Smart Growth for CRPs May 24, 2011
Peter Brinckerhoff – peter@missionbased.com – 217-341-3836 – www.missionbased.com
osophies
Your nonprofit is a mission-based business. No one gives you a dime. Nonprofit doesn’t mean no profit. Why?
es
Money is the enabler of mission. Profit is the enabler of more mission.
• Not all services need to be profitable.
• There’s a double return on investment.
member that your mission is your most valuable set.
More valuable than your building, your board, your cas and yes, your staff.
Why? Because the mission is why all those people sh up, it’s why the building and cash were acquired.
Your mission is THE. MOST. VALUABLE. ASSET.
So protect it, invest in it, use it all the time.
needs to be about mission first, middle, last.
ch decision you make as a staff or board ould result in:
More mission Better mission More efficient mission More effective mission
at’s the point.
growth in nonprofits generally a good thing? Why o y not?
w, just hands: Do you want your organization to gr er the next three years? Why? Why not?
u didn’t choose to grow, what’s the most ortant thing you can do over the next three year ose one of the following: Show of hands...look nd!
prove quality of services prove quality of staff ake (and save) money for later growth eak even so we do as much mission as possible ch year
ows you to let staff and board have the same cision context
ows you to make sure you’re asking all the key estions
ows flexibility within an overall framework
r decision tree will mirror the way we go through two-day course.
t something we ready do really well?
Do we have the pacity to grow?
o we have the ash to invest?
Evaluating a Growth Opportunity
Can we get good before we start? Do NOT proceed until problems are resolved
Can we protect our existing services’ quality?
Have we done the appropriate business analyses?
Have we consulted/involved the appropriate people? Proceed with caution
anization?
any of them directly affect mission? How? t’s make a list.
e’ve seen that there are benefits to staying smal trategy. is becomes and senior management/board issu icy. en if you have the desire to grow, you may not h e capacity to do so (we’ll look at that later) simply m a lack of staff or transportation options. his is your situation (or your choice), check out t ok “Small Giants: Companies that Choose to be eat Instead of Big,” by Bo Burlingham
Evaluating a Growth Opportunity
the growth area onsistent with ur mission and values?
Can we protect our existing services’ quality?
t something we ready do really well?
Have we done the appropriate business analyses?
Do we have the pacity to grow?
o we have the ash to invest?
Can we get good before we start? Do NOT proceed until problems are resolved
Have we consulted/involve d the appropriate people? Proceed with caution
YOUR.
MOST.
VALUABLE.
ASSET.
ore valuable than your building, your Board, ur cash and yes, your staff.
Decisions, strategies and plans should all result in more mission, better mission, more effective mission and/or more efficient mission.
e mission is the why or your CRP ur values are the how.... lues will define your culture, attract (or repel) sta ard and volunteers. lues require constant, personal leadership. hen people feel comfortable in their values vironment, everything benefits.
ate your case in your values.
Think these through collaboratively, and don’t just put obvious things in.
Have values that require discussion to implement. Be analog not digital. Google’s key value?
Don’t have values you can’t live with.
Share and amend as needed.
e your values in your employee and volunteer cruitment.
e your values as a management and cision-making tool.
force values in your behavior management. public-hold yourself accountable!
pect: We will treat others as we would like to be treated. We do olerate abusive or disrespectful treatment.
grity: We work with customers and prospects openly and erely. When we say we will do something we will do it. When we we cannot or will not do something then we won’t do it.
mmunication: We have an obligation to communicate. Here, we the time to talk to each other‌.and to listen. We believe that mation is meant to move and that information moves people.
ellence: We are satisfied with nothing less than the very best in ything we do. We will continue to raise the bar for everyone. The at fun here will be for all of us to discover just how good we can y be.
lues can be a real accelerator of your growth.
ey define both you and your organization as uch as your mission does.
you decide to try something that conflicts with ur mission and values you SHOULD get led out by staff and board.
your growth conflicts with your values--don’t oceed. Don’t just chase the money.
Evaluating a Growth Opportunity
the growth area consistent with ur mission and values? it something we ready do really well?
Do we have the apacity to grow?
Do we have the cash to invest?
Can we protect our existing services’ quality? Can we get good before we start? Do NOT proceed until problