Simplistically speaking, charities are like scientific experiments — unemotional methods to gain insight.

Sometimes, we make conclusions based on these experiments with the bias of survival as a sustaining strategy.

In nonprofit arts organizations, boards often conclude that their organization should last for some version of forever.  It’s the biggest mistake a nonprofit arts organization board can make.

Sometimes, it’s time to close, not out of failure, but out of symptoms/findings:

• Chasing dollars with dollars
• Last-ditch “give us a million by next month or we’ll go out of business” campaigns
• Capital campaigns that mask company debt
• Doing off-mission work that “pays for” the mission-oriented work
• Unwritten HR policies that permanently institutionalize attrition
• No quantifiable proof of external impact

Boards – no shame to close an organization when findings lead you to that conclusion, even when your finances are sound.