Nonprofits: You have my permission to navel-gaze

A Child Life Specialist drew the Children’s Hospital Colorado values on a sidewalk at the Anschutz Campus.

COVID-19 has us looking inward in more ways than one herunterladen. We’re not only socially distancing ourselves and staying indoors, I’m hearing my colleagues talk about how these unnerving circumstances are prompting their workplace teams to re-evaluate everything they’re doing c++ programm kostenlos download. I’m sure they’re asking each other, “What’s absolutely necessary? What’s the core of our business? What programs now feel peripheral to the mission or may be limping along and we just haven’t noticed skype kostenlose herunterladen?

The common conclusion is that we should be leaning in—more than ever—to the values that make our organizations who we are and the services that make us unique to our constituencies herunterladen. That’s why I couldn’t help but take notice when a friend of mine sent me this picture of the sidewalk outside her office at the Children’s Hospital Colorado—an employee is clearly reminding her colleagues about what’s important stardew valley download kostenlos.

As you find your way forward in the months ahead, look at your programming with a lens that reflects the changing times and ask yourself if you’re genuinely honing in on why your organization is relevant barmer bonusheft herunterladen. If you don’t, your donors and friends will decide for you. Don’t give up the chance to own that decision-making process.

Consider the following resources and titles that help you look inward at your organizational strategy and purpose:

Differentiation Zone by Karla Raines

Cause Marketing for Nonprofits: Partner for Purpose, Passion and Profits by Jocelyn Daw

Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch: The Secret of Extraordinary Results Igniting the Passion Within by Curt Coffman and Kathie Sorensen

A Sense of Urgency by John P. Kotter

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Getting past the “meh” response to nonprofit evaluation

Today, nonprofits are increasingly faced with bridging the gap between urgent issues and the models to solve them. As a result, nonprofit boards, leaders and staff members need program evaluation to deliver on its on promise more than ever. But what is that promise and why does evaluation often get a “meh” response frohe weihnachten kostenlos downloaden?

One of the main reasons for the “meh” response is that evaluation has historically fallen into the trap of focusing on blame in lieu of growth, contributing to a mounting tension between the idea of evaluation and people who implement programming.

What is evaluation’s promise? Elena Harman’s The Great Nonprofit Evaluation Reboot aims to change the current around evaluation so consultants and in-house evaluators can work with staff members toward the same goal while speaking the same language: a language of intentional learning minecraft skin von anderen spielernen. When the focus points toward learning, so do the results and the attitudes from both sides of the table.

Ultimately, this is an evaluation book for non-evaluators. Who are non-evaluators? Busy professionals like you and me who need answers, but don’t have time to take an applied research and methods class. If you’ve picked up other books on evaluation and felt like you were left out of the conversation, you’re not alone toralarmen.

Not only has Elena written a chapter for each position in the organization such as development officer, board member, and executive director, her Reboot is jargon-free and brimming with actionable strategies. You’ll find the answers to your questions about how to measure your efforts and learn on purpose rather than by accident.

In my CausePlanet interview with Elena, I asked her why she thinks nonprofit evaluation needs a reboot, what are the common pitfalls of outsourcing evaluation, and what surprises her most about evaluation today in the field:

CP: Can you tell us why you think nonprofit evaluation needs a reboot? 

EH: Evaluation is not living up to its potential herunterladen symbol. At its best, evaluation has the power to strengthen our communities by helping nonprofits understand what works and what doesn’t, and improve their services over time. Yet more often, evaluation is known as a burden on nonprofit staff who have to collect tons of data for external stakeholders with no tangible benefit in return picture books for free.

This disconnect between the potential of evaluation and its reality grew out of the historical origin of evaluation as an accountability tool, coupled with evaluators’ over-reliance on jargon and overemphasis on rigor without focusing on usefulness and accessibility to the nonprofits we serve. Evaluation needs a reboot to close the gap between the evaluation field and the nonprofits we seek to serve. The nonprofit field can only benefit from evaluation’s full potential if evaluators reposition their approach to speak more directly to nonprofits roller tycoon 2en vollversion.

CP: What are the common pitfalls of hiring an evaluation consultant? 

EH: The most common pitfall I see is a mismatch between the scope of work and the budget. Good evaluation work takes time and money. Before you even start the hunt for an evaluation consultant, get realistic about what your budget will actually cover russische sprache herunterladen. I recommend starting with the understanding that $5,000 or 10% of the program budget will be necessary for adequate evaluation.

The second common pitfall is failing to identify a strong internal contact point for the evaluation. All of my worst evaluation experiences have been “management by committee.” If evaluation is worth spending money on, it should be worth the time and attention of a senior-level staff person to oversee paladin.

