“Resilience – the ability to withstand adversity and recover from difficult events.   It wasn’t a word I used often at the JCC for most of my first 20 years as CEO, but one that has defined my practice and that of the agency the past several years. Despite our best efforts, much of what life dishes up is beyond our control.  But we do have the power within us to accept what is thrown at us and respond in kind.   Resilience is allowing yourself to feel vulnerable, to acknowledge pain points, and maximize your efforts to where you can make a difference.   When we incorporate accepting life on life’s terms into our personal and professional lives, we recognize the power within us to move with the difficulties around us and remain resolute in core purpose.  Resilience has been our unofficial mantra at the JCC for the past two years and will help us emerge from the pandemic strong and resolute.”

Brian Schreiber, President and CEO of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh

Brian Schreiber was one of two presenters from “exemplary organizations” in the webinar Managing for Resilience in a Crisis, hosted by the National Center on Nonprofit Enterprise (NCNE), in collaboration with the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, on December 8, 2020.

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About the Webinar

Crises such as pandemics, economic downturns, scandals and natural disasters, challenge the viability and effectiveness of nonprofit organizations and compel them to develop preventive and coping strategies to ameliorate the shocks associated with such events.  The current pandemic has demonstrated that nonprofits are making themselves more resilient in multiple, often innovative ways.  In this webinar, Dr. Dennis Young discussed the concept of organizational resilience and identify the key dimensions around which nonprofits are developing their resilience strategies, including cost structure, revenue composition, technology, entrepreneurship and collaboration.  The diverse experiences of two exemplary organizations are then described by Noha Ryder, CFO of Apollo’s Fire, a performing arts organization in Cleveland; and Brian Schreiber of the JCC, joined by Mark S. Young, Director of JResponse® of the JCC Association of North America.