Category: Governance

Six Years Later: Why So Many Organizations Are Still Recovering from the Pandemic

8/17/2026

When the world shut down in 2020, organizations did what they had to do. Boards met virtually. Staff adapted overnight. Volunteers stepped back. Policies were temporarily adjusted. Strategic plans were put on hold. Everyone was focused on one thing: survival.

At the time, those decisions made perfect sense.

The problem is that many organizations never had the opportunity to go back and rebuild what was temporarily put aside.
Today, we’re seeing the consequences of that everywhere.

While many people feel the pandemic is behind us, organizations are still living with its after-effects every single day. In fact, many of the governance, leadership and operational challenges we help clients solve can be traced back to decisions—or simply the lack of capacity—that emerged during those years.

The pandemic didn’t necessarily create these issues. It accelerated them.

Volunteer engagement has changed

Many organizations continue to struggle to recruit and retain volunteers. People’s priorities shifted. Some discovered they wanted more time with family. Others became more selective about where they invested their energy. Some simply never returned. Organizations that once relied on long-term volunteers are now competing for people’s limited time and attention. Traditional recruitment strategies no longer work the way they once did, and many organizations are realizing they need to rethink how they engage, support and retain volunteers.

Board recruitment isn’t what it used to be

Finding qualified board members has become increasingly difficult. Experienced leaders are stretched thin. Many who served on boards during the pandemic experienced significant burnout and chose not to continue. Others retired earlier than expected or stepped away from leadership altogether. At the same time, newer board members often arrive with tremendous enthusiasm but limited governance experience. Without intentional orientation, mentorship and ongoing education, boards can struggle to fulfill their governance responsibilities effectively. The result isn’t a lack of good people. It’s a shortage of prepared people.

Strategic planning created unintended gaps

Many organizations had strategic plans that suddenly became irrelevant in 2020. Understandably, planning was paused while leadership focused on crisis management. But for many organizations, the restart never happened. Plans expired. Annual priorities were never updated. Performance measures disappeared. Boards shifted from leading strategically to reacting operationally. Years later, many organizations are still operating without a clear roadmap. Staff work incredibly hard, but often without a shared understanding of where the organization is heading or how success should be measured.

Human resources has become far more complex

The workplace has changed dramatically. Organizations are managing new employee expectations around flexibility, mental health, work-life balance, recruitment and retention. Hiring has become more competitive, onboarding is more challenging, and leadership requires a different set of skills than it did just a few years ago. Many organizations are also experiencing succession challenges as experienced employees retire or move on, leaving behind vacancies that are increasingly difficult to fill. These aren’t simply HR problems. They’re organizational capacity problems.

The workplace itself has changed

Remote work allowed organizations to continue operating during an unprecedented crisis. It also fundamentally changed how people work together. Today, many organizations continue to navigate hybrid environments, differing expectations around in-office work, communication challenges and questions about accountability. Some employees thrive remotely. Others miss the collaboration, mentoring and spontaneous problem-solving that happens when people work together in person.
There is no universal solution. Each organization must intentionally determine what works best for its people, culture and mission rather than assuming old or new models will automatically succeed.

Governance follow-through quietly disappeared

One of the most common issues we encounter is governance drift. During the pandemic, boards understandably focused on immediate decisions. Routine governance work often took a back seat. Board evaluations were postponed. Governance reviews were delayed. Committee structures evolved without being revisited. Orientation programs became informal. Annual governance calendars were abandoned. None of this happened because boards weren’t committed. It happened because survival required immediate attention. But several years later, many of those temporary practices have quietly become permanent.

Policies and procedures were never updated

Organizations adapted incredibly quickly during COVID. Unfortunately, many policies never caught up. Emergency practices became everyday practices without being formally reviewed or approved. Employee manuals still reference work environments that no longer exist. Governance policies don’t reflect virtual meetings, hybrid workplaces or evolving legal and operational realities. Policies are meant to guide consistent decision-making. When they no longer reflect reality, they create confusion instead of clarity.

