At the beginning of any strategic planning process I lead, this is the question I pose to the nonprofit’s leadership: “What are the key strategic questions facing your nonprofit?” Nonprofit leaders who want to plan for the future must first articulate what it is they need to decide about that future. A strategic question is […]
outcomes
When A Funder Takes Your Nonprofit Off Course
It’s fairly common knowledge that in the nonprofit sector the relationship between funders and nonprofit leaders is often fraught. A power imbalance between those with the purse strings and those without can sometimes lead to poor decisions about a nonprofit’s future direction. The other day I was advising a nonprofit leader — let’s call him […]
Do Your Programs Contribute to Mission AND Money?
There is a tool that I think is incredibly helpful to nonprofit leaders trying to figure out where to focus their resources and how to plan for the future. Indeed it is typically one of the first activities in the strategic planning process I use with my clients. The Program Matrix helps a nonprofit board […]
Is Your Nonprofit Stuck In A Rut?
The other day I was talking with a nonprofit leader and was suddenly struck by how much his story echoed so many of the stories I hear from nonprofit leaders. See if your nonprofit fits some or all aspects of the scenario he faces: His board is passionate about the mission and wants to be helpful, but they don’t really contribute […]
5 Conversations the Nonprofit Sector Should Have
Change is certainly happening within the nonprofit sector and the philanthropy that funds it. From efforts to make philanthropy better at addressing inequity, to movement away from the overhead myth (and other myths), we are witnessing important shifts in how we tackle (and fund that tackling of) social challenges. But I’m hungry for more. And more could emerge from honest and transparent conversations about […]