The OD Guest View: Nonprofits strengthen community

The Observer-Dispatch Guest View recently featured Brian Howard, executive director of the Oneida County Historical Society. Read the full article here. Below is an excerpt about the impact of nonprofits:

Seems like each morning my e-mail brings dire messages from one museum organization or another, reporting on state or federal funding cuts, facility closings, and event postponements or cancellations. Indeed, tough times create significant challenges for organizations like ours, demanding a creative, flexible approach to doing business to ensure not just our survival, but the continuance of our mission.

Nonprofits do not manufacture goods; their “products” are less tangible. However, the Oneida County Historical Society and other nonprofit organizations in the Mohawk Valley perform vital, necessary services, around which the community can sustain or build its quality of life. They sell services, provide care and education, and foster a sense of community. They are the safety net, the keepers of culture, the caregivers, the helping hand, the smiling face.

Over the last year, more than 3,000 people have attended lectures and presentations at the Oneida County Historical Society. We also worked hand-in-hand with our local school districts, providing “non-traditional” educational opportunities for more than 500 elementary and middle school-age students. Schoolchildren toured our galleries and participated in a valuable summer education program. More recently, the society took one of our Civil War battle flags to Adirondack Middle School to help celebrate the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth.

However, perhaps because the impact of activities like these cannot be easily measured in dollars and cents, a “return on investment” cannot be easily calculated or quantified, either. From there it is often a short jump for contributors to target their charitable contributions for cuts when finances are tight. But cutting funding entirely, a wholesale end to giving, would be a terrible mistake.

It is incumbent upon our nonprofit leaders to operate their organizations efficiently and effectively, and to be good stewards of the money still coming in to them. Yes funding is down, but staying positive, mission-focused, and community-minded can go a long way toward navigating through these tough times.

Times are tight, on that point there is no debate. In these times we all must buckle down and work together to ensure a positive future. Just as it is important for each business and private citizen to consider their charitable contributions, it is incumbent upon our local nonprofits to be fiscally responsible. Also, to remain focused on providing services, perhaps at a reduced level, but to provide them nonetheless, to the citizens of the Mohawk Valley.

Yes, it is not easy, but nonprofits not only require the support of the communities they serve; they also deserve it. Inspiration, education, entertainment — these are the intangibles that make life in this or any region worth living.