Lewis Lavine, President of the Center for Nonprofit Management sent out the following email to our members this morning:

To our CEO Network members:

This is a challenging economic period. Corporations, foundations, and governments find their assets are much lower than they were months or even weeks ago. This will result in the reduction of philanthropic donations, inevitably causing the nonprofit sector to bear the burden. In my discussions with local donors, I learn that they are very concerned about the health of our nonprofit community, particularly during the next year.

We want to get ahead of this curve. At the Center for Nonprofit Management, we are taking three immediate steps to help you prepare for a difficult time:

1. We are creating a CNM SWAT Team made up of our experienced consultants. The team will be available to assist you in evaluating your financial picture, determining whether growth or restriction makes sense, meet with your board, or consider collaborations you might begin with other agencies. Although we must charge for our services, we will make our Nonprofit Excellence Funds available so that it will be more affordable. Lisa Pote, our Director of Consulting, will provide additional information about this opportunity in the days ahead.

2. We are offering four free one-hour discussion sessions called Weathering the Economic Storm. Sessions will provide constructive discussion with peers on how to continue to serve your mission and thrive in a difficult climate. Ellen Hingst, our Director of Education, will be providing additional information about these sessions. Since the demands on nonprofit agencies vary by their employee and budget sizes, we are dividing the sessions into agency budget categories. They will be conducted at the Center beginning at 8:00 a.m. on the following dates:

· October 10 Members with budgets less than $150,000

· October 17 Members with budgets between $150,000 and $500,000

· October 24 Members with budgets between $500,000 and $2 million

· November 5 Members with budgets above $2 million

3. Corinne Ciocia, our Director of Communications, will continue to post tips about working through this time of fiscal difficulty.

We hope these actions will make it easier for you to continue to make a difference in Middle Tennessee, and we look forward to seeing you at one of the discussion sessions.