I have a number of umbrellas in my closet that I pull out depending on my mood. My favourite is bright pink, a perfect antidote to a gloomy, rainy day. Another one lies dormant next to the bag of used tennis balls. In a brave attempt to shield me from the elements one particularly windy day last year, a metal arm snapped, leaving it relatively useless. Yet, it served me well for a time.

Umbrella organizations, much like their derivative, the umbrella, have served people and communities well for many years. They provide their varied members with support, guidance, and resources, and sometimes even protect them from organizational storms and gusts of wind. Of course, not all umbrella organizations succeed equally in their missions. Not all are able to sustain themselves, never mind their members. So what exactly is the recipe for success of these unique organizational constructs? How does an umbrella organization fulfill its stated goals and satisfy its members who entrust it with their confidence and, sometimes even their fees?

The need for balance

With the large diversity and range of organizations under the umbrella’s purview, it becomes an increasing challenge to balance the needs and interests of members. Successful umbrellas, however, know where to draw the line. “If you believe you can satisfy every member you’ll never get anywhere,” states Monica Patten, president and CEO of Community Foundations of Canada (CFC). Founded in 1993, the umbrella currently has 155 card-carrying community foundation members across the country. “You have to create that culture of serving the best interest of most members,” Patten says. Trying to satisfy the needs of organizations in both official languages has made their efforts even more challenging. With an ever-growing membership base and an attrition rate that has remained static at zero, it seems the balancing approach adopted by CFC has been effective.

Volunteer Canada‘s membership includes more than 86 volunteer centres across the country and a close collaboration with the federation of over 100 volunteer centres in Quebec. Dedicated to supporting volunteerism across the country since 1977, the organization initially had some growing pains with which to contend. But ever since the International Year of Volunteers in 2001, Volunteer Canada established a broader mandate for itself and the umbrella has taken great strides ever since. Even so, President Marlene Deboisbriand acknowledges the inherent difficulty in assimilating the interests of so many different members. “The advantage of an umbrella organization is that you can come together, you have a common message, mandate and vision and you allow for and celebrate differences,” she explains. “The disadvantage?” she asks, tongue in cheek, “you have a common message, mandate and vision and you allow for differences.”

Uneven satisfaction

With some members stronger and more financially secure than others, and with each acting autonomously, there is the inevitable result of what Deboisbriand refers to as unevenness. Often misunderstood, this unevenness can create problems. She explains that sometimes corporations fund Volunteer Canada programs and want them to be delivered equally in all volunteer centres across the country. “But,” she stresses, “you can never promise that because the members make their own decisions and we can’t impose any of those programs, campaigns, or promotions on them.” And even if they agreed to use the programs, she adds, they can still never promise evenness. “It’s not a franchise like McDonalds.”

The geographical divide

The challenge of satisfying differing interests and capacities is sometimes compounded by the geographical scope the members represent. For many umbrella organizations with a national purpose, having representation across a country as vast and large as Canada can pose some difficulties. But national organizations are not the only ones facing this challenge. Regional umbrellas are not immune either and, in order to succeed, they must address the geographical issue head-on. “From the point of view of delivering relevant services, we have to somehow figure out and address the ‘how’ rather than the ‘what’,” says Gina Sufrin, executive director of the Assembly of BC Arts Councils. Established in 1979, the assembly is primarily responsible for providing resources, information, training and advocacy to its members across the province. Currently numbering 138, 95 of the members are community and regional arts councils, while the rest represent a variety of other arts organizations as well as individuals.

So how does this successful umbrella organization bridge the geographical divide? “By consulting with members that represent different points on the capacity spectrum,” explains Sufrin, “we look to develop specific programs or pieces of programs to serve their needs.” The council also makes concerted efforts to connect member organizations facing similar issues or challenges in order to encourage informal peer-to-peer learning and networking.

Keeping the lines of communication open

Then, of course, there’s communication – lots of it. It seems for every successful umbrella organization, there exists a strong and efficient communication strategy. For the Assembly of BC Arts Councils, it involves newsletters, online articles and workshops to ensure members are kept up-to-speed on various resources and projects. Moreover, the majority of its board of directors is made up of regional representatives nominated from the field. “This helps in keeping in touch, keeping informed and delivering information,” stresses Sufrin.

For Community Foundations of Canada, communicating with and supporting their members is made easier by the staff they’ve organized throughout the country. It is, admittedly, an uncommon strategy for a small organization to accomplish, especially considering there are just a few staff members in their head office in Ottawa. Nevertheless, it appears to be an approach that works. “We believe we will be the most effective if we are literally close to our members,” states Patten. “That’s been proven; we’ve done that for ten years now.” As the largest network of community foundations anywhere in the world and one of only two networks in the world focused entirely on community philanthropy, it seems the strategy is a powerful one.

Adaptation is key

Establishing effective communication also means staying in tune with the changing needs and wants of members. Successful umbrellas know this lesson well, sometimes having to adapt their mandates and goals to satisfy the changing demands of organizations. For instance, United Way/Centraide Ottawa made some changes recently when they faced one of the biggest challenges so far in the history of their organization. Flat revenues over the course of almost a decade was a wake-up call, says President and CEO Michael Allen. “It was a function of donors telling us that they didn’t like the value-add proposition that we were offering – basically disseminating donations that they were otherwise giving to us, to another set of charities and applying a cost to that.” The umbrella realized it had to offer a new value-add proposition that was relevant to its members. In response, the old concept of “member agencies” that entitled organizations to a certain level of support was put to end. Instead, the umbrella decided to invest in frontline programs and services and, in so doing, transformed its mandate.

The new United Way/Centraide Ottawa identified six areas of need in the community, including children and youth, persons with disabilities and seniors. And for each specific area, indicators of success were then established. “We now fund based on the agency’s ability to report success against those indicators,” Allen explains. “They are not funded by virtue of their membership, they are funded by virtue of their performance,” he adds, delineating the new focus in their mandate. And listening to members can have obvious payoffs. Since they’ve made the change, campaign results for United Way/Centraide Ottawa have doubled, from $13 to $26 million. But the bigger story, says Allen, “is the engagement of volunteers, the alignment of other funders, and the collaborative work between agencies. It’s not just dollars, it’s the greater opportunity for people to look to the United Way to engage in the support of their community.”

Beyond members, beyond money

Serving members well is definitely an objective to which all successful umbrellas need to adhere. But according to some, satisfying members should not be their only goal. Community Foundations of Canada, for example, has made the promotion of philanthropy and establishing leadership in the community important objectives as well. As a result, CFC has made a conscious and deliberate decision not to depend on government funding and to ensure that some of its operating revenue is based in a non-member resource base. “It gives us a bit of flexibility to take on some other activities and avoids us being driven solely by what our members want,” Patten explains.

Yet, no matter their funding source, whether small or large, regional or national, all successful umbrella organizations know the value in maintaining balance, establishing open channels of communication, and staying true their overarching mandate and to the needs of members.

Elisa Birnbaum is a freelance print and broadcast journalist living in Toronto.