Exciting New Partnership with The Nonprofit Alliance (TNPA)

I have written about this many times before in our PS Insider newsletter over the past 18 months, regarding the Age of Acceleration that we are living and working in. Most recently, I read that the Age of Artificial Intelligence will be peaking in 2025. I have been trying to imagine the rate of change, innovation, adaptation, and resilience humans and business alike will need to embody when these two ages peak and converge together; it is so difficult to wrap my head around the impact these two ages will have on the world. All I can come up with is…“Beam me up Scotty!” Or “Brace for Light Speed!”  

For this reason alone, and a few others, it was with great excitement and enthusiasm, for me to join The Nonprofit Alliance, as a founding member last month. Just nearly 90 days old, the vision of this newly formed association is: A thriving nonprofit sector that has the resources and influence to meaningfully change the world.  

This kind of vision by any association is long overdue for our industry and the nonprofit organizations that we serve here at Production Solutions. Having started my career in this industry over 20 years ago, it is clear to me that no other industry is more committed to improving the world like this one. It is a calling to choose to work for a nonprofit organization, and something that I have witnessed and experienced firsthand as a service provider time and time again. Being a partner for these people and their organizations, who are the ultimate service providers to humanity and our world, joining the TNPA was a decision that brought honor to our clients and their missions for good.  

Our industry is facing many critical challenges that have gone unaddressed or underfunded at the levels they need to be solved at. Continued neglect or hope that someone else will take a stronger or deeper stance could easily bring our clients’ programs and the causes to a screeching halt.  

Data privacy legislation, declining mail volume, the flood of new technology, peak political turmoil, paper shortages, ongoing volatility in USPS rules and rates, and the ultimate decline of respect and appreciation for philanthropy in our culture are to name a few of the most pressing pitfalls ahead of us. Any one of these are serious endeavors to combat through lobbying, legal counsel, education, and advocacy – all of which will be done in one central place and association, which is the first of its kind. The age we live in, and the one we will soon be living in, requires new thoughts, strategies, and leadership.  

The TNPA will be the voice of the nonprofits to promote, protect, and strengthen a weakening philanthropic sector, due to the external pressures and the speed at which businesses and industries need to evolve and innovate. We have also made the corporate decision to support the TNPA as a founding member, which places us on a list of corporate partners and nonprofit founding members. That is a great place to sit, as a nearly thirty-year supporter of our industry and the first outsource production management firm of its kind. I know that our founder and ultimate visionary, George Lizama, would have been running to join and support such a leading association, dedicated to the infinite success and survival of our industry and our clients’ missions.  

While there are still many steps to take as a new association and details to finalize, I have no doubt that under the leadership of newly appointed CEO, Shannon McCracken, that it is only a matter of time before this association is leading our industry. It will be with the highest levels of collaboration with all partnering associations, into the necessary realms of advocacy, legislation, education, and innovation that are needed to remain infinite in our strategies and priorities as an industry. This effort will require open, honest, and collaborative dialogue and participation by all partners, associations, industry leaders, external counsel, and supporting groups, which Production Solutions will be ready to participate in and support in any way we can. We love this industry, and we love our clients’ work and the people who care passionately about improving the world. We are so proud and eager to continue this work with The Nonprofit Alliance now and well into the future. 2025 – here we come!