Just Across the Pond…Clues About What is to Come?

I've always believed that many of us in the United States, including myself, are too ethnocentric. Many times, we're paying very little attention to what's going on in the rest of the world... Much of the time to our detriment we’re not seeing trends happening “over there” that might be applicable “here” someday in the near future.  Thus, may be the case currently in England.

Multiple reports coming out of the United Kingdom have indicated great financial challenges to many in the country. In particular, within the nonprofit world, it's being reported that charities and community groups throughout Britain are tapping into reserves to cover basic operating expenses. In fact, according to one report, 55% are pulling resources for basic operations from either investments or savings accounts. Just as clear, there is not a decreasing need and in fact, nonprofit leaders are indicating the need to pull funding from reserves is being done to meet higher demands from those in the community who seek support.

In addition, nearly half of the leadership of the charities and community groups surveyed expected that demand will exceed the organization's ability to meet that for the first time. And one in five indicate that the shortfall of services provided will be significant.

Believe it or not, this is the basic economics of supply and demand.

The demand in England for philanthropic support is on the increase. There are many arguments as to why, which I won't address here. But no one's arguing that the demands are increasing. This is putting pressure on prices, staffing, services, etcetera to nonprofits trying to meet this need. And they're doing so with what appears, with some lagging indicators, and with less philanthropic support.

Back to where I began…the sense of not paying attention outside of our own little world. Are England’s challenges a precursor of issues here in the United States? Should we be preparing for this? How would we prepare for it? These are relevant questions which I feel fairly certain aren't even being thought of let alone being discussed within America's nonprofit leadership.