Non-profit survival strategies.

• Author: Adams, Cynthia M.

With oil production down, Alaska's non-profits have to look for new funding sources.

Alaska is seeing slower economic growth, which means reduced government spending and reduced corporate philanthropic gifts, directly affecting the budgets of non-profit organizations throughout the state.

Alaskan non-profits are being forced to make changes, in attitude and practice, to accommodate in-state, national (and even international) economic trends, and the resulting shifts in philanthropic ideology.

Alaska non-profit organizations must be willing to take some risks and experiment with the new trends, first as a means of survival and hopefully later as part of improved social partnerships and relationships.

National Trends

According to recent articles in The Chronicle of Philanthropy and a major article in the May-June 1994 issue of Harvard Business Review, the fundamental change in corporate giving on the national level means, in a practical sense, that companies' marketing departments and their philanthropic foundations more closely resemble one another, and that companies want to appear to be helping society in a way that also helps the company gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

Related to this change in the funding paradigm is the trend called "cause-related giving," which means that companies often shape their guidelines along the lines of a particular social cause, often related to the company's product. For example, companies invested in communications are often now devoted to education, and in particular primary education. Banks are focusing on economic development. Companies that make outdoor apparel support environmental causes. Print media companies such as McGraw-Hill, Prentice Hall and the New York Times favor literacy programs.

In spite of the more ominous signs of "downsizing," some changes taking place in the relationship between business, government and non-profit sectors are simply reflective of the larger restlessness in the world of profit and loss. The previously separate categories of giving and receiving are now resembling something more "symbiotic," as corporations feel more vulnerable than in the recent past. International competition has also made companies more aware of the image they project to their consumers.

As downsizing and cutbacks occur, companies are forced to be creative in managing their philanthropic donations. In addition to cash, companies are providing non-profits with managerial advice...