And finally, the third common pitfall is outsourcing the thinking of evaluation. While you can certainly pass the technical work of an evaluation off to your consultant, you’re not off the hook for participating in the planning process and guiding the use of evaluation findings afterward. To relinquish all input in the shape of the evaluation is a recipe for a useless evaluation that does not meet the purposes you had in mind. 

CP: What surprises you most about nonprofit evaluation today aris downloaden?

EH: What surprises me most is the enthusiasm of nonprofit professionals who have experienced the true power of evaluation. Despite all the “evaluation baggage” that comes with years of bad experiences with nonprofit evaluation, some nonprofits are still willing to give evaluation another chance herunterladen. They believe in their hearts that evaluation can be useful to them—even though they haven’t yet experienced it.

And when evaluation lives up to that expectation, their transformation is stunning. These professionals latch onto the evaluation process and findings to make dramatic improvements to their programs and to how their organizations operate. They become advocates for the power of evaluation and find ways to slip evaluation principles in everywhere. It is these happy surprises and success stories that keep me optimistic about the future of evaluation. Just imagine what could happen if even a fraction of the nonprofit field adopted the approach outlined in this book. (Check out some of Elena’s client stories.)

This is one of those books you’ll want to pass around between staff members so everyone can read the chapter that best suits them. Learn more about how to purchase the hard copy or e-book at Vantage-Evaluation.com. And, if you’d like to read our synopsis, visit our summary store. You can also watch this short video interview with the publisher!

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Interview with Steve MacLaughlin about Data Driven Nonprofits

The nonprofit sector has grown dramatically in the last two decades and part of that trajectory has involved the growing use of technology. However, author Steve MacLaughlin argues that nonprofits aren’t using data nearly as much as they could be to move their missions forward hr1 app herunterladen.

His new book, Data Driven Nonprofits, focuses primarily on fundraising as the critical element needed to advance an organization. In each chapter, MacLaughlin uses interviews and case stories to explore the variety of ways in which nonprofits, big and small, use data to accelerate change entire website.

We asked MacLaughlin about his favorite example of a nonprofit that uses data to move their mission forward. Learn more about his answer to this question and others below:

CausePlanet: What case story or interview about making the “data leap” is your favorite and why?

SM: There are a lot of really great stories of organizations that have been able to transform their performance through better use of data and analytics dragon mania to download. One of my favorites is Denver Rescue Mission, which was founded in 1892, and up until the late 1980s had a staff of four people and total revenue of about $200,000. Today, they raise more than $32 million—so much of that growth has come through being data driven with a growth mindset.

CausePlanet: Where do most nonprofits typically falter when trying to take their initial steps toward using data effectively and why whatsapp web ohne herunterladen?

SM: One of the biggest mistakes is trying to take on too much, too soon, with expectations that are too high. Nonprofit organizations are much better served by picking a specific question they want to answer or outcome they want to achieve. That first project should be big enough for others to care about, but not so big that it becomes controversial or bogged down in bureaucracy. Time box the team to 30 days to work on that question or outcomes, then come back with recommendations vegas movie studio kostenlos downloaden. Over time, you’ll build the right habits and processes to take on the next important problem.

CausePlanet: In your book, readers learn a great deal about how data-driven nonprofits look and behave (e.g. Test, Share, Grow, etc.).

SM: Yes, a big finding from my research and interviews for Data Driven Nonprofits was how big a role organizational culture plays in the success of being more data driven recording programs. As you noted, some of those culture types are around testing, sharing, and growing. The bad news is that a nonprofit’s culture must align around and value data. The good news is that nonprofits can have different culture types and still achieve their goals.

CausePlanet: Many important changes or initiatives require buy-in at the top downloaden van deezer. What three reasons should our readers present to their boards as to why they need to be data-driven?

SM: It’s important, but it’s not the most important thing to being successful. The most important things people can show to senior leaders or their board are examples of how using data produces a better decision or result than just an opinion excel programm kostenlos herunterladen. Speak softly. Bring data.

CausePlanet: What single idea would you like readers to know about your book?

SM: Equifinality. That’s the single idea that readers should take away from the book. (Pausing for reaction) It turns out that you can have the best data, the best tools, the best people, and still not be successful with data darksiders 3 kostenlos downloaden. Organizational culture can undermine any of those efforts. But thanks to equifinality there is hope. Equifinality is the principle that a given end state can be reached by many potential means. Nonprofit organizations have different culture types and still become more data driven. They can start in different places and arrive at the same positive place schriftart für openoffice herunterladen.

Learn more about this book, related books and our summary:

Measuring the Networked Nonprofit

 

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[Podcast] Get more done in your meetings (and your pitches!)

