Nuts and Bolts: a Survival Guide for Non-Profit Organizations

Copyright © 2002 by Charles M. Dobbs & Robert J. Ligouri.

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Contents

Introduction

SECTION I

No One has a Monopoly on Virtue

Tough Times Require Tough People

A House is only as strong as its Foundation

Marketing 101—Sharpening the Message

The Heart of the Organization

Counting the Beans

Getting it off the paper and into action

There is no limit to what one can achieve if no one cares who gets the Credit

The end of the Beginning

SECTION II.

Developing the Revenue Plan

The Annual Campaign

Special Events

In-Kind Gifts

SECTION II:

I. Introduction

II. The Pre-Proposal Phase

III. Writing the Proposal

IV. Post-Writing Phase

V. Appendices

SECTION III:

Section III: Doing the Little Things Right

People Types and Tiger Stripes

A Very Brief Bibliography!

About the Co-authors

Introduction

"Nuts and Bolts, A Survival Guide for Non-Profit Organizations is a manual written for the Non-Profit Executive and for members of the Non-Profit Board of Directors. Tough economic times can play havoc for even the best of missions. This manual is designed to offer concrete strategies to allow an organization to fight through the times of declining revenue. The nuts and bolts strategies outlined in the following chapters will enable the organization to develop action steps that will attack short-term problems, and build a solid foundation for the future.

The manual will be divided into three sections:

Section I—Nuts and Bolts—Critical Strategies for NonProfit Success

Section II—Nuts and Bolts—Getting the Dollars

Section III—Nuts and Bolts—Saying thank-you

The Authors of this manual have a long and successful history in the non-profit sector. It includes a combined total of over thirty years experience in the non-profit sector. Combined, the authors have been responsible as administrators for attracting over fifty million dollars to non-organizations, businesses, or causes.

The Oxford Group Inc. welcomes the opportunity to provide consultative services to Non-Profit Organizations as they move to implement the strategies outlined in this manual.

SECTION I

Nuts and Bolts—Critical Strategies for Non-Profit Success

 No One has a Monopoly on Virtue

A number of years ago, one of the authors sat next to a national leader of one of the top non-profit organizations in the world. Her organization had demonstrated remarkable growth and stability. It had expanded during tough economic times, and had expanded into impoverished countries throughout the world. During our dinner conversation the author asked why the organization had continued to grow while others withered and died. Her answer was very simple:

1.   Our focus is simple and our priorities are shared.

2.   Our mission is easily communicated.

3.   We fulfill our mission.

But most of all—she said—we realize that in our world today No one has a monopoly on virtue. I thought about her answer and what it meant to my organization. From that point on our conversation had a remarkable effect on my leadership and the direction that we took as an organization. I think it important that I touch on each of her points:

Our Focus is simple and our priorities are shared

This is an internal statement that you and your leadership team must critically evaluate. So often during the good times, a non-profit organization grows. During that growth period, the organization often implements new programs and initiatives. Many of these programs and initiatives represent expansions of existing programs or services, and others are new, innovative and leading edge. That is wonderful during the good times, but with it come problems and challenges. An organization’s focus and emphasis can become blurred both internally and externally. Priorities often become unclear or too many in number. Resource allocation becomes more difficult, and communication within the organization and with key stakeholders over time gradually diminishes. During good economic times, you and those to whom you provide services may not clearly see the negative effects, however as revenue declines, and the need to maintain an increasing flow of resources to the organization grows—the issues of focus, and priorities can and often will become fatal. A simple test for the organization should suffice. Ask each of your Board and staff to independently write down the focus of the organization (mission), and its priorities. Give them only a sentence or two—nothing too long and nothing too involved. In some cases you will see a great deal of similarity; but in others, as it comes to priorities and central message, you will often note a great disparity of opinion.

Nuts and Bolts Strategies:

• Conduct a survey of your staff, Board, and even key donors. Ask them to write down in order what they see as the top 810 priorities of the organization. Tabulate the results. Once tabulated, it is now time as a group to settle on an agreed to order of priorities. This can be a very difficult task, and one in which there is great turf protection and even emotion. It is also essential for the organization to simplify its mission and priorities.

•   Ask each of the same groups to write down what they feel is the central message that must be communicated to both internal and external audiences. Together, develop a centralized mission statement or message.

•   Evaluate each of the top 5 priorities. Where is your organization truly at with each one? If we say for example that participation growth is our number one priority—how are we doing? What are we doing, and how are resources being allocated? And consider limiting yourself perhaps only to those top 5 priorities; you cannot be too many things to too many clients.

•   Develop action plans off of your evaluation, how are you going to do it, who is going to do it, what is the cost, and how are we going to measure success.

Our mission is easily communicated

As an organization grows, and priorities evolve over time, the central message often becomes clouded. Each person in the organization has different levels of interest, organizational knowledge, expertise, and commitment. The list is endless as to our differences. That is why it is critical for an organization to keep its mission and message simple and easily communicated. I have spent years meeting with non-profit organizations throughout the country. I can assure you that the ones that were in the most difficulty were those who had some of the most complex mission statements and cluttered messages. They suffered staff issues, lack of Board involvement, and often during difficult times, declining public support and of course the issue of declining revenue. It’s hard for an organization to pull in the same direction if everyone is not clear in what direction he or she is pulling.

Nuts and Bolts Strategies:

•   As a staff, and Board, carefully review the mission statement. Is it clear, concise, and relevant?

•   Conduct a Board and key volunteer survey in regards to the organization’s mission. What do they see it? Do they feel it is being met? What communications issues do they see? What suggestions on improvements would they offer?

•   Evaluate your mission statement. Is it consistent to what your organization is about, and are you effective in communicating the message?

•   It is a big step for an organization to identify its central message. Once that is identified you are well along the road. step one would be a close review of all communication methods. Stationery, newsletters, volunteer sign-ups, etc … how can you change them to better communicate your central theme, or mission?

•   Develop a marketing plan. If the staff does not have that ability, use your board, outside consultants, or even outside agencies. Often outsiders can offer a new perspective and strategies. Some ad agencies often will donate much of their work to a non-profit in need of a marketing support.

•   Develop a marketing component to the budget. Many in the community understand the value of communicating the central mission of an organization. It is a good project to use to get outside funding.

• Survey your staff, board, and key volunteers as to not just their expertise, but also to their spouses, and friends. Make your need known to others, develop an in-kind needs list and communicate it. You may be surprised at the talent level that comes forward for you.

We fulfill our mission

simple words, but so important—we fulfill our mission. When one analyzes that statement the question must be asked—do we truly do what we say we are going to do? During tough economic times, it is an absolute must if you are to survive as an organization. You must be able to make your case to both your internal and external audiences. You must have a clear operational plan that takes the words off of the paper, and puts those words into targeted action. And you must have some kind of effective, annual evaluation to demonstrate that you are meeting the challenge and achieving your goals and thus accomplishing your priorities.

The following is a true example:

I was appointed the Executive Director of a non-profit organization. On my first day on the new job, I went through the desk drawers as I prepared to move into the office. In one drawer I found a folder. In this folder were past due bills (some dated as far back as six-months) that totaled over $20,000! I promptly called our Board President at the time, told him about the past due bills (he was shocked), and asked our current balance at his bank. It was approximately $12,000. Well, he said, we are technically insolvent. After I hung up, I continued my search through the desk. In the next drawer I found our organization’s strategic plan. It was bound, and one of the best that I had seen. so I inherited an organization that was now insolvent, but had one of the best strategic plans on paper in the state. Talk about a disconnect!

We re-built our organization from that rather inauspicious start, but the memory never left me. Mission statements, and all the strategies in the world are not going to make any difference, if in fact you do not have a clear method to get the plans off the paper and into action. We fulfill our mission—a statement that is a great example of why an organization succeeds, and conversely why others fail. As a leader of an organization, what strategies can you follow to insure that you can implement your plans?

Nuts and Bolts Strategies:

•   You must undertake a true strategic planning process. Once you have that plan in place it must be fluid. It must be revisited and revised in a timely manner. We urge you, as a Director or CEO, to arrange with an outside individual or company to help you organize a process and write a strategic plan. This plan should have goals and objectives, and benchmarks to prove to you, your key donors, and your clients that you have achieved the goals you have set forth.

•   Develop an operational plan that uses your strategic plan as its base. You should also develop action plans by departments, or areas. This would include priorities, timelines, person responsible, budgetary impact/cost and a completion checklist. There must be measurable benchmarks and outcomes to demonstrate to yourselves and to external audiences that your organization makes a real difference and has real accomplishments.

•   Implement a strong evaluation component. The term evaluation is threatening to many. But, in this case, we are evaluating our progress to our plan. Develop milestones and evaluation checklists to insure that you are making every effort to meet the mission statement. I do not view evaluations as a negative to staff. Rather, it is a method to help them become more effective in their job. I cannot emphasize enough that good leadership does not use evaluations as a