The Cure for the Not-for-Profit Crisis

There is a crisis in the nonprofit sector. Since the great recession began, donations to the largest charities in the U.S. have dropped by billions. But the financial meltdown has not affected all charities and nonprofits equally. More versatile, general-purpose charities are faring the worst. For more tightly focused nonprofits, the decline is not nearly as sharp.

The more fundamental core problem is strategic. These institutions lack a strategy for connecting their mission with their ability to deliver. In short, this is a crisis of coherence.