Meetings can be an expensive waste of time if they aren’t led properly moorhuhn 2 free download full version. Authors Dick and Emily Axelrod have dedicated their careers to understanding and promoting what makes an impactful meeting in Let’s Stop Meeting Like This: Tools to Save Time and Get More Done herunterladen.

The Axelrods explain step by step how to participate in highly effective meetings no matter your role: a leader, contributor or facilitator youtube url herunterladen. The Meeting Canoe is an approach that helps readers understand the importance of order, shape and flow to your gatherings.

Join us for a recent podcast we recorded with the Axelrods about what’s useful, what’s challenging and why people accept bad meeting habits: 

CausePlanet: Thank you for adding the Meeting Canoe framework to the body of literature about effective meetings gif herunterladen facebook. It’s a terrific addition. Which part of the Meeting Canoe do most users find most transformational when implementing the approach?

Listen here for their answer or read below: What part of the “meeting canoe” is most helpful firefox herunterladen apple?

DA & EA: Welcome, Connect, and Attend to the End. Most meeting agendas call for a perfunctory welcome and do not spend time connecting people to each other and the task moorhuhn gratis downloaden. The result is they fail to build a solid foundation to do the meeting’s work. Similarly, most meeting agendas ignore attending to the end. This results in people being unclear about what was decided during the meeting as well as next steps following the meeting herunterladen.

Failure to spend time discussing how to make future meetings better leaves the group without a self-correcting mechanism. We learned from an architect colleague that how people enter a space and how they leave a space is as important as what happens in the space kann man bei amazon prime kostenlos musik downloaden. We believe this is true for meetings as well. By paying attention to the Welcome, Connect, and Attend to the End parts of the Meeting Canoe™, meeting designers create a complete, productive meeting experience macros.

CausePlanet: Which part of the Meeting Canoe™ do most readers find challenging to implement?

Listen here for their answer or read below: What is the most challenging Open office mac?

DA & EA: Attend to the End because they often don’t allocate enough time for it, or if they do allocate time, when pressed for time they skip it. A good ending has three parts:

1.     Review decisions and assignments.
2.     Identify next steps.
3.     Appraise what meeting improvements are needed.

CausePlanet: In your research or client experiences, did you discover why most people accept and perpetuate bad meeting habits?

Listen here for their answer or read below: The Axelrods on why people perpetuate bad meeting habits

DA & EA: The first is that when we asked meeting participants whom they thought was responsible for a meeting’s success, the most frequent response was “the leader.” This habit is an abdication of responsibility for what happens during the meeting, which allows meeting participants to sit idly by while a meeting goes downhill.

We believe another cause is that people have come to think about meetings as painful experiences that must be endured. They do not think of them as a place where productive work occurs. This becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. When you begin to think about meetings as a place where people do work, then you can design your meetings using the five proven work design principles:

– Autonomy: the power to influence the meeting’s direction
– Meaning: the meeting has importance or significance to participants
– Challenge: a call to engage in something that tests your knowledge, skill, or courage
– Learning: acquiring new skills or knowledge through experience, study or being taught
– Feedback: information that lets meeting participants know whether a meeting is making progress toward its objectives.

When you apply these design criteria to your meeting, you create the conditions for productive work to occur. 

Bonus answer: At the end of our podcast, Dick and Emily Axelrod shared this interesting anecdote with us about how the Meeting Canoe works in pitches as well: The Meeting Canoe works in pitches, too!

Learn more at  www.axelrodgroup.com and https://dickaxe.cayenne.io/

Learn more about this title and related book summaries at CausePlanet.org.

Image credits: ssninsider.com (2), crowdsurfwork.com

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On the cusp of major change for nonprofits

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Special thanks to Thomas A. McLaughlin for this article. McLaughlin is the founder of the nonprofit-oriented consulting firm McLaughlin & Associates. He is the author of Streetsmart Financial Basics for Nonprofit Managers, 4th Edition (Wiley).  His email address is tamclaughlin@comcast.net herunterladen. This article first appeared in The Nonprofit Times.

Lately when we have been facilitating a group at a conference we have made a point of asking the following two seemingly unrelated questions:

How old are you?

At what age do you expect to retire?

Before we move on, answer the two questions above for yourself (in an actual session, responders are asked not to print their names).  Think about the answers your parents’ and your grandparents’ generations would have given to the questions.  If we were able to go back in time it would be a virtual certainty that your answers would look very different from those of your parents and grandparents had they grown up in the United States cookidoo which means.

