Mission calisthenics
It's time to strengthen your nonprofit's readiness as well as your resolve.
Shall our state legislature be allowed to take that which is not their own, to turn it from its original use, and apply it to such ends or purposes as they, in their discretion, shall see fit? Sir, you may destroy this little institution; it is weak; it is in your hands!… But if you do…You must extinguish one after another, all those great lights of science, which, for more than a century, have thrown their radiance over the land!
—Daniel Webster, from his argument to the Supreme Court, 1818 (Hall 1997)
Nonprofit organizations have always been entangled with government influence and government action. From the very first governing board in America, established by the Massachusetts Bay Colony Charter in 1629, the independence of such boards from government control has been a contentious conversation.
When New Hampshire’s governor seized the reins of Dartmouth College in 1816, alumnus Daniel Webster argued for its continuing independence before the Supreme Court (Hall 1997). Even though Dartmouth received state funding, Webster argued that its charter involved multiple stakeholders, and therefore it should be governed by an independent board rather than elected officials.
Governments can and do place (lawful) conditions on direct grants. But Webster argued that governments have “no authority to redirect the contributions of other donors or the framework of governance by which they were administered” (Hall 1997). Webster and his colleagues won the argument, and helped set a precedent for an “independent sector” of nonprofit organizations in the US.
We are now in a moment of renewed challenge to that precedent, primarily through a White House and executive branch eager to assert influence over every sector. This manifests in financial, legal, and governance challenges across the nonprofit sector (and the private sector too). There is every indication that state and local governments are considering the same.
So, what’s to be done about it? If you govern or lead a nonprofit organization, it is time to clarify your practice and fortify your strength. This is particularly true if your mission commits you to historically (or currently) excluded communities, disfavored speech or expression, or service to artists and creative teams.
Clarifying your practice means turning a rigorous eye to your bylaws, governance processes, contracts, and operations for unexamined vulnerabilities. For example, ensuring your DEI practices follow the law. It also means being exact and explicit about your values in an aggressively vague and uncertain policy domain.
Fortifying your strength means building communication, conversation, and collaboration muscle across your board, executive leadership, and staff (and peer institutions). All should be clear about their risk tolerances (individually and collectively), and specific about what risk your organization is willing and able to take. If you’re not willing or able to take any risks, make an immediate action plan to become so.
In a recent podcast commentary, consultant Adrian Ellis invokes the term “mission calisthenics” to name the needs of this moment (2025). He asks:
Do we have a responsibility to articulate unequivocally the moral and intellectual basis of our work and to prioritise work that demonstrates and strengthens that basis? Do we have a responsibility for some sort of mission calisthenics – an explicit strengthening of the moral and intellectual basis of our institutions?… If so, buckle up.
While nonprofit arts organizations are entangled with city, state, and federal funding, they do their best and most important work at arm’s length from government control. It will take rigorous, resilient, deliberate, and collective effort to keep that distance in the days to come.
From the ArtsManaged Field Guide
Function of the Week: Governance
Governance involves structuring, sustaining, and overseeing the organization's purposes, resources, and goals (often through boards or trustees).
Framework of the Week: Calibrating Uncertainty
Calibrating Uncertainty is a framework for decision-making that involves assessing the chance and cost of being wrong. It helps prioritize actions by determining whether to invest in thorough information gathering or to proceed with small, experimental steps based on the potential risks and consequences.
Photo by Neil Thomas on Unsplash
Sources
Ellis, Adrian. 2025. “The Status Quo Is Not an Option….” Reflections from The Three Bells. Accessed March 18, 2025. https://www.thethreebells.net/episodes/s5ed2.
Hall, Peter Dobkin. 1997. “A History of Nonprofit Boards in the United States.” Research in Action. National Center for Nonprofit Boards.