Nonprofits Also Face the Growth/Stability Question

Commenting on a New York Times profile of the new director of the Dia Art Foundation, Conde Nast Portfolio blogger Felix Simon posts compellingly on why nonprofits need to carefully consider any grand plans for growth. As he points out, Dia has done a terrific job setting itself up as an ongoing concern with an endowment large enough to obviate the need for vast public approval. It offers a perfect venue for the works it presents, Simon says, making the new director’s stated intention “to take it to a new chapter” something to be approached warily:

To use a stock-market analogy, Dia is a low-growth utility. It’s great if you like that sort of thing, but the CEO of such an operation is basically in charge of keeping it ticking over, not reinventing it or trying to make it grow. That’s why I’m worried about pledges “to fortify programming” and the like. It’s almost impossible to break Dia by neglect; the only way to do so is by trying to improve it.

As always, it’s all about the mission. For Dia and its new director (and board) to determine whether and how to take the next step, it must consider seriously whether it would allow it to fulfill its mission more completely. If so, full speed ahead, with the knowledge that sometimes bigger ain’t better. If not, pull back and continue to do what you do so well. | 501(c)