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PEOPLE
We help find and grow the right people.
Too often, organizations forget the people aspect. When expanding your nonprofit's reach, you need to ensure you have the necessary and right people in place to not only execute against your team’s vision but also effectively handle its newfound growth. Sometimes growth happens overnight, but most of the time, it’s a relatively slow process spanning multiple years. Nevertheless, you will want to be prepared.
Consider sketching (literally) a chart of your organization, including roles and responsibilities for each position. Once completed, you should chart what the future will look like, how the new roles will fit into the organization, the reporting structure and the breadth and/or depth of responsibility.
By doing this, you are identifying key responsibilities and skills your team is looking for as you search to fill those roles. Ideally, you have current volunteers, supporters or staff who can fill newly created roles, but you may have to look outside the organization.
INFRASTRUCTURE
We help build and implement the right systems & processes.
When expanding your organization, you need to consider your current infrastructure. No detail should go unnoticed.
From a systems standpoint, your organization needs to have the capacity to handle the expected uptick in traffic and information data. Make sure you have the right software and tools to disseminate and organize that data in the way your organization wants and needs.
Additionally, ensure your website is not only up to date, but also can handle the additional traffic to its site. You may not see the traffic uptick overnight, but your team must feel confident that as traffic does increase, it has the necessary bandwidth. On a smaller, but more personal touch, make sure your website is specifically highlighting partners and local or recent projects.
Lastly, get a head start and create policies and/or processes and put them in place. Make sure the processes created are value-added and not confusing or unnecessary.
BUDGET & FUNDING
We create access to funders and ensure financial compliance.
With newfound growth comes greater responsibility -- especially with funds. It is imperative that there is a plan on how to grow your organization’s budget and how to disperse funds to new partners. If you bring on new partners and promise to provide them with funds to advance your mission, it is your fiduciary duty to provide those funds. With that said, there has to be a plan -- preferably already executed -- on how to raise additional funds to provide support.
One additional important note is to make sure your fundraising strategies are sustainable. It is not effective to ask your loyal donors to donate once for a specific project or initiative; you need to create new campaigns and fundraising channels to reach new donors.
Consider grants, if possible, to help supplement and diversify your revenue sources so you don’t rely solely on fundraising, which can be volatile in any given year. Also, don’t forget your past and most loyal donors. They got you and your organization to where it is today. Paint them a picture of what the organization might look like in the future and how their funds can directly help with expanding your reach.
OPERATING STRATEGY
We create strategies to optimize programs and scale impact.
After presenting a strategy on what the organization will look in the future, it is important for the management team and board to focus on the minute details of how, operationally, it will successfully scale.
I’ve noticed too many presentations where there is a wonderful vision for what an initiative or organization will look like and how it serves a nonprofit's mission, but there is no discussion or details around the building blocks to achieve the vision.
It isn’t the most glamorous part of the job, but paying attention to how the organization will reach its growth goals and how it will effectively manage its growth will help you grow sustainably.
There are many areas to focus on when scaling, but I’ve found that if you focus on infrastructure, budgeting, funding, people and operating strategy, you will be ahead of the game and better prepared.
BOARD ENGAGEMENT
We help you attract, select, and engage the best Board members.
Bringing on a terrific board member is only the first step. Taking time to ensure that each board member becomes personally invested and engaged in the mission of the organization is time well spent. When truly engaged, board members will become your nonprofit's best ambassadors, advocates, strategists, and all-around supporters.
An engaged board is a forward-thinking board that strives for a collaborative partnership with the CEO/executive director. Engaged boards “work” between board meetings and attend meetings well prepared. They are willing to deliberate candidly, confidently treading on sensitive topics that may result in “messy” discussions because they trust one another and are comfortable with the culture of the nonprofit, confident that everyone values mutual respect. They partner for fundraising as well as advocacy.
LEADERSHIP TRANSITIONS
We help you attract, select, and retain the best leaders for the organization.
Organizations have the option, when attracting senior leaders, to conduct their searches for senior management internally (i.e., through personal networks, board and staff) or to engage professional assistance.
Strong nonprofit organizations are built on a number of ingredients. However, the need for strong senior leadership (that is, the mix of skills required to lead and manage the organization) is often underestimated. Many organizations equate strong leadership solely with the presence of a charismatic chief executive. But Jim Collins, author of the best-selling book Good to Great, noted that at the best organizations, good leadership extends beyond the chief executive. Collins wrote, “…many organizations say that people are their most important asset. That’s not exactly accurate. The right people are organizations’ most important asset.
Nonprofits need to be rigorous, in determining who should be in their organizations, and in which seats.” Given the potential of what the right people in senior leadership roles can accomplish, it is vital for organizations to invest both the time and resources necessary to attract and assimilate those leaders.