Like early on election night, the reports are starting to trickle in. And the news is not good for nonprofit organizations.

Just this week, the state announced budget cuts and a hiring freeze in response to the increasingly negative revenue forecasts and concerns have been raised as to whether that will be enough to weather the storm. Well over half of the revenue in the nonprofit sector comes from government grants and contracts. Recent special event fundraisers and annual appeals by some of Hawai'i's most recognized nonprofit organizations have not reached their goals as we approach the busiest season for events and fundraising appeals.

In previous columns, we explored various revenue strategies that nonprofit organizations might employ to bolster support. But the reality is that the amount of available funds is tightening and competition is increasing. According to the Independent Sector, the national leadership forum for U.S. charities, foundations and corporate giving programs, the number of nonprofit organizations in the United States doubled to 1.4 million over the last 25 years, which is more than twice the growth rate of charitable giving over that same period. Clearly, that is not sustainable for the nonprofit sector as a whole and underscores the increasingly competitive environment for funds.

The leaders of organizations will also need to contemplate other strategies that can enhance their delivery of services, i.e, do more with less, as well as consider ways to cut costs. In nearly every case, that will require new partnerships or collaborations among organizations used to operating on their own.

There are several successful models in our communities of organizations joining together to share facilities and equipment. Often, they have greater purchasing power when joined together, can reduce capital costs or obtain better equipment and provide an attractive opportunity for funders. This kind of collaboration is further enhanced when the collaborating organizations share clients or have missions that complement each other.

Similarly, organizations might consider sharing key staff functions that they cannot afford on their own or would allow them to obtain expertise at a higher level. These positions, in the past, have included shared executive directors but are more likely to be chief financial officers, controllers, human resource directors, communications directors, general counsels or chief technology officers or information technology specialists. There are also outsourcing services available in the private sector for many of these functions and fiscal sponsorship organizations, like Community Links Hawai'i, that can provide financial and administrative services.

Nonprofit organizations that rely on "gate" or audience revenue could look at joint marketing efforts as a way of aggregating resources to reach potential markets in a more cost-effective manner. These groups might include museums, theaters and performing arts groups as well as organizations that rely on fee revenue while serving specific populations like after-school youth programs or senior centers. Finally, groups that serve similar populations may want to consider how they could design their programs to complement each other instead of providing competing or redundant services.

The Hawai'i Community Foundation continues to support many collaboration efforts through its Strategic Partnerships grantmaking program. For more information, please visit our Web site at www.hawaiicommunityfoundation.org.

The greatest challenge to any partnership or collaboration effort is time. It will be hard, with dwindling resources and increasing demands, for organizations to carve out the time to find strategic partners and to build the trust necessary to undertake the kinds of endeavors mentioned above. But organizations will need to be creative in the coming years to maintain their efforts or to even prosper in tough times.

It is the responsibility of the leadership of these organizations, the boards and executive staff, to engage in a discussion about the changing environment we all operate in and emerging opportunities to adapt and respond.

Kelvin Taketa is president and chief executive officer of the Hawai'i Community Foundation. E-mail him at kelvin@hcfhawaii.org.