by Dr. Kevin Dean, President & CEO, Tennessee Nonprofit Network
As you know, our last chapter ended on a bit of a high note, even if it was born from a frustrating failure. The whole health insurance project went bust, which made us realize a statewide association wasn’t a “nice-to-have,” but a must-have. We’d had a pivotal phone call with Tim Delaney of National Council of Nonprofits, and we felt committed to continuing the conversation. We knew creating a state association was a marathon, not a sprint. We were ready to take the next careful, measured step…
And then, as a punchline for the ages, the world changed.
A New Kind of Chaos
It’s hard to remember what life was like before. In January 2020, we were just hearing rumblings about a new virus in Seattle. By February, it felt like a news story you’d see on the back pages. But then came March. Within a matter of weeks, our entire world slammed to a halt. The United States shut down. We were plunged into a full-blown pandemic, and I mean full-blown. There was confusion, misinformation, fear, and a terrifying amount of death. It was the kind of crisis you read about in history books, and suddenly, we were living in it.
Everything we knew about our work was thrown out the window. Our organizations—Center for Nonprofit Management, Momentum Nonprofit Partners, Venture Forward, and Alliance for Better Nonprofits—had to go into overdrive. The phone calls, the emails, the frantic Zoom meetings started immediately. Our nonprofit sector was suddenly on the front lines, navigating a world where their clients’ needs were exploding, funding was drying up, and they had to pivot their entire operations overnight. It was chaotic, terrifying, and overwhelming. But here’s the silver lining, the one little bit of good news that changed everything: we had each other.
A Coalition of Co-Conspirators
Tari Hughes of Center for Nonprofit Management, Jerry Askew of Alliance for Better Nonprofits, Laura McCann of Venture Forward, and I began meeting as regularly as possible. It wasn’t just a simple check-in; it was a lifeline. We were like a group of co-conspirators, sharing everything we were learning in real-time. “Did you hear about the new CDC guidelines?” “Is your city offering any emergency funding?” “My team just found this great template for a remote work policy.” We were a network of four, bringing a constant flow of resources, ideas, and strategies to the table. Each of us had connections the others didn’t and expertise that complemented one another. We relied on each other not just for professional collaboration, but for emotional support, too. There were moments of high-level strategy and moments of quiet venting. When you’re trying to navigate a crisis that no one has ever faced, you need a therapist and a shoulder to cry on. We were each other’s.
A significant change came when Laura of Venture Forward moved to Florida during the pandemic and was replaced by Abby Garrison. I’ll admit, I was a little nervous. You know how it is—when you have a good thing going with a team, you worry that a new person will disrupt the chemistry. But after my first phone call with Abby, all my worries evaporated. I could just feel the energy on the phone. She had the vision and foresight to see why a state association was so critical, and she joined our inner circle without missing a beat. She was a natural collaborator and exactly what we needed.
The Eye-Opening Moment
Even with our newfound collaboration, we quickly ran into challenges that were bigger than any of us. We realized that while we were doing great work for our members, we had no influence where it mattered most: in the halls of government.
One day, Tari sent a message to all of us asking if we knew of any nonprofits appointed by the Governor to be on the Economic Recovery Group, the committee tasked with reopening the state. We quickly realized the answer was zero. Zero nonprofits were at the table, despite being on the front lines of the pandemic.
This was a massive, humbling, and frankly infuriating wake-up call. We were capacity builders; we focused on training, consulting, and strengthening organizations. Public policy wasn’t even on our radar. We were so committed to helping our nonprofits get better at what they do, we never stopped to ask the question: are we really making a difference if the biggest decisions are being made without us? The answer was a resounding “no.”
Meanwhile, we watched our peers nationally. We saw how nonprofits had to fight to be included in the PPP loans. Can you believe they weren’t originally a part of it? That’s a testament to the power of a collective voice, and it showed us what was possible. So many organizations would have been gone if it hadn’t been for that national advocacy.
We had to do something. So we did the only thing we could do: we made the decision to send a joint letter to Governor Lee, and we put out a joint call to action for our members to back us up. Without even realizing it, we were building a coalition. Within days, Governor Lee responded. He not only created a seat at the table for us but also established a subcommittee just for nonprofits (Thank you, Governor Lee!). We got to provide specific recommendations, including the idea of using leftover COVID-19 money for nonprofits—an idea we “borrowed” from our friends at the Kentucky Nonprofit Network (thanks, Danielle Clore!). Our recommendation, along with the tireless efforts of others, helped lead to $150 million for nonprofits across the state through the Community CARES Act. While we only made the recommendation, a coalition of other nonprofit leaders got this work across the finish line, a testament to organizing and coalition building!
This wasn’t a fluke. When a new bill was introduced to protect businesses from COVID-19 litigation, nonprofits were again left out. It was a frustrating case of déjà vu. The original bill died on the floor, but another one, the COVID-19 Recovery Act, was reintroduced with the same basic premise. We quickly put out another joint call to action, and this time the response was even more powerful. So many of you responded that lawmakers actually acknowledged nonprofits during the debate on the floor! An amendment was introduced to include us, and it was another clear sign: public policy was no longer a side project; it was part of the core work.
Building a State Association, By Accident
While all this was happening, our organizations had to completely change how they operated. Every training, every meeting, everything moved to Zoom. We knew this wasn’t a temporary change. This was a new reality. We started building out online courses and leaning into cohort-based learning. We were strategically leaning into public policy and using our combined power to make a difference. We were, without even realizing it, building a state nonprofit association in real time. We had a collective voice, a shared mission, and a rapid-response system.
When the vaccines started to roll out in 2021, we were faced with yet another crisis. Nonprofits were completely lost in a sea of confusing information. Again, our coalition came together to make sure organizations had the information they needed to navigate the rollout process. Tari knew this person, while Jerry knew that person. Abby had seen this resource online, while I had another resource to share. We were providing training, sharing resources, and acting as a central hub of information. It was our collective collaboration that helped get the word out. Without this unified front, the entire COVID-19 response by Tennessee nonprofits would have been a lot more chaotic and messy.
Public policy was now on everyone’s radar. At Momentum Nonprofit Partners (now TNN), we launched our first Public Policy Agenda in 2022. This was the start of something much bigger.
As the pandemic slowly receded and life started to feel a bit more normal, we all knew what had to happen next. We had been acting as a state association for nearly two years. It was time to officially restart the conversations about making it official. We had proven the concept, we had the buy-in from the field, and we had the collective will to do it.
But that, my friends, is a story for the next chapter.
Here’s a little secret about the video above. Because we filmed this during the pandemic, Andrea and I were apprehensive about standing side-by-side to record this, as we hadn’t quarantined prior to filming. The production company, Forever Ready Productions, actually used computer wizardry to film us separately and composite one of us in. It looks like we are standing beside one another and even smiling and nodding along, but we are great actors!!