NONPROFITS

Building Update The Montana Natural History Center was founded with the dream that it would, one day, be a Museum and Discovery Center near downtown Missoula. In a few days we close on 120 Hickory…

the sluggish economy is nudging nonprofit groups to consider merging or forming alliances to become more efficient and ride out the downturn, experts say.

The non-profit world is changing. State and federal budgets are providing less support, foundations are giving less due to a volatile stock market and the multitude of fundraisers have made it difficult to raise private funds through traditional methods. Many forward thinking non-profits like Child Care Resources are developing earned income ventures to generate the additional revenue they need to fulfill their mission.

The most important piece of the strategic challenge is to make decisions that create the tightest fit between actions and intended impact. An organization’s choices must reflect its priorities.

The figures suggest that charities without a Web presence could be missing out on much-needed funds during the economy’s slowest recovery in 60 years.

Every so often, our expectations of what is possible change. A new idea, an inspired invention, a resourceful person or group appears and alters the way we think about the world. Suddenly, sending a man…

"We’ve established a template that any county anywhere in the United States can follow," he said. "We’re very proud of what we’ve done here and more than willing to open up what we do and share it."

"There is so much need and so much poverty," he said. "I would sure welcome other people taking the template we put together and replicating it."

MHRN’s mission is to promote democratic values such as pluralism, equality and justice; challenge bigotry and intolerance; and organize communities to speak out in support of democratic principles and institutions.

At a time of year when people traditionally assess how they can help those in need, charitable foundations would also do well to ask themselves some searching questions: Are they still valuable institutions – or…