knee-deep in conversation these days with a group that’s approaching its 30th anniversary. In better times, this would have been an occasion for hoopla – for throwing a party to celebrate accomplishments, gather together old friends, forge new relationships, reconnect with alumni, maybe get a little press, and even, dare I say, raise a little extra dough to jumpstart a reserve fund or a capital drive – something out of the ordinary.

But these days?

We’re in year two of the drought here in the nonprofit trenches, and it’s like the 16th mile of a marathon – we’re not close enough to the other side to see it, and we’re not at rock bottom – but we sure as heck have a clear view of what that looks like.

I’ve been having a lot of conversations since the new year with fellow nonprofit leaders, and they always start the same way. “How are you? Are you OK?” they cautiously enquire, and when I affirm that – to my surprise – we’re still standing, they acknowledge that they’re about the same.

But sure, we can pick up our heads to see that we’re still upright (for those of us that still are); yet at the same time we’re trying to duck and cover from the tsunami that rumor has it is coming, especially as the City and State pass along their fiscal fissures to the nonprofits in their midst.

So…celebrate?

• The fact that we still have a (reduced) paycheck, for those of us who still do?
• The fact that we’ve all made some pretty hard choices, and grappled with mission vs. bottom line in an even more ruthless way than before?
• The fact that we’re still making a difference, for those of us that are still in business?

Yes, celebrate.

Celebrate the fact that nonprofits, now even more than ever, stand for, and enable, the best in the human spirit. The capacity to give, the value of equity, the urge to make the world better.

And that each of us in the nonprofit universe, whether staff, board, or volunteer, has committed, for better or worse, to making space in our lives to bring about positive change.

So, getting back to that anniversary – how can we celebrate?

Maybe the right question is – how can we not…?