Mike Stone is founder of Impact Strategies, Inc. (www.help-nonprofits.com), a nonprofit consultancy that helps organizations with their strategic and evaluation planning. Prior to founding Impact Strategies in 2005, Mike had over 18 years of experience in educational and nonprofit administration, most recently having held senior level positions in grant management, program development and evaluation. Contact him at mike@help-nonprofits.com.
This is a series of articles, of which this is the second installment, from Mike Stone that explores the core concepts of a strategic planning approach for nonprofits. Mike welcomes feedback on these concepts, which will be included in a book manuscript. See the first installment here. The elements of the organizational core Traditionally, strategy... Read more
This series of articles, of which this is the first installment, from Mike Stone explores the core concepts of a strategic planning approach for nonprofits. Mike welcomes feedback on these concepts, which will be included in a book manuscript. “In an effort to save the bottom line, the modern nonprofit risks losing its soul.”– Bill... Read more
The law of survival in the jungle is simple: you don’t have to be faster than the lion, just one step faster than the slowest zebra.The mantra of the underachiever? To the contrary, this is the wisdom of a creature that has figured out what game it is playing–what the
Ask any nonprofit board member or executive director what poses the greatest challenge to his/her organization and you are likely to hear this: “We need more funding.” While s/he may not be able to offer a complex analysis of the organization’s financial circumstances
I have been asked numerous times by clients to describe what a "good board" looks like. I understand the point of the question – what is the right size, what are the right committees, etc. But asking what a board should look like misses the more
A few years ago, I discovered a framework for evaluating foundation strategy developed by Peter Frumkin that draws attention to three critical features of strategy: its soundness, the quality of its implementation, and the results it produces. The framework has proven to be immensely
