Nonprofits (Regional & Local)
Nonprofits are not created equal. I would suggest, like all organizations, no two are alike, but there will be similarities. So, for this section, try not to compare everything posted to a specific nonprofit, this content needs to stay somewhat generic. The intent of the section is to show how nonprofits can apply strategic planning, portfolio management, strategy implementation processes, and tools like other organizations.
Clarity Execution Provides In-Kind Donations of Time to Nonprofits
Are Nonprofits Different?
Nonprofits have uniqueness that creates challenges, but every organization or team does. The larger the team or organization, the greater the complexity in controlling a strategic plan. In the nonprofit sector a Board of Directors has decision-making authority on the services or products they deliver, who are the recipients, and the geography of their community served. A small business may have a single decision maker, which allows for fast action, but there can also be partners that disagree. Large organizations may be constrained in the markets they serve, or a vision set by their Board of Directors. The bottom line is everyone has challenges managing a strategic plan.
How Nonprofits Benefit from Strategy Management
Nonprofits have a limited bandwidth in the services or products they provide. Meaning, the community they serve can’t expand unless they increase, improve, lower cost, or increase funding. Strategic planning, portfolio management, and strategic implementation of initiatives will focus a nonprofit on a few top priorities and side-line the wish list until another time. Most organizations, and not only nonprofits, tend to want to do more than what they have the resources, focus, incentives, or even desire to implement. So, prioritization and not getting sidetracked is key to delivering the benefits desired.
Have Clarity in a Mission & Vision
Mission and vision statements are not solving world level problems, they represent the nonprofit. The mission should concisely describe what product or service is provided to the served community. A vision statement is how the nonprofit delivers those products or services, it should guide a nonprofit in what the organization needs to look like to be successful. These are the foundations for building a strategy to drive the organization forward, and better support its community. These statements should be no more than twenty words each, shorter is better. There can always be additional narrative presented, but the statement needs to be memorable, inspirational, and provide organizational focus.
The Value Proposition – Solving a Problem
Planning strategy for a nonprofit, any size organization, or products and services, we must first understand the problem that’s being solved, and the market or community being served. The value proposition is what the organization, product, or service is delivering and can be recognized as a solution by people knowledgeable about the problem. There are times people aren’t even aware of a problem, and the solution may create thinking of how the offering can improve lives, this is more of the “Build it and they will come” strategy. If we asked past generations if they needed mobile devices, most would say no, but ask that question today. So, write the value proposition, work with the team, ask if it represents your mission and vision, do you have the incentives to go forward, and will enough people be interested.
Taking a Hard Organizational Look
Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats
Nonprofits, teams, and all organizations will struggle defining their strengths and weaknesses. Different levels of an organization may have different perspectives, one may consider something a strength where another level will consider the same item a weakness. So before moving onto external opportunities and threats, consensus must be reached. If not, developing strategic plans to use strengths to capitalize on opportunities, or weaknesses to improve will not result in actionable initiatives. Have a nonbiased facilitator lead the session, preferably someone external to the organization where the only objective is the quality of the input.
Finding Time for Strategy
Nonprofits are more complex than I’m presenting and are broken down into many more segments. The assumption is that the greatest amount of time and resources goes into the buckets of raising money and providing services. If an Executive Director spends a lot of time on those buckets and on leading the organization, where do they find time for strategy work? If there is a board member skilled in strategy management, that should be their only focus. If no internal person has the skills and experience there are many working professionals willing to provide in kind donations of time, and most mid to large organizations appreciate those types of partnerships.
Slow Consistent Change
For an organization with limited people able to work on change, there needs to be a pragmatic, and slow approach to implementing ideas that create positive value to the services or products they provide. Slow means implementing a limited amount of change at a single time, maybe only one, and it doesn’t overwhelm an already busy team with expectations that are unrealistic. Let the team try something, learn from what they tried, and then they can try some more. Going slow and learning along the way will allow them to build confidence and become more engaged in the organization they love. Have a pipeline of ideas, prioritize the top few, and work on them while the others wait.
