In my most recent post, I suggested a one-day “strike,” a single day in which nonprofits close their doors.
While I appreciate that such a strategy is harsh – and it would almost certainly lead to an ethical debate not unlike the one which inevitably comes with a police or doctor strike – I also know full well that the impact would be dramatic, indeed.

Consider what would happen if the nonprofit sector in your community shut down next Monday:

A substantial portion of the community’s workforce would stay home, unable to get to work because they didn’t have access to day care or couldn’t rely on after-school programs to care for their children when school ends.
A smaller but impressive segment of workers would stay home to tend to elderly parents because their adult day center wouldn’t be available to provide all the services – attention, feeding, medication supervision – some seniors must have.
Too many seniors would go without the hot meal local programs deliver to them.
Stressed teens, divorcing parents, troubled veterans and a legion of depressed or anxious folks would lose access to counselors, group therapy and stress management programs.
Addicts struggling with everything from meth to tobacco to booze would lose access to their programs.
A health care crisis would occur when clinics and hospitals ceased operation.
Soccer fields, baseball diamonds, football fields and basketball courts would be idle when every youth athletic program shut down. The local Y would be empty.
A lot of art would become instantly inaccessible.
Community theaters would go dark.
Local symphonies, choral groups, choirs and opera would be silent.
Churches would shut their doors.
Virtually all of the homeless and the poor in the community would suffer grievously: food banks would close, shelters would provide none.
The community’s economy would be seriously damaged – hundreds of nonprofit employees couldn’t spend what they didn’t earn.
Schools would lose the support and assistance provided by the PTA.
Community businesses would lose access to their Chamber, the Rotary Club, the Kiwanis lunch and the Optimist meeting; the local tourism organization wouldn’t promote travel and the business it brings.
Professionals – doctors, lawyers, engineers, architects – would be without the support, knowledge and resources their associations provide.
The local environment would deteriorate – conservancies, greening groups, clean air advocates, water conservationists, preservationists, tree planters and sustainability experts would be without resources.
That’s not a complete list.

To destroy a community, take away its nonprofits.