Two things we know about 2021: It will be challenging, and it will call for audacity. Our editorial calendar reflects both

No, despite the pandemic, our 2021 editorial calendar isn’t a nonprofit survivalist’s manual.

Without doubt the sector’s been deeply impacted by the pandemic and its devastating effects on public health and local economies. But, according to a study by the Nonprofit Leadership Center, “despite significant fundraising concerns, nearly half (48.72%) of leaders who responded anticipate that their nonprofit will meet or exceed their total revenue goal for 2020.” Philanthropic organizations, too, thanks to a surprisingly robust stock market, have done better than anticipated.

So when Generocity held its final Power Breakfast of the year, in November, the nonprofit leaders gathered for it weren’t focused on the sector’s future in terms of survival — they were intent on refocusing its future.

The sector needs to radically re-envision what constitutes leadership … and who it calls leaders, said one of the attendees. We confuse visibility with leadership, agreed another. And as a third memorably put it, the nonprofit sector is dealing with a “leadership deficit and a crisis of imagination.”

The most frequently used word at the power breakfast was the adjective “radical,” and what comes clear from that is — this is a sector at a crossroads.

In the past are the structures, practices and processes that both the pandemic and an uprising against racial injustice have shown to be too often inadequate and woefully out-of-touch. In the future, are those who are doing the hard work of radically re-imaging, re-envisioning, and re-creating the sector so it is better. For those it serves and for those doing the serving.

So our editorial calendar for 2021 — with profound thanks to those who were willing to have the deep conversation about it with us — is focused on that future.

January

Shifting ground: Toward a more community-driven sector

February

Hidden figures: Who’s really been doing the work all along

March

COVID as accelerant: New ways of delivering programs & deploying employees

April

Rethinking the dynamics of power: From the board’s role to pay equity

May

Philafuturism, civic innovation and tactical community tech

June

How we build it: Nonprofit service providers

July

How we build it: Fiscal sponsor nonprofits

August

How we build it: Philanthropic organizations

September

Cultivating imagination: Why not create entirely new structures?

October

Radically re-envisioned leadership

November

The 2022 Power Breakfast conversations

December

Sustainability and circular economics

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We welcome your suggestions, your ideas and your pitches for stories to illuminate the editorial calendar topics. Email us at philly@generocity.org and add “Editorial calendar” in the subject line.