What Really Matters
Nonprofit organizations play a vital role in our society, addressing a wide range of needs not otherwise met by government or the private sector. There are about a million and a half nonprofits registered with the IRS, accounting for more than 5% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product and paying more than 8% of wages across the country. Individuals, corporations and foundations contribute about a quarter of a trillion dollars each year to charity, with about three quarters of that coming from individuals. Thirty percent of individuals also volunteer their time with nonprofit organizations.
But beyond these numbers the impact of nonprofits can be seen every day in their communities where they provide direct services to the poor, promote the arts, advocate for social justice, and offer recreational programs, among other critical functions. And they do all of this while dealing with organizational and operational challenges unique to the nonprofit sector, and constantly finding creative and flexible ways to do more with less.
How an organization deals with these challenges will determine the kind of relationship it has with its constituents, its employees, its volunteers, its donors, and its community. Here’s what matters most:
Board Development
I’ve served on and reported to several nonprofit boards, and there is quite a range out there in terms of talent, diversity and level of engagement. Unfortunately, some executive directors view their boards as a legal requirement to be tolerated rather than a source of leadership, vision and passion to be cultivated and proactively utilized. Staff dealing on a daily basis with stretching limited resources to meet the urgent needs of constituents can benefit greatly from a talented and creative board that takes a big picture, long term approach in guiding an organization’s development. Board members can provide expertise in critical areas such media relations, finances, and the law. Board development is a vital but often underappreciated part of building and maintaining an organization’s capacity to fulfill its mission.
Strategic Planning
Organizations that do not regularly map out where they are going and how they are going to get there are more likely to suffer from staff burnout and mission drift, and to have a harder time raising funds. When they are formed, all nonprofits start with a carefully considered and well articulated mission, and strategic planning is simply a process by which an organization can hold itself accountable for staying true to its mission. It sounds easy: commit to long term goals consistent with your mission, design strategies to achieve your goals, implement your strategies with short term objectives that include timelines and identify who is responsible for specific tactics, track your progress and revise as needed. Without a good strategic plan most nonprofits will still have plenty of demand for their services, but with a good plan it will be easier to attract and keep good employees, raise funds, maintain a positive public image, and most importantly, stay mission-driven.
Collaboration
When an organization has worked hard to achieve leadership status on a particular issue it can be hard to share room on the stage with others, particularly when potential donors are watching. But by collaborating with other organizations, the leader can be more successful by gaining access to new constituencies, and increasing its capacity through in-kind support. This is seen most easily among advocacy organizations where well managed coalitions can be very effective in policy campaigns. Human services organizations can benefit from collaboration as well, increasing their information and referral capacities, reaching new constituents being served elsewhere for other issues, and being part of community education efforts that more effectively reach diverse audiences.