CausePlanet Blog

“To be market driven, you have to determine who your customer is greenshot. And interestingly enough, it may not be the people your organization is dedicated to serve–your clients. Your customer is the one group from among all your stakeholders who, more than anyone else, determines your survival and your success.”

Steve Rothschild’s seven principles of success in his book The NON Nonprofit are rooted in his revelation of consistent methods he has implemented as an accomplished business leader in a Fortune 100 company and as a CEO of a thriving nonprofit that succeeded in creating economic value from social benefit windows mail nachricht und bilder herunterladen.

If phrases like “Be market driven” (principle #3) and “Create economic value from social benefit” (principle #6) have you thinking you’re reading from a business book, think again free excel 2007 nederlands. After creating the seven principles in the corporate world, Rothschild tested them in his own nonprofit, Twin Cities RISE techno tracksen!, and observed them in many other sector examples he discusses in The NON Nonprofit.

I asked Rothschild to explain his view of creating economic value in his own nonprofit:

CausePlanet: Principle #6 (Create economic value from social benefit) addresses the notion that “we are accustomed to thinking about social good in terms of moral imperative rather than economic benefit microsoft office nl gratis downloaden. But every improvement in social good does in fact have monetary value—to the participant, the state, or some other stakeholder.” Jason Saul, who authored The End of Fundraising, would wholeheartedly agree with you on this point videos von youtube downloaden legal. What did you determine was your “marketable” social benefit at Twin Cities RISE!?

Rothschild: Twin Cities RISE! trains underemployed and unemployed adults, primarily black men, with multiple barriers to employment, including low academic skills, criminal and addiction backgrounds, and poor work histories for living wage jobs alle fotos von websiteen. Over the last 15 years, it has been successful in boosting graduates’ pre- to post-training incomes from an average of @$5,000 to @$25,000. As its graduates’ incomes have increased, they pay more sales and income taxes and use less low-income health care, childcare and housing whatsapp sprachnotiz herunterladen. They also save corrections costs. These cash benefits to the state of Minnesota and also the federal government derive directly from the social value that was created by lifting individuals and their families out of poverty video aus teams herunterladen.

What is your marketable value are you creating in your organization mittelalter spiele kostenlosen? If you can identify your marketable value, Jason Saul argues that you can pursue an entirely new set of stakeholders. He calls this new set of stakeholders “impact buyers,” who are willing to pay for social outcomes. Saul identifies the three highest value outcomes these funders want to buy and we highlight them in the Page to Practice™ summary.

See also:

Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits

Do More Than Give: The Six Practices of Donors Who Change the World

Nonprofit Sustainability: Making Strategic Decisions for Financial Viability

Image credit: EducationNews.org

It’s no coincidence our sector is looking at redefining its business models when 88% of nonprofits in 2012 were faced with increases in the demand for their services despite 57% barely having enough cash on hand to last them three months herunterladen. (1)

In “Pride & Prejudice: (What) Can Nonprofits Learn From the For-Profit World fritzbox zertifikat herunterladen?” by Richard Dare last May in the Huffington Post, I was intrigued by his challenge to fellow nonprofits to reexamine their business models and consider several ideas he’s observed and read about over the years:

1) side-ventures to supplement traditional fundraising (gift shops, space rental, cafeterias),
2) innovative partnerships that exchange value (see www.MissionMeasurement.com by Jason Saul),
3) new money from your core operations (create a model that serves other party’s interests beyond your own) windows xp professional download free full version german.

Don’t wait to consider new options. Increased demand for services and the diminishing ability to maintain three months of cash reserves is a chronic scenario we diagnose when we’re in the field working with Execute Now medianav toolbox downloaden! clients. Financial strain in the midst of high service demand has no bias—both large and small, as well as seasoned and start-up nonprofits, struggle with this challenge where you can download royalty-free images. We also see increasing competition for individual donors and grantmakers within the sector and within specific causes. “There are over 1.4 million nonprofits in the U.S., more than 500,000 of which have been created in the last ten years herunterladen! Yet according to the Urban Institute, there are only 1,100 different ‘types’ of nonprofit programs. Simple math tells us that, on average, there are over one thousand nonprofits for each type of problem,” states Jason Saul in The End of Fundraising word 365 download all fonts.

Diversify your revenue stream. All three of Richard Dare’s suggestions have a common theme that involves depending less on donated income and more on the exchange of value, either directly with your constituency or with peers who share an interest in your constituency origin client. We spend a fair amount of time helping our clients forecast cash flow so they can accommodate lengthy grant cycles and cultivate large donors. Imagine how those projections might be boosted by alternative revenue arrangements herunterladen.