The knowledge gap is real

Perhaps the most significant challenge we see today is the loss of organizational knowledge. Experienced staff retired. Long-serving volunteers stepped away. Board members completed their terms. Leaders moved on. Many organizations lost decades of institutional knowledge in just a few years. Unfortunately, much of that knowledge was never documented. New leaders are now doing their best to move organizations forward without fully understanding why certain decisions were made, how processes evolved or what lessons were learned over many years. That creates unnecessary risk and often results in organizations reinventing work that was solved long ago.

The good news is that these problems are solvable

None of these challenges appeared overnight, and they won’t disappear overnight either.
They require organizations to intentionally pause, take an honest look at where they are today, and rebuild the foundations that support long-term success.

That’s exactly where we come in.

At LMDSolutions, we’ve noticed a clear shift in the work we’re being asked to do. Increasingly, organizations aren’t looking for someone to simply facilitate a strategic plan or deliver governance training. They’re asking for help untangling years of accumulated challenges that quietly emerged during and after the pandemic.

We’re helping boards reconnect with their governance responsibilities after years of operating in crisis mode. We’re rebuilding governance systems, modernizing policies and procedures, strengthening board recruitment and orientation, and helping organizations regain clarity around roles, accountability and decision-making.

We’re also helping leadership teams rebuild organizational knowledge, document critical processes before they’re lost, reconnect strategy with day-to-day operations, and create practical operational plans that turn good intentions into measurable progress.
In many ways, we’ve become organizational rebuilders.

Not because organizations failed, but because they adapted under extraordinary circumstances. They made the best decisions they could with the information, resources and time they had.

Now, the opportunity is different.

It’s time to move beyond simply recovering and begin building organizations that are stronger, more resilient and better prepared for whatever comes next.

Our role isn’t to tell organizations what they’re doing wrong. Our role is to help them identify what needs strengthening, prioritize what matters most, and put practical systems in place that will support their mission for years to come.

Because strong organizations don’t happen by accident. They are built intentionally. And sometimes, after years of simply surviving, the strongest thing an organization can do is decide it’s finally time to rebuild.

If this article resonated with you, chances are your organization isn’t alone.

Many of the challenges we’ve discussed are explored in greater depth in our book, Wake Up Call: Stop fixing the wrong things. It offers practical insights, reflection questions and a simple framework to help boards and leadership teams identify the root causes behind the issues they’re experiencing… and start building lasting solutions.

Whether you’re a board member, executive director, CEO or organizational leader, the first step toward meaningful change is understanding what’s really happening beneath the surface.

Ready to start the conversation?

Buy your copy of Wake Up Call on Amazon today, or contact us through www.lmdsolutions.ca and take the first step toward building a stronger, healthier organization.

Behind the Impact: Strengthening Governance at the GO GIVE PROJECT

8/10/2026

By: Lynne Dupuis at LMDSolutions

Some organizations grow because their work is deeply needed. The GO GIVE PROJECT is one of those organizations.

They have been showing up where the need is greatest: creating space, providing support and responding to people facing some of the most difficult circumstances in our community.

This is work that cannot always wait for perfect systems, polished frameworks or fully developed structures. It begins with people who see a need and decide to act. It is fueled by compassion, commitment and a determination to make a difference.

When the need is significant, however, the organization’s reach and responsibilities can grow very quickly… exponentially, even.

What begins as a passionate, mission-driven initiative can quickly evolve into a much larger organization with more services, partners, expectations and accountability.

The work happening behind the scenes

The services delivered in the community may be the most visible part of a non-profit’s impact, but there is another kind of work happening behind the scenes.

It is the work of accountability.

It includes clarifying roles, strengthening decision-making practices, reviewing policies, establishing effective board processes and creating structures that allow both leadership and operations to function with greater confidence.

