Economic Resilience
Where SocialWorks 193 stands on economic resilience — how we help the NGO sector, civil society and public institutions become strong, viable and prepared for the future, starting with the Rapid Resilience Check.
Built to Last. Ready for What Comes Next.
OUR AIM: A STRONGER CIVIL SOCIETY
Analyse. Advise. Prepare.
Our aim is to make the NGO sector and civil society stronger, and to prepare them for the future. Economic Resilience is how we contribute. It means helping organisations remain or become viable — able to carry their mission for the long term, through changing funding, shifting priorities and the occasional shock — so that the people who rely on them can keep relying on them.
Our clients are NGOs and public institutions. We do not start from the question of what an organisation costs, but from what it needs to keep delivering on its mission, whether it is under acute pressure or simply wants to work more efficiently and effectively — and we start with a one-week Rapid Resilience Check that shows where an organisation stands.
Strong organisations make a strong civil society and NGO sector. Our job is to help them become economically viable — and to stay that way.
WHAT ECONOMIC RESILIENCE MEANS
When we ask NGO leaders how they will weather the cuts, the answer is almost always the same: find new funding. It is the natural response, and a necessary one, but on its own it is not resilience. An organisation becomes resilient only when its whole financial and operational setup is built to absorb a shock and adapt, not its income alone.
That is why we always look at four levers, because all four carry the mission: funding — more stable and diversified income; sustainable financial stability — being able to absorb a financial shock; efficiency & effectiveness — doing things right and doing the right things; and organisational agility — acting on early signals fast enough.
OUR POSITION, IN ONE LINE
Strengthen the base. Serve the mission.
Preparation over reaction.
Partnership over prescription.
That is the position SocialWorks 193 takes into every economic resilience engagement — and the contribution we intend to make to a stronger civil society and NGO sector.
OUR SERVICES AT A GLANCE
ANALYSIS AND PLANNING
The Rapid Resilience Check (one week) and the Resilience Review (three weeks) are described below. Immediate Crisis Response (two to four weeks) supports organisations whose cash or funder conditions are under acute pressure, in close collaboration with legal counsel and auditors.
PREPARATION AND DE-RISKING
Risk Transfer maps the risks an organisation carries alone today and plans how to reduce, share, transfer or broker them. Change Preparation (advisory) prepares options and communication; the organisation decides and leads. Training for Crisis Preparedness builds the routines of boards and management to act early and calmly. Fundraising Product Review and Donor Mapping make income more diversified and predictable.
OUR MOST REQUESTED SERVICE: THE RAPID RESILIENCE CHECK
In one week, an organisation knows where it stands — and where it can grow stronger.
The Rapid Resilience Check gives management a first overview of ways to become more resilient across all four dimensions: fast, with no lengthy data collection and no disruption to operations. It takes a short data request, a 15-minute management questionnaire and a one-day workshop with the management team.