Public institutions and nonprofit organizations — Making Value Visible to Preserve the Means to Act

Indispensable organizations, limited means

Nonprofit organizations and public institutions employ millions of people, sustain the social fabric, and deliver services that communities depend on in their most vulnerable moments. In the United States alone, the sector contributes $1.4 trillion to the economy and employs more than 10% of the private workforce.

This gap has a serious impact: 36% of American organizations ended 2025 with an operating deficit, the highest rate in ten years, a trend also observed in Europe.

A structural gap between the value produced and its budgetary recognition

The pursuit of low overhead costs has limited investment in the tools needed to measure and demonstrate the value created. 

Unable to present this evidence in formats that decision-makers can use directly, they are at a disadvantage in budget trade-offs against organizations able to substantiate their results and contribution more clearly. 

More than half of American organizations have three months or less of cash reserves, while 90% of leaders say they fear the growing risk of team burnout. It is a vicious circle: fewer resources, less capacity to produce evidence, less funding, and a sector under strain.

At AREA 17, we approach these challenges through three complementary dimensions: how the organization asserts its role and demonstrates its value, the experience offered to the people it supports across its different touchpoints, and the technological and organizational foundations that make it possible to better connect services, data, and results.

When resources shrink, the mission alone is no longer enough to secure budget priority. Organizations must also be able to state clearly what they contribute to the economy, to regions, and to the communities they serve.

This requires evolving the narrative: no longer speaking only about the needs they address, but also about the results produced, the public value created, and the concrete effects of their action. 

This matters all the more because access to funding remains unequal. In the United States, 71% of organizations led by people of color have been affected by funding restrictions, compared with 57% of white-led organizations.

Making impact visible thus becomes a lever for trust as much as a lever for funding.

Key takeaway

Shifting the narrative from the mission alone to a clear demonstration of the contribution created is becoming essential to convince funders, inform decision-makers, and strengthen donor trust.

People who turn to public or nonprofit services rarely arrive with an isolated need. Financial hardship, housing, health, employment, and social support are often linked. Yet services remain largely organized by program: separate entry points, poorly connected files, and information that moves with difficulty from one program to the next. 

This fragmentation reflects the way programs are funded, administered, and monitored more than it reflects the reality of needs. Services exist, but coordinating them remains difficult, at the risk of leaving some needs unanswered and shifting part of this complexity onto teams already under pressure.

For complex situations, 83% of beneficiaries prefer direct access to a qualified person. The challenge is therefore to reduce friction and improve the flow of information, while preserving human involvement where judgment, understanding of context, and relationship are essential.

Key takeaway

Unified entry points and journeys able to support people from one program to the next reduce the fragmentation of services. AI can absorb repetitive tasks and facilitate referral, while preserving human involvement where it remains essential.

Public institutions and nonprofit organizations often operate with an accumulation of systems designed to serve specific programs, funders, or obligations. Beneficiary management, donation collection, reporting, operational tools: each new requirement can add another layer, without necessarily strengthening the whole.

This fragmentation has a cost. It multiplies manual tasks, limits the flow of information, and makes every change more complex.

Better structured and governed data is an essential component. It makes it possible to share information between services, to produce more easily the evidence funders expect, and to create a reliable base for new uses. 

It is also a prerequisite for the responsible deployment of AI: 58% of organizations now use it, but only 21% feel prepared to manage its impact.

In a sector where resources are limited, and where services and data are often fragmented across programs, technology must above all reduce complexity, strengthen continuity of services, and allow organizations to adapt without weakening what already works.

Key takeaway

Interoperable systems, governed data, and architectures able to evolve allow organizations to do more with their existing resources, while preparing for new uses such as AI without compromising trust.

At AREA 17, we combine strategy and craft to act on three complementary levers:

Making socio-economic contribution visible, by translating the mission and results into metrics and formats that allow funders, decision-makers, and donors to measure its value.

Coordinating services around people’s needs, by reducing the fragmentation of journeys and creating experiences able to support beneficiaries from one program to the next.

Building more adaptable technology foundations, by connecting systems and data to simplify operations, evolve services, and deploy AI responsibly.

Facing these challenges? We would love to talk.