This work is not always exciting or visible. It does not necessarily produce the photographs or stories that appear on social media. However, it is essential to building a healthy, responsible and sustainable organization.

Strong governance does not distract from community work. It protects it.

Creating greater clarity

As organizations grow, the lines between governance and operations can become blurred. People wear multiple hats. Decisions may happen informally. Responsibilities can overlap, and much of the organization’s knowledge may remain in the hands of only a few people.

For a while, this can work… until it doesn’t.

The GO GIVE PROJECT is working to establish greater clarity around the respective roles of its board, committees, leadership and staff. This includes strengthening the board’s understanding of its governance responsibilities and identifying where decisions should be made, communicated and documented.

Clarity does not mean introducing unnecessary bureaucracy. It means ensuring that people understand their responsibilities, know where to bring questions and can make decisions with greater confidence.

Connecting governance to direction

Good governance must remain connected to the organization’s purpose.

As services and partnerships expand, the board’s role is to ensure that the mission, community needs and organizational priorities continue to move in the same direction. This requires the board to look beyond immediate decisions and consider the organization’s long-term sustainability, risks and strategic direction.

For the GO GIVE PROJECT, strengthening governance is therefore not simply about creating documents. It is about ensuring that the organization’s leadership structures continue to support the work happening on the ground.

The goal is not governance for governance’s sake.

The goal is to create the conditions that allow the organization to continue fulfilling its mission responsibly and effectively.

Building practical structures

Strong governance requires practical tools that people can understand and use.

As part of this process, the GO GIVE PROJECT has been developing and introducing tools such as clearer board and leadership roles, an organizational chart, a board composition matrix, structured meeting agendas and an annual governance calendar.

The organization is also establishing a Governance Committee to support important work such as reviewing bylaws, developing and maintaining governance policies, supporting board recruitment, creating committee terms of reference and ensuring that policies are reviewed regularly.

Policies related to communication, conflicts of interest and decision-making will help the organization navigate increasingly complex situations with consistency and transparency.

These tools are not intended to slow the work down. When designed well, they reduce uncertainty, support better conversations and make it easier for people to focus their energy where it matters most.

Strengthening understanding and confidence

This is where the LMDSolutions Model comes in. We have been supporting the GO GIVE PROJECT through facilitated governance sessions, practical tools, coaching and ongoing mentoring.

Our role is to help the organization examine its current practices, identify what needs to evolve and build a governance framework that reflects its reality, mission and stage of growth.

Strong governance is not built through documents alone:

A policy is only useful when people understand why it exists and how to apply it.
A board structure only works when members understand their responsibilities.
A governance calendar only creates accountability when the organization develops the discipline to use it.

That is why this process includes opportunities for conversation, learning, reflection and practice. The objective is to help the board and leadership team build the collective confidence to govern well, not simply hand them a binder of documents.

Building an impact that lasts

The results of strong governance can be seen in greater stability, clearer accountability, healthier leadership practices and stronger relationships with partners, funders and the community. When governance is effective, it does not sit quietly in the background. It actively enables the organization to do more of what it does best.

A strong governance framework also builds confidence among current and prospective funding bodies. Clear roles, sound policies, transparent decision-making and consistent oversight demonstrate that an organization can manage resources responsibly, meet its obligations and sustain the impact of their investment. For a growing non-profit, this credibility can be essential to securing and maintaining the partnerships and funding needed to move forward.

Building a non-profit is never simple. Building one while responding to urgent and growing community needs is even more complex.

The GO GIVE PROJECT’s commitment to strengthening its governance demonstrates that it is not only thinking about the needs in front of it today. Its leaders are also considering what the organization will require to continue serving the community tomorrow.

We are proud to support them in this important behind-the-scenes work as they strengthen their foundation, build their capacity and prepare for the next stage of their evolution.

Because when organizations like the GO GIVE PROJECT are supported properly, their impact does not simply grow. It lasts.

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