To Your Health…or Vitality?
With the onslaught of holiday parties comes the annual “small talk” tour. How’s the year been for you? Fair to middling, thanks. What are you reading right now? “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larsson. What’s new and exciting? Our dog Penny. Have I told you about our lovely dog?
Last Saturday was The Day of Three Parties. The question I was asked – by no less than six people – was “Did you read the article on museums in The New York Times this morning?” (Most of my friends know that The Collins Group has had the good fortune of providing campaign counsel for a number of regional museum expansion projects).
In case you missed it, the article in question is “In the Arts, Bigger Buildings May Not Be Better” by Robin Pogrebin. Adrian Ellis, NYC-based arts and cultural consultant, is quoted saying, “Although expansion is usually seen as a sign of health, it is not always a sign of vitality.” This statement is a bit of a head-scratcher, but here’s what I think it means for nonprofits who are dreaming about a capital expansion project:
- Relevance: Is your project driven by a desire to “keep up” with your competitors or does your research make the case that the community you serve would benefit from an expanded facility? Who or what is driving your plans?
- Urgency: Why now? Will you fail to meet your mission if you don’t expand? Is there another way for you to meet demand for services through partnerships, leasing additional space, or rethinking your current space?
- Sustainability: Do you have a realistic and defensible plan (that has been vetted with smart and skeptical people) for sustaining your expanded facility, programs, and operations?
When it comes to judging an organization’s health and vitality, I’ll leave you with this question: Would you rather your organization be a body builder who gulps steroids and burns out in middle age or a yoga practitioner who sips green tea and remains strong and limber throughout the years?
Sorry. I was not trying to set up some nuanced distinction between ‘health’ and vitality’. The sentence might read more concisely as “Although expansion is usually seen as a sign of health, it is not always.” Adrian Ellis
Kate those are really great questions. I love your question about being a body builder or a yogi. In the nonprofit world it almost seems like capital campaigns are viewed as a right of passage or a sign of success. I think a lot of organizations want to do a capital campaign because they feel like it marks them as a successful growing organization.