How Learning Can Help Nonprofits Adapt During Times of Uncertainty

A shift has occurred across the social sector, and we can all feel it.

The momentum that once fueled bold commitments to social and economic justice has slowed, replaced by caution. Federal rollbacks and political pressure have called equity work into question, and many funders, once eager to be part of the change, are stepping back. Programs that served as models of innovation are now being defunded — not because they failed, but because they are perceived as too politically risky.

The result is a growing sense of vulnerability for organizations that have long been on the frontlines of systemic change.

When Fear Drives Decisions

When fear becomes the driving force behind funding decisions, foundations lose the ability to clearly see what’s working and what’s possible. At the same time, community-based organizations lose the capacity to innovate and advocate for their communities.

In my work with foundations and nonprofits across the country, I’ve seen how this fear shows up. People are in defend-and-protect mode, trying to safeguard their missions with limited information and shrinking resources. It’s understandable. But when every move is about protection, we start to make choices rooted in scarcity. Programs are ended before we understand why they worked in the first place. Promising partnerships dissolve before we can capture what made them worth protecting. When learning stops, decision-making narrows. If we stop measuring now, we risk erasing the very evidence that will guide us forward.

Rethinking Success

This moment calls for a reassessment — not of mission, but of measurement. Metrics created in 2024 no longer match the reality of 2025. Nonprofits, especially smaller ones, are adapting quickly and finding creative ways to serve their communities and stay true to their commitments. Now is the time to revisit what “effectiveness” really means. Our metrics should evolve as our conditions evolve; otherwise, they become tools of judgment rather than instruments of understanding.

Funders must resist the instinct to pull back, instead choosing to see this as an invitation to partner differently. They must support their nonprofit partners not just to deliver on their mission, but to document what they’re learning as they innovate.

Right now, the best way to measure success is to pay attention to the transformations happening in real time. Some ways we’ve been doing this with our clients are:

• Mapping network development and expansion.
• Including transformational metrics — such as participant well-being — alongside transactional metrics.
• Co-designing and leading grantee-driven evaluation processes.

Why Numbers Alone Aren’t Enough

Counting participants, tracking dollars and reporting outputs will always have their place, but numbers alone can’t always capture the full story of adaptation or evolution — especially during periods of disruption.

If we want to understand progress in this moment, we have to ask more complex questions. What initial assumptions guided our approach? How have those assumptions changed over time? What new risks exist that didn't exist before, and how are we responding to them? What opportunities are we taking advantage of or creating at this moment?

At Social Insights, our work is grounded in a framework called liberatory research, which reimagines how data is collected. In practice, that means we prioritize meaning-making and blend qualitative storytelling with quantitative tools such as statistical analysis and multilevel modeling. The numbers are important, but the stories matter just as much. When they’re brought together, they reveal patterns that are not only rigorous, but also deeply insightful.

Organizations are anxious to prove their worth. The instinct to produce quick, measurable results is understandable. But if we only use data to justify our existence rather than to learn, we will come out of this time with very little understanding of what sustained us through uncertainty.

Turning Evaluation Into Understanding

For too long, evaluation has been treated as a verdict rather than a vehicle to understand what works, why it works and under what conditions it thrives. Traditional approaches — such as formative, process and outcome studies — were designed to improve organizational strategies and programs, not to punish or rank them. Yet, in moments of constriction, evaluation can be used to do just that.

What would it look like to reclaim evaluation as a practice of learning? Over the last decade, foundations have increasingly paired evaluation with learning agendas to create stronger connections between findings and action. When we understand the “why,” we can identify best practices that can enable us to move beyond isolated success stories to shared learning.

Organizations don’t necessarily need new frameworks to do this. They can begin with simple, intentional debriefs. Set aside time for your team to reflect on questions such as:

• What adaptations have we made to account for shifts in public policy, organizational policy, material conditions, morale or availability?
• In what ways do these changes align with our strategy and values? In what ways do they challenge or oppose them?
• What are we learning about our effectiveness under pressure?
• What new strategies are working, and how do we know?
• What is not working, and how do we know?

What Crisis Reveals About Adaptation

This is not the first time the social sector has been forced to evolve under pressure. Five years ago, the pandemic disrupted every corner of our lives while racial justice uprisings took root in more than 2,000 cities across the country. During this time, we witnessed a surge of creativity rooted in community care.

Organizations like GirlTREK — which had long mobilized Black women to walk together as a form of health and healing — changed its model overnight by offering a 21-day series of walking meditations and hosting virtual gatherings that kept connection alive when isolation felt inevitable.

Today, organizations like Atlanta-based Policing Alternatives & Diversion Initiative (PAD) are modeling compassion in crisis by providing community response services through the city’s 311 line for quality-of-life concerns related to mental health, substance use and extreme poverty. As funding cuts made their work vulnerable, PAD doubled down on its roots in community organizing. Executive Director Moki Macías shared how base building allowed them to weather both financial and political storms. They have expanded their reach by training community members in their model and sharing opportunities for deeper involvement via social media.

The lesson is clear: Crisis breeds creativity. But creativity without documentation becomes a fleeting spark instead of a lasting light to carry into our next season of work. These organizations adapted not because they were shielded from disruption, but because they leaned into it. They shared what worked, creating a roadmap for resilience that others can now draw from.

Let Learning Lead the Way

Fear contracts. Learning expands.

Like an ecosystem after a wildfire, the social sector has the chance to regrow stronger, deeper roots. The soil is fertile with possibility. What takes root depends on what we choose to nurture — fear or knowledge.

The preceding content was provided by a contributor unaffiliated with NonProfit PRO. The views expressed within may not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of NonProfit PRO.