While we do not yet have enough responses to claim a statistically valid group, the outcomes to date are worth examining.  Here are the averages of the responses we’ve received:

How old are you? 56

At what age do you expect to retire? 70

If these results remain consistent, it confirms that we are nearing the cusp of a major change in nonprofit organizations (not to mention the rest of the economy) herunterladen.   playbuzzIt won’t be business as usual as we near 2030, which seems to be the projected ‘average’ retirement year of our current 56 year olds.

Because the numbers of Baby Boomers born each year began to drop significantly in the early 60’s, the Gen X and Millennial generations will not come close to the Baby Boomers’ higher birth rates.  Kelly White Donofrio LLP writed in her blog that, we are already hearing about an unusual level of shortages of management candidates, not to mention a shortage of qualified Gen Xer CEOs.  Even entry-level candidates seem scarcer now than ever before countdown timer kostenlos download.

Nonprofit employee trends aren’t the only ones due for some changes. Nonprofit entities themselves are another area where long-time patterns seem to be changing.  The number of active nonprofit public charities steadily grew from the 80s until 2010, when the upward trajectory abruptly decreased to about 2003 levels.

The pattern is probably not arbitrary.  In all likelihood, the recession that began in 2008 right after the Wall Street crash of 2007 had a tempering effect on the numbers of new nonprofits each year.  Organization creators that had already finished the application process and turned in their request for IRS approval may well have lengthened their intense startup phase, while other potential post-recession applicants for nonprofit status may have deliberately slowed their process in order to begin providing services once the economic conditions improved.  The recession may also have caused some to give up altogether.  Fortunately the upward trend appears to have resumed, although perhaps with less velocity whatsapp for ipad for free.

Putting the Baby Boom into context reveals some hard-to-see advantages.  The biggest one is that the Boomers were the healthiest generation to reach retirement age.  Most of the Boomers reached full employment age at just about the time that hard physical labor began to decline as a major part of most jobs.  As a result, the Baby Boomers were the first
generation that didn’t have to work largely in the factories.   By the time that the first Boomers were ready to find permanent work, the factories had already begun migrating overseas.

As a result, the Boomers were the first generation in history to be able to work in non-physically stressful environments.   Improvements in health care, communications, education, and widespread motorized travel all contributed to far less physical decline than at any time in the previous two hundred years kostenpflichtige apps kostenlos downloaden.

Overall Impactresearchimpactnetwork

Nothing brings as much pressure on a nonprofit organization as the lack of staff.   At the moment we infer from economic reports – and the firsthand observations of CEO’s and others – that the Boomers’ exits are already being felt on both ends of the generational spectrum.   Naturally the first shortage is likely to be felt in the executive ranks as those individuals either reach their preferred retirement age, or move on, but there are also staff shortages in direct care herunterladen.

Fortunately there are a few sources of labor (and optimism), many of which relate to immigration.  For example, the Pew Charitable Trusts report that the foreign-born U.S. population grew 109% between 1990 and 2012 (the overall impact of immigration varies significantly in different parts of the United States).   Moreover, the Pew Charitable Trusts quote Census Bureau projections that net international immigration will be the major driver behind US population growth between 2027 and 2038 prime app herunterladen.

What Can be Done

If the shortage of available employees follows the predicted trend lines above, it could affect virtually all nonprofits in the country.  A major part of the pressure will come from the fact that the birthrates of bothdhmh-maryland-gov the latter part of the Gen Xers’ generation and all of the Millennials’ generation are half that of the Boomers’, so today’s status quo will eventually feel more like the status squeezed.

If we are right about our analysis, this situation will evolve relatively slowly over a period of time, which should make it easier to accommodate but harder to recognize.  Start your strategy planning now so that it fits the circumstances before you feel the squeeze.  Here are some suggestions:

Re-Work Your Staffing Patterns slantimage

If you are feeling the pressure at the bottom of your workforce as well as at the top, it’s time to re-think your staffing patterns.  While we have no way of proving this, it would not be a surprise if your underlying assumptions about direct care workers are still embedded in the 1980 to 2000 era.   And while you’re doing this, be sure to apply the same scrutiny to your assumptions about your senior-most executives.  Do you really need a CIO and his full staff now that you have that 24-hour technology company on call gratis dvd player software downloaden?

Re-Think Your Service Models seedshakers

If you don’t already know the year your nonprofit was founded, pull out your most recent IRS Form 990 and look exactly three inches below the word ‘income’ as in ‘Return of Organization Exempt  From Income Tax’.  You’ll find a box labeled ‘L’ and the words Year of Formation followed by the four digit year of your corporation’s founding.  If your organization was founded in the two or so decades since 1970 there is a chance that the organization is still at least partially grounded in that era.  That could mean that some of your service models are similarly aged.    

