Forecasting the future of philanthropy

FOR CHARITIES TODAY, INNOVATION IS PARAMOUNT

In the midst of a pandemic, economic upheaval and needed societal change, businesses are struggling to navigate one of the most challenging times in modern history. Few, however, are looking to the nonprofit sector for inspiration—but they should, says Richard C. Shadyac Jr., president & CEO of ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Charitable organizations are dealing with considerable challenges, and Shadyac has seen peers in the nonprofit industry respond with tremendous creativity. “It has accelerated the imperative for nonprofits to innovate for the preservation of our industry, the well-being of our workforce—which employees one in 12 people in the U.S—and our world-changing missions,” he says.

St. Jude is no stranger to forging new trails. When it was founded in 1962, the premise was unheard of: a racially integrated facility in the segregated South, where children with cancer could receive treatment regardless of background or economic status—and families would never see a bill.