Look at fulfilling your mission in new ways. Above all, our most successful clients are those who look for new ways to implement their mission in every strategy they explore paint.net downloaden gratis. Each new venture enhances their business model and is scrutinized for relevancy and financial sustainability. Additionally, these nonprofit leaders constantly look at the value they provide not only to their clients, but also to their stakeholders. Who are your stakeholders? Jason Saul says they have a vested interest in the social outcomes you produce. Look at your nonprofit community and reexamine who your stakeholders might be.

Learn more about our nonprofit services or download an assessment form to determine your nonprofit’s financial assistance needs.

1: Nonprofit Finance Fund 2012 Survey Results

What outcomes do you value most about our work herunterladen?

How would you define success for the work we do children's music to download?

Do you think we were successful last year? If so, why? If not, why not?

What’s the ultimate impact you value from our work?

What do you think the project needs to accomplish in one to three years to achieve this longer-term impact herunterladen?

What data or evidence would you need to see that would convince you our work has been successful?

What type of information do you need from us to demonstrate the value of our relationship herunterladen?

Is there anything we haven’t discussed that you would like to add?

Activities versus outcomes: Activities describe your program efforts while outcomes are the changes that result from those activities—awareness, behavior, condition or status.

Evaluation versus measurement: Although most evaluations are meant to answer, “Does the program work?” on an absolute basis, performance measurement is designed to ask “How well is it working?” In short, measure relative contribution to an outcome.

Good measures and bad measures: Good measures are credible (believable and accurate), practical (reasonably available, not abstract) and relevant (pass the “so what?” test and are useful in explaining outcomes).

Do you know who your stakeholders are? If not, try Jason Saul’s exercise and find out. For more information about selling your impact, purchase this book at JosseyBass.com, visit Jason Saul’s website at www.MissionMeasurement.com or visit our Page to Practice library for a complete summary including our interview with the author.

I was excited to read Jason Saul’s new book, The End of Fundraising, because a friend of mine who is the president of a local bilingual school recently heard Saul speak at a conference and found his approach to fundraising very compelling video stream mac. As chief fundraiser for an organization whose prospects pass through a revolving door because their children eventually graduate, my friend is especially keen to learn about how to engage community stakeholders who find value in what his school is doing why you can't all movies on netflix. I’m happy to report to you and my friend that Saul’s book presented terrific strategies that are grounded in years of first-hand experience.

The End of Fundraising, is based on his epiphany that we are trying to convince the wrong people to support our organizations herunterladen. In other words, you can only leverage funding from funders who value what you have to offer. While acknowledging that the emotive or passionate donors will always be part of the constituency mix, you must also consider the people who truly value your work and who economically benefit from the social outcomes you produce herunterladen. If this were the basis for more donor relationships, Saul argues that we wouldn’t have to beg for contributions. Rather, we would sell our impact and leverage rational decision makers on netflix mac. What’s more, evidence abounds in our communities in support of the real economic currency our nonprofit outcomes produce in every major cause within the sector word writing program for free for windows 7. Be it education, health care, global development and even the arts, we have yet to embrace the market to its fullest potential despite the fact that the market has embraced our work skype in german for free.

To effectively raise funds in today’s economy, you must transact your social impact rather than dance around the edges with quasi-market behavior herunterladen. Saul says we don’t need a parallel economy for the independent sector; we need to find a better way to play within the perfectly good one we have herunterladen. This book will teach you to understand the role of social change in our economy; learn how to engage stakeholders; define your impact by outcomes, not activities; determine which stakeholders value your outcomes the most; translate your work into high-value outcomes; create powerful value propositions to increase your leverage; and improve the success of your pitches to funders steam updates manuellen.

When I asked Jason how smaller nonprofits that might not be able to produce these high-value outcomes benefit from this End of Fundraising approach, he said, “Selling your impact is completely viable for both small and large nonprofits. In fact, many smaller nonprofits (charter schools and social entrepreneurs) are using innovative strategies to produce extremely high value outcomes. However, there are many nonprofits, small and large, focused on a single activity or a fragment of an outcome, such as providing a free meal or a suit for a job interview. These organizations can increase their value in the social capital market, but they will need to reach for higher value outcomes by extending their services or partnering with others.”

Have you experimented with selling your impact? Let us know about it. The first three responses via this blog or to Mail@CausePlanet.org get a free Page to Practice executive book summary of The End of Fundraising.

Jason Saul’s book will help you:

Define your impact by outcomes, not activities, and learn how to engage stakeholders.

Translate your work into high value outcomes and determine which stakeholders value your outcomes the most.

Understand the role of social change in our economy.

For more information about selling your impact, purchase this book at JosseyBass.com, visit Jason Saul’s website at www.MissionMeasurement.com or visit our Page to Practice library for a complete summary including our interview with the author.