Three trends to know

What’s one strategy or lesson you’ve learned that could help others in the nonprofit scene?

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Lisa Cushatt, director, Iowa ACEs 360

Nonprofit professionals come to their work with a sense of purpose and mission. They drive our region’s efforts to make life better for everyone who lives here by improving our quality of life and ensuring more people have the foundation they need to contribute to their fullest. 

Yet our industry struggles to support and retain our most critical resource. 

Especially in organizations that work with individuals who are experiencing tremendous challenges, staff often hear stories about trauma, work long hours to help clients and make difficult decisions. Doing that work each day can quickly cause burnout and stress that impacts their own health and well-being. 

As nonprofit leaders and as community members who support nonprofit organizations, we must build our nonprofits to respond to staff members’ needs. In my work to raise awareness of how to prevent childhood adversity, I now emphasize that prevention also means healing and supporting the teams that serve our children and families. 

The pandemic has only exacerbated this need. I have heard from many individuals working in the nonprofit sector that the pandemic is creating a breaking point as more families need help, resources become scarcer, staff juggle many roles at work and at home, and we all live with uncertainty about the future. Those who supervise teams are especially stuck not knowing how to support each of their staff’s varying needs. 

We cannot expect to do our difficult work, especially in today’s times, without being affected. What we can control is how we prepare ourselves and our teams to manage the challenges. Organization leaders can help by working with staff to process their experiences and emotions together, to build connections with each other, and to foster compassion satisfaction in their jobs. 

Focusing on ourselves and on our incredible professionals is critical to fulfilling our missions. 

Daniel Hoffman-Zinnel, CEO, Proteus Inc.

Proteus Inc. is a multistate nonprofit organization that was created in 1979 and provides agricultural workers and their families with affordable health care, education assistance and job training. The name Proteus comes from the Greek god Proteus. He would transform to meet the needs of whoever was praying to him. That is what we try to embody as an organization: transforming to meet the needs of farmworkers. 

Proteus has especially lived out this ethos throughout the pandemic. Proteus made the decision to proactively start reaching out to agricultural employers after unfortunately seeing so many meat processing workers test positive across our state. We knew we had to proactively help protect farmworkers and provide them with access to information, resources, testing and health care. 

Proteus worked closely with state partners and agricultural employers to plan and prepare for testing of farmworkers this summer, especially as thousands arrive in our state to work in the fields. We tested farmworkers currently working and migrant farmworkers as they started arriving. It was important to be proactive with COVID-19 testing, and Proteus led these efforts to help protect farmworkers. Even when there were farmworkers testing positive for COVID-19, Proteus was able to isolate and quarantine them, as well as provide access to housing, hot meals and health care in a timely manner. All of these farmworkers recovered quickly and were able to get back to work, thanks to the care and services provided by Proteus. 

So many families were affected by COVID-19. Thankfully, there were additional resources provided to families in need such as increased unemployment benefits and a stimulus check. While this may not have been enough for some families, it definitely helped. Unfortunately, it left behind so many families who do not qualify for governmental assistance. To respond to this need, Proteus partnered with Al Exito and American Friends Services Committee-Iowa to launch the Central Iowa Immigrant Emergency Support Fund. So far, the fund has provided over $200,000 of financial support to well over 200 immigrant families. 

The lessons learned from these experiences include living out your mission, embodying your ethos, responding to the needs of the individuals you serve, advocating for your clients/patients and proactive leadership. Proteus is always proud of the work done for agricultural workers and their families, but especially during the pandemic. We look forward to continuing to utilize innovation and proactive leadership to propel our mission forward.

Nick Smithberg, executive director, Iowa Legal Aid

2020 has been a year like no other. The coronavirus pandemic has devastated our state, particularly low-income communities and people of color. As the economy seized up, thousands became unemployed, and thousands are now threatened with homelessness. As if that weren’t enough, the recent derecho added another layer of suffering for many families.

 Throughout the year, Iowa Legal Aid has been there for thousands of families who have been battered by these crises. The eviction diversion project we recently launched in Polk County is exemplary. Working closely with the Polk County Board of Supervisors, the Iowa courts, the Polk County Housing Trust Fund, IMPACT, Home Inc. and other stakeholders, we went live with this critical initiative in the span of several days. We are still working through many of the details, but by going live quickly, we have been able keep scores of Iowans in their home, including 85 children. To date, not a single tenant who showed up for their hearing has been evicted.

Our experience with this project provides a simple but important lesson: Don’t be afraid to build the plane while you fly the plane. New initiatives cannot help families in need unless we actually get them started. As nonprofit leaders, we all strive to make a meaningful impact with limited resources. We are thus challenged to devise creative solutions. This is true now more than ever as each of us scrambles to meet the present crisis. Planning is critical, but it is also important to learn from practical experience. Most importantly, we must recognize the need to act.