Flexibility and Openness Are Key to Revitalizing Charities With Long Track Records

Trying to bring a hidebound organization into a new era sounds daunting, but nonprofit leaders who’ve done it successfully say it is not as difficult as it might seem.

Experts say that two of the most important steps for these “legacy” groups — charities that have been around for 50 years or more — are adapting to the demanding schedules of modern families and finding better ways to keep them informed about goals and activities.

In the past, nonprofits often assumed that members would attend an event or participate in activities because it was expected, says Daniel Waclaw, director of the Women’s Board of the University of Chicago. These days, most members and volunteers have less time to devote to nonprofits and want more flexibility.

“In 2017 we need to understand that not every member is going to attend all events and it’s OK if they only come to two or three a year; we’re meeting them where they are,” says Mr. Waclaw. “It’s more important today to give them access, rather than holding them to a rigorous schedule.”

Some of the broad lessons legacy charities learned in adapting to changing times:

Listen to supporters.

Susan Danish, executive director of the Association of Junior Leagues International, says her organization has made considerable changes to its membership rules and requirements.

Previously, members had to devote a certain number of hours a year to the organization; if anything prevented a member from meeting the time commitment — a new baby, an ailing relative — she would have to resign. Under the new model, members have more flexibility. They can step away when necessary and return when it is again possible.

The changes were sparked by a poll a decade ago of Junior League members and former members. Many respondents said they found belonging to the league less valuable or relevant to their lives than they had in the past.

What’s more, many who volunteered with multiple nonprofits said they preferred the other charity over the Junior League because it gave them a greater sense of purpose and more flexibility.

“It was a clarion call,” Ms. Danish says. “Here was a real opportunity; here was a 116-year-old organization that had done so much good work and yet times have changed, women’s lives have changed. It was an opportunity to keep core values and make sure it keeps up with today.”

Adapt based on their feedback.

Because the Junior League works on a federation model in which all 292 leagues are separate 501(c)(3) organizations, local leaders could choose to change with the times or not.

Ms. Danish says the association got most of the leagues interested in changing how they work with members by sharing all of the survey’s findings, explaining what the national group was learning along the way, and asking for feedback.

“League leaders were afraid their long-term members wouldn’t like the changes and would quit,” says Ms. Danish. “What members told us was, they were hungry for these changes; it resonated with them.”

To better serve its members, the organization stopped doing big long-term projects. Today the leagues choose one big problem they would like to address in their area, and they build a series of different programs and projects around that issue. They can also partner with other nonprofits working on similar programs.

The organization has made other changes along the way and is continuing to do so regularly.

“This has not been an overnight process. The research came out in 2006 and it’s now 2017, so we’ve been doing this for a really long time,” says Ms. Danish. “I don’t think it’s ever going to be done, but changes are in place in about 57 percent of the leagues, so we’re still rolling things out as we learn what works and what doesn’t.”

Communicate clearly, and often.

Mr. Waclaw says a key component for any organization is to clearly explain what it’s trying to establish, using modern channels of communication.

When he came on board last year at the University of Chicago Women’s Board, one of the first things he noticed was that the 57-year-old grant-making group was still doing a lot on paper. He got to work revamping its website to make it visually cleaner, regularly updated, and more useful for members, with resources and tools like an online calendar, a digital directory, and a streamlined process for nominating members through the site. .

Along with creating a more active web presence, Mr. Waclaw says he has changed the way he communicates about the board’s work so that it is more timely and relevant to members’ concerns.

For example, when his team is creating an invitation to an event where a University of Chicago faculty member is giving a presentation, the invite includes information about how the professor’s work relates to current events or local issues.

Since the Women’s Board gives grants, Mr. Waclaw also makes sure to show the long-term or broader results of its giving, something he says members are much more interested in today than they were in the past.

This satisfies members’ desire to learn more about the effects of their grant making, he says. “I’ll see a bit of a spike in people’s giving based on the types of engagement they have with learning what our grants have done.”