Consider a Merger

One way to accommodate the realities of the 21st century is to grow your scale.  The combination of declining birth rates (labor) and steady needs for service (aging clients with longer lifespans) will put pressure on many nonprofits.   Lately we have detected less instinctive opposition to mergers than had been true in the past, suggesting that this opposition might lessen.  The advantage of larger scale operations run correctly is that the resulting efficiencies – one ‘back room’, one Human Resources department, etc. – can strengthen the entire organization.

Today’s U.S. economy has never had aging baby boomers like we see today, nor a 50% drop in birthrates.   Navigating the next two or three decades will force many nonprofits to change their models and to try different approaches.   Being wanted will be just part of the terrain iphone bilder herunterladen auf pc.

See book summaries related to this topic:

Nonprofit Mergers and Alliances by Thomas McLaughlin

Fundraising and the Next Generation: Tools for Engaging the Next Generation of Philanthropists

Working Across Generations: Defining the Future of Nonprofit Leadership

Cause for Change: The Why and How of Nonprofit Millennial Engagement

Image credits: researchimpactnetwork, dhmh.maryland.gov, slantimage, seedshakers, and playbuzz

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Find answers to nonprofit measurement questions in new e-book by Katie Delahaye Paine

Measurement 101 for Nonprofits eBook Released by Paine Publishing

Practical handbook by the co-author of Measuring the Networked Nonprofit

Katie Paine, co-author with Beth Kanter of the award-winning book, Measuring the Networked NonprofitUsing Data to Change the World, has released an eBook  designed to serve as the practical handbook for any nonprofit wanting to become a data-informed organization gzsz herunterladen.

Paine wrote the book in response to feedback she has received since Measuring the Networked Nonprofit was first published. “Since our book came out, I’ve been getting questions from nonprofits about how to make measurement a reality, and how to implement good metrics.  I’ve been accumulating those questions and my answers for the past few years and the result is this eBook,” said Paine minecraft download for free german full pc. “Things are moving so fast in the measurement world, we chose to put out an electronic handbook so we can update it as new tools and techniques are released.”

Buyers of the eBook may also join Paine’s subscriber-exclusive monthly Measurement Hour in which she answers any measurement questions her readers have spotify on macbook.

Measurement 101 for Nonprofits provides practical, detailed guidance on how nonprofits can become data-informed organizations. It covers everything from a simple checklist to begin the measurement process to detailed guidance on how to analyze results android sprachdateien herunterladen. Other topics include:

·        Seven tips to help you understand your data

·        How to budget for measurement (including 6 ways to measure if you have no budget)

·        Understanding and measuring the different levels of engagement

·        Criteria for selecting the right vendors, tools, and metrics

Measurement 101 for Nonprofits is available for $101 and can be purchased by visiting: http://painepublishing.com/measurement-mall/

Paine Publishing, LLC is a New Hampshire-based consulting firm founded by Katie Delahaye Paine in 2013 free music. Its mission is to train and advise individuals and organizations on how to measure their public relations, social media, marketing, and communications efforts joyn tv free. Her company also publishes The Measurement Advisor, the world’s only newsletter dedicated to expert advice, how-to articles, and industry news for communications professionals herunterladen.

See also:

Measuring the Networked Nonprofit

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CausePlanet’s Choice Awards–Our Top Nonprofit Books for 2015

This is my favorite time of year for many reasons bestanden downloaden van soundcloud. One of them is our chance to look back at a great year of book choices for our readers.

It’s also the hardest time of the year because we choose books that stand out among the rest updates nicht automatisch herunterladen. Now, this may seem like an easy task but it isn’t. Choosing from titles that are already among our favorites is like choosing a favorite child. Thankfully, the challenging task is tempered by the fact that we know you love these awards netflix folgen am mac herunterladen. Thank you for the wonderful feedback when we launched this designation last year.

All our Choice Award titles are chosen based on the following criteria: original insights, inspirational content, well-organized and easy-to-follow format, voice, applicability, and strong evidence of case stories and/or exhibits income tax return 2019.

Our Choice Awards for 2015 go to the following authors:

The Sustainability Mindset by Steve Zimmerman and Jeanne Bell
This book not only effectively argues the importance of having financial and programming discussions within the same conversation, but the authors also provide a proven framework designed to guide the process toward sound decision-making herunterladen. Thanks to matrix mapping, your leaders can leave the guesswork out of strategic planning.

The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook by Jayne Cravens and Susan Ellis
Cravens and Ellis do a wonderful job of addressing how volunteering has changed so dramatically over the years that calling out the notion of virtual volunteering is no longer necessary because this form of giving has meshed with traditional volunteering funny sounds. This thorough guidebook is the resource for anyone managing volunteers.

