Coordination vs Competition: Why the Nonprofit Sector Fails to Collaborate

In the nonprofit sector, we’re like champions competing not for victory, but for the right to stand on individual pedestals. Once, while working in a local community organization, I sincerely believed that donors and institutional partners shared a common vision and had sufficient resources for effective coordination. It turned out I was full of illusions.

It seemed logical: teams working long-term towards a shared goal should align their steps, avoid duplicating efforts, and create synergy. After all, each of us is concerned not just with our own contribution, but with the global result.

What common goals might donors have? Let’s take two different examples. The first is women’s emancipation. Tasks are broken down into components: gender-based violence, financial dependence, lack of role models, etc., and each takes on their segment of work.

The second is overcoming the consequences of housing destruction during the war. Some can provide temporary housing, others offer psychological support, while some repair and rebuild, some work on legal aspects of attracting foreign aid, and some design housing that can be built later.

But no! It doesn’t happen like that. No synergy, only unsynchronized actions and almost random interaction. The Ukraine Recovery Conference was a striking and disappointing example for me. Through communication with Robert Bosch Stiftung, I caught a glimpse behind the scenes and was so upset that my activist hopes for Ukraine’s recovery crumbled before my eyes. This was six months ago, and I’m still thinking about it.

I wonder why there’s a lack of coordination? I came to these thoughts:

1 — Different visions of achieving goals

People focus on one cause of the problem or one solution path, not considering it necessary to take other approaches into account. They sometimes become so captivated by their unique perspective that they lose the ability to see the problem holistically. They’re like looking at the world through a narrow slit, unwilling to turn their head. They don’t need to consider others.

2 — Market competition

Many organizations work under pressure from the structures they’re accountable to (donors, government bodies, independent supervisory bodies), which creates a need to be “first” and unique in solving problems. Nonprofit organizations turn into something like startups: what’s important is not so much solving the problem as appearing the most innovative and irreplaceable. This generates competition rather than coordination, even if the ultimate goal is shared.

3 — Poor management

Short-sightedness of management decisions is our systemic disease. We live in the present day, and instead of deep changes, we create a conveyor of reports, indicators, and impressive storytelling. This also prevents building effective mechanisms of coordination and interaction.

Are we ready to overcome our ambitions for real transformation? Can we turn our nonprofit sector from a field of individual races into a true space of solidarity? We must move towards common goals, regardless of who takes what place on this path.