March Madness

There’s something about the month of March that lifts my spirits.

The skip in my step appears as soon as I hear people complaining about potholes and after the NCAA tournament brackets are announced.

I hold out hope every year for my beloved Iowa State Cyclones to make a Final Four appearance. We are due. Our first — and last— Final Four appearance dates back to 1944.

Die-hard optimism is necessary when you hail, not from a basketball powerhouse, but from a land grant university that proudly invented the first digital computer, blue cheese, and the round hay baler.

It’s the kind of inexplicable hopefulness that carries you through one more round of freezing temps a week after you ceremoniously remove the ice scraper from the backseat of your car.

And it’s the positivity residing in the DNA of the many nonprofit leaders, staff members, and grant writers I have encountered since the Better Health Foundation launched two years ago this month. (Another reason for my March bliss.)

Despite facing difficulties not always experienced in other sectors, these nonprofit champion problem-solvers believe in and succeed in improving the lives of our community’s most vulnerable individuals and families.

For several of these organizations, this year’s March Madness is more than the pinnacle of the college basketball season. It’s a moniker for the onslaught of tight budgets, topsy-turvy markets, legislative changes, and economic uncertainty that threatens to slow or halt the pace of grants and charitable contributions.

A recent study by Wastyn & Associates found that nearly half of the 52 Quad Cities area nonprofits that completed a survey already experienced or expect to experience significant financial impacts from federal grant shifts.

Maintaining a positive outlook in the face of adversity, while admirable and necessary, is not a substitute for the public’s support. For a list of additional ways to help, read a summary of the Wastyn Federal Grant Impact Report.

There’s another term synonymous with March and that’s Cinderella. We all love the Cinderella story when a team advances in the tournament against the odds— when they play better than expected, perhaps surprising even their most loyal fans.

If only for a short time, Cinderella teams grow a larger fan base and ignite passion in their believers. The same kind of passion that’s needed now for our nonprofit community.