Global Fundraising: How the World Is Changing the Rules of Philanthropy edited by Penelope Cagney and Bernard Ross
Cagney and Ross create a rare and fascinating look at what types of fundraising are working all over the world windows media player 11en gratis nederlands. In a telescoping society that’s facilitated by technology, nonprofits’ reach is farther than ever before. This book helps you gather context for your fundraising efforts and consider what’s influencing your donors outside of traditional boundaries and borders beihilfe app herunterladen.
On behalf of the CausePlanet team, we would like to thank these authors and the company of authors they share who’ve contributed so much to the sector in which we work bfv spielplan herunterladen. We hope our Page to Practice™ book summaries have inspired you to engage in deeper reading and make better book choices. Don’t forget—December is Read a New Book Month ps3 games download multiman. Choose one of these titles or any of the great recommendations in our book summary library and work smarter in 2016.

See also:

The Sustainability Mindset: Using the Matrix Map to Make Strategic Decisions

The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook: Fully Integrating Online Service into Volunteer Involvement

Global Fundraising: How the World Is Changing the Rules of Philanthropy

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Nonprofit decisions: Complexity made clear with matrix mapping

According to a recent Nonprofit Finance Fund’s State of the Sector survey, “Forty-two percent of organizations reported that they do not currently have the right mix of financial resources to thrive over the next three years.”

This level of economic uncertainty requires the kind of adaptive leadership and system-wide reckoning that feels like a daunting task until now. Authors Steve Zimmerman and Jeanne Bell have introduced a proven method for change management called matrix mapping ls15 mods download kostenlos. The matrix map cultivates sound decision-making that embraces the entire organization’s capacity rather than one program or person.

Zimmerman and Bell have accumulated a deep understanding of how the matrix map tool is working for nonprofits thanks to five years in the field with their first book, Nonprofit Sustainability. Today, The Sustainability Mindset builds on the candid self-reflection and bold decision making created by the first title songs kostenlos von youtube downloaden.

Introduction to the matrix map

Simply put, the matrix map allows organizations to view both their impact and profitability at the same time amazon video prime herunterladen. Often, during a strategic planning meeting, organizations will look at the success of their programs in one conversation and then their budget in another. The map gives them a combined look so they can make better decisions. For example, if one program shows high impact but low income, the organization can turn to other sources of income that can cover the expenses wortsuche spiele kostenlos downloaden. To see a sample of the map, click here.

Zimmerman’s favorite example of the matrix map in action

We asked Steve Zimmerman to tell us about one of his favorite case stories where the matrix mapping process brought to light the critical observation of impact and profitability simultaneously.

CausePlanet: Would you tell us about your favorite case study that implements the matrix map?

Zimmerman: One of my favorite uses of the matrix map is to help organizations make decisions that have been put off for too long downloaden aus youtube. An example of this comes from a 100-year-old social service agency that had offered mental health counseling for their constituents among several other programs including financial literacy, job training and a day care program.

Over the years, the counseling program had fallen on hard times, but because it was the founding program of the agency, they kept re-tooling it and bringing in new supervisors to improve the program mahjong shanghai kostenlos vollversion mac. When the matrix map was completed, it showed counseling, financial literacy and job training operating at financial deficits. However, counseling also was considered a low-impact program.

Deeper analysis showed that while the program was important for the organization’s impact, there was a lot of competition for quality counselors and the organization couldn’t match competitors’ salaries schatten ohne licht herunterladen. This led to poor outcomes. What is more, the job training program showed very high impact but was relatively small because the organization didn’t have enough resources to grow the program.

The organization used the matrix map to engage in a robust discussion about the future of counseling and decided to close the program. Because it was still an important component of the organization’s overall impact, it partnered with another agency in the city to deliver those services to constituents herunterladen. It then invested the money that had been utilized to subsidize counseling to expand the job training program. This included partnering with local corporations for job placement on a fee-for-service basis.

The opportunity cost of decision-making

This example demonstrates using the matrix map to highlight the opportunity cost of decisions. The leadership often thinks in terms of “Should we offer Program A or not?” when the correct question is, “Should we invest in Program A or Program B?” By investing in the high impact program, the organization was able to increase its impact and financial viability gta 5 ps3 for free. It would not have had the resources or capacity to do so unless it focused its program offerings. By presenting the map in this way, even those leaders who strongly supported the counseling program came around to see the organization and its constituents were better off as a result of this decision.

If you’ve historically looked at your budget and your programs in isolation of one another, Zimmerman and Bell would argue that this kind of decision-making will only lead to poor sustainability for your nonprofit handschriften gratisen. Get a copy of The Sustainability Mindset and turn complexity into clarity.

See also:

Nonprofit Sustainability: Making Strategic Decisions for Financial Viability

The Nonprofit Leadership Transition and Development Guide

Building Nonprofit Capacity: A Guide to Managing Change Through Organizational Lifecycles

Image credits: julianreese.com, vbpm.org, wallbasehq.com

 

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Nonprofit planning: Mindset over matter

Last week I enjoyed a keynote address delivered by The Sustainability Mindset coauthor Steve Zimmerman in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. With smarts and wit, Steve enlightened a room of nonprofit executives about the advantages of looking at financial and programmatic sustainability in the same conversation bücher aus google books downloaden. According to Steve, most nonprofits look at these critical elements in isolation of one another, which deprives them of accurate sustainability evaluation and productive planning.

What is the mindset?

You might be asking what mindset means. The Sustainability Mindset is about financial sustainability: meeting the needs of the present without compromising the future microsoft office 2007 voor mac gratisen. It’s also about programmatic sustainability: the ability to develop, grow and retire programs in sync with your constituencies. Because this is easier described than done, Steve Zimmerman and his coauthor Jeanne Bell provide experienced-based guidance and a specific framework to follow using their supremely helpful visuals and templates.

Introduction to the matrix map

The primary visual that facilitates the authors’ process is the matrix map. The matrix map allows organizations to view both their impact and profitability at the same time youtube to mp3 downloaden. Often, during a strategic planning meeting, organizations will look at the success of their programs in one conversation and then their budget in another. The map gives them a combined look so they can make better decisions. For example, if one program shows high impact but low income, the organization can turn to other sources of income that can cover the expenses safari download voor mac.

How it works

This map can provoke strategic discussions on how to strengthen the model. For example, the organization can look at the upper left quadrant (see below) to decide if the Youth Services and Adult Education & Family Literacy are worth the expense for a high mission impact. If they are covered by other
bubbles and if they provide a necessary service that no one else provides in the community, they may be worth the expense Easter free download.

Organizations can create these maps during strategic planning, annual budgeting and operational planning meetings, loss of funding, new opportunities, or changes in external environments.

Depending on the purpose, the map can either be a quick look or a more detailed vision of the organization’s status. Again, depending on the purpose, various people should be involved lustige weihnachtskarten kostenlosen. For example, funders and constituents could be surveyed for a closer look at mission impact in a more detailed version. Otherwise, the senior leadership, staff and board can be involved in the input and can learn more about the organization through this process.

Ultimately, the map provides what is for many leaders the first time they’ve seen their nonprofit programs mapped according to their financial and programmatic viability in one single action herunterladen.

What are the stages?

In the book, the authors cover these stages of the matrix map process: 1) introductory meeting, 2) articulating intended impact, 3) defining programs, 4) assessing mission impact, 5) determining profitability, 6) plotting your map, 7) analyzing your map, and making strategic decisions.

When looking at these stages, my editor and I were compelled to ask Steve and Jeanne about where most leaders experience challenges when applying the matrix map process and what is the most critical step within the process:

CausePlanet: At what point do nonprofits experience challenges when trying to apply the matrix map to their organizations and how do they overcome them herunterladen?

Zimmerman: Senior management teams are often not used to having open, candid discussions about the contribution a program makes to the organization’s intended impact relative to other programs or about how the program is differentiated from other offerings in the community. As a result, assessing mission impact can be a challenge in the matrix map process. These conversations can be frightening, as participants often fear hurting a co-worker’s feelings or being vulnerable in front of a group popcorn time film wil niet. However, the leadership’s efforts in creating a safe environment where candid feedback and discussion is encouraged, appreciated and respected will ensure the success of the matrix map process. Everyone in the room is committed to the organization’s mission and with the appropriate lens of continuous improvement, the organization will have an opportunity to better understand the perception and reality of its programs’ impacts herunterladen.

CausePlanet: What is the most critical step in the Sustainability Mindset process?

Zimmerman: Moving toward greater sustainability requires making hard decisions. It isn’t that the leadership doesn’t necessarily want to make decisions, but they’re fraught with implications. Constituents who depend on services may find them suddenly not available or the staff may find shifts in their jobs. These are difficult decisions. The leadership may feel it doesn’t have enough information or even worse, may have conflicting information about which decision to make. Like any strategic decision, the leadership is ultimately guessing at what the future may hold. The matrix map is a useful tool for engaging key stakeholders in a discussion about what the future should be. However, it is just a tool. It ultimately is up to the users to make a decision, learn from implementation, adjust and learn again. We say often that sustainability is the integration of financial viability and mission impact, but there is a third equally important component–leadership. The most critical step is the leadership ultimately making a decision to begin implementation and move toward greater sustainability.

If you and your fellow leaders on the board are in a place where you could benefit from taking a rigorous and candid look at the viability of your current programs, I encourage you to get a copy of the The Sustainability Mindset. You may never allow yourself to look at sustainability the same way again.

See also:

Nonprofit Sustainability: Making Strategic Decisions for Financial Viability

The Six Secrets of Change: What the Best Leaders Do to Help Their Organizations Survive and Thrive

The Necessary Revolution: Working Together to Create a Sustainable World

Image credits: pixabay.com, wiley.com, Steve Zimmerman and Jeanne Bell

 

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The worst of economic times brought out the best in nonprofits

“A crisis is a terrible thing to waste,” American economist and NYU professor Paul Romer was credited for saying in 2004 herunterladen. His sentiment, unfortunately, is appropriate again today as nonprofits throughout the sector learn from tough decisions that help them recover from the Great Recession and what we are now seeing will likely be dubbed, “The Great Correction.”

Many of you are familiar with the notion that negative news often gets repeated more often than positive news herunterladen. This post is an effort to tip the scales toward encouraging information I recently read in The Chronicle of Philanthropy: “How Recession-Racked Charities Emerged Stronger Than Before.”

Paul Romer would be pleased to learn the nonprofit sector did not waste the Great Recession java runtime herunterladen. They’re making good use of it and demonstrating impressive resolve. “Hopeful lessons” are shared in the Chronicle article, and one in particular involves Voices for Children herunterladen. Voices is a nonprofit dedicated to providing every foster child in San Diego County with a volunteer court advocate.

Voices for Children

After laying off a quarter of the staff, the board resigned itself to the fact that it would have to scrap its ambitious fundraising goal set years earlier and rebuild by stepping up with its own members and setting up a skeletal development shop iphone 6 icloud fotos herunterladen. The executive director courted and hired a seasoned development director from the arts arena and paid the fundraiser more than anyone else. Today the budget is approaching $6 million, double the amount of its pre-recession budget apple app storeen. Payroll has reached 73 employees. Voices is now in a better financial position and perhaps better equipped to handle the next economic downturn.

Administrative and space collaborations

Stronger nonprofits have also resulted from collaboratives to share space and administrative resources Check for free full version. For example, in Denver, international development nonprofits renovated a 19th-century horse and trolley barn, which they call the Posner Center derive downloaden. The Center is a 25,000-square-foot space that now houses 60 nonprofits. According to the Chronicle, “The Center recently awarded $60,000 in grants to fund partnerships among its tenants, including one between Engineers Without Borders and a group that builds footbridges in Guatemala.”

Built to last

In a related article, “Bold Choices in Dark Times,” St windows 10 fotos downloaden. Louis Opera general director Timothy O’Leary was faced with collecting promised pledges on the day the stock market crashed. The donors told him they needed to “trim” their major gift commitments windows 10 kaufen unden. O’Leary reported, “The difference [between pledges and fulfillments] was not unsubstantial.”

On the heels of these discouraging donor visits, O’Leary, the new board chair and artistic director, set to work creating a long-term strategic plan that would weather a long economic crisis. While other arts organizations were reducing schedules and turning to crowd-pleasing classics, the St. Louis opera committed to commissioning new and creative work. O’Leary was convinced new and exciting material would compel loyal patrons to return and support the opera.

“The downturn hit the opera’s corporate sponsorships the hardest, and revenue slipped further when the company reduced its draw from its $16.5-million endowment. To compensate, it froze salaries, suspended staff 401(k) contributions, and renegotiated deals with its unions. Yet as the opera rallied donors around its commitment to risk-taking productions, individual giving climbed — gradually at first, and then 21 percent in 2011.”

In 2013, a commitment to innovation and collaboration paid off with an unprecedented debut of “Champion,” which generated more ticket sales than any other production in the history of the St. Louis opera. “Champion” was named a finalist for international opera of the year. Today, the endowment is now topping $28 million.

Always in crisis

With the Great Recession over and a market correction that hopefully will be fleeting, it might be tempting to try risky ventures or allow yourself some wiggle room with financials. Perhaps the lesson here is that nonprofits should act as if they’re always preparing for a crisis. Look for ways to work smarter and leaner and focus on what’s working and core competencies. If you’re interested in engaging in financial forecasting or looking at different scenarios, consider contacting us at Execute Now! where we can help you assemble a financial plan you can feel confident about following.

Image credits: nonprofitcenters.org, urpe.wordpress.com, nytimes.com

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