This month, Community Development Educator Andy Wilson has focused heavily on strengthening understanding of Fond du Lac County’s nonprofit sector, particularly the smaller organizations that often operate with limited staff, funding, and administrative capacity. In partnership with Sophia Partners and the Fond du Lac Area Foundation, a new nonprofit needs survey was recently launched to gather direct input from local organizations. The survey is especially focused on nonprofits with 10 or fewer employees and asks about current challenges, organizational capacity, training and technical assistance needs, collaboration opportunities, and the types of support that would be most useful moving forward.
The survey builds on several months of nonprofit mapping and data analysis designed to better understand who is operating in the county and where gaps or unmet needs may exist. That work has helped identify roughly 100 organizations that appear to fit within the smaller-nonprofit space targeted by the survey. Rather than relying only on assumptions or broad nonprofit statistics, the goal is to hear directly from organizations about what they are experiencing and what would help them be more effective. The results will help inform future Community Development programming, educational opportunities, partnerships, and resource development, while also providing a clearer picture of the strengths and challenges within Fond du Lac County’s nonprofit ecosystem.