Consultants: the Rodney Dangerfields of the Nonprofit World
by Warren Dow, PhD
I tell ya, consultants are the Rodney Dangerfields of the nonprofit world. Even worse, consultants are especially vulnerable to the "Don't shoot the messenger" syndrome.
Case in point: The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (WSO) has been losing money hand over fist, of late; it ran a $1.25-million deficit last year alone. The Manitoba Arts Council which helps underwrite the WSO became so concerned that it suspended its provincial grants, and commissioned two studies to determine where things went wrong, and what to do about it. The consultants it selected to produce these reports were based in other cities: presumably to ensure their impartiality and facilitate the full cooperation of all the parties involved (by ensuring confidentiality and an absence of repercussions for speaking frankly). It appears the consultants delivered exactly what they were contracted to do: they recounted when and how good management had broken down, and suggested some solutions (such as doing fewer full-scale performances to half-empty halls).
However, someone leaked the reports to the media in early November. Here's how it played out in the major daily, the Winnipeg Free Press. The first accounts by the arts columnist, Morley Walker, only covered the preliminary report, without describing its frame of reference. He emphasized that it was done by a consultant from Victoria, whom he proceeded to pillory: he was paid $14,000, it took him two months - and all he did was tell what had happened, which was evident in the board's minutes, anyway. A few days later, Walker allowed that there was a second report, which did indeed focus on new strategies. But he noted it, too, emanated from someone outside our city, and he:
Σ singled out the fewer performances suggestion, to the exclusion of others which may have been in the report (the general public has no way of knowing);
Σ quoted but one person who found it "ridiculous" to suggest that the world-class musicians be retained on the same salary for fewer performances, to save on production and advertising expenses; and
Σ failed to follow up on the related suggestion, that they do smaller-scale, free performances in shopping malls to garner more public support (which apparently helped the Hamilton Symphony Orchestra turn things around a few years ago).
Finally, in an amazing display of double-speak, he also:
Σ proceeded to rebuke and dismiss the consultant in question, by quoting a journalist, from Toronto, who claimed consultants like these are unaccountable because they have no stake in the organization -- and live in other cities.
The general impression left by these articles was simply that a ton of money was wasted on some useless reports, and that consultants are something of a high-priced scourge on society. Meanwhile, of course, the WSO will continue to lose money at an alarming rate, or Winnipeg may lose it altogether, like its NHL (and possibly CFL) team.
Nor was this bit of consultant-bashing merely an isolated case of an individual journalist being manipulated - or lazy. I believe it goes much deeper than that. As the economy improves, and the term ceases to be a temporary euphemism for "downsized and now only occasionally part-time worker," consultants are once again being perceived as easy targets for hatchet jobs, perhaps because of their relatively high hourly wages. CBC television, for example, recently ran some commercials for a special edition of its "Venture" program, on "Weaning Businesses Off Consultants." Their teaser suggested consultants are just hired guns brought in to paper-over preordained conclusions, and it featured one executive stating it cost his company millions just to undo all his counterproductive consultant's recommendations. Who knows whether the actual program proceeded to provide some balance by chronicling all the millions consultants have saved companies over the years. (Who knows when "Venture" airs?) The damage was done.
Now, I shan't pretend such things never happens, nor claim that every person who bills his or her self as a consultant is truly qualified…or will truly give every project their all. There are horror stories associated with every profession.
But I can, in good conscience, tell you this: There are many occasions in which it makes very good sense to engage the services of consultants. And consultants can and do make very valuable contributions to many different types of organizations. Moreover, these supposed shortcomings -- the fact that they may be located outside the organization or its locale -- are often their very strengths, because they can bring objectivity, impartiality, confidentiality, and new ways of doing things.
Consultants should probably be engaged by a struggling or expanding organization when its in-house board, staff, and volunteers lack the appropriate training, capacity / expertise, or time; or when it is particularly swamped; or needs an impartial outsider to ensure objectivity.
Among other things, consultants can:
Σ Help raise far more funds, much faster, by helping organizations locate and cultivate major donors, and make their cases more effectively.
Σ Help the organization improve its products and services, or become more effective or efficient, by identifying organizational difficulties, and introducing innovations and best practices.
Σ Help organizations to avoid: reinventing the wheel, needlessly duplicating services, or heading for disaster, by doing feasibility studies and research on comparable programs.
Σ Ensure that the side-of-the-desk projects on the senior executive's plates actually get done in a timely manner, before important windows of opportunity are missed.
Σ Save the organization or its key personnel a lot of time.
For more detail on what consultants can do and when it is advisable to retain them, there are some good, brief overviews available online at:
, for consultants in general (for both for- and non-profit organizations);
, for fundraising consultants in particular;
and , for computer consultants (to help with the dreaded Y2K problem, for example).
For a registry of actual consultants listed right here on CharityVillage visit:
/cv/marketplace/.
As you'll see, the consultants listed there can help charities and nonprofits in a wide variety of areas: everything from accounting to volunteer management, with a whole lot of board and organizational development, research and planning, and fundraising and financial management initiatives and services in-between.
So, please, next time your organization needs some help in any of these areas, give some serious consideration to hiring a consultant - and don't believe everything you hear on the news.
Next time: I'll address the more vexing issue of consultants fees directly, to argue that they may be high, compare to regular salaried nonprofit employees, but they're usually not as exorbitant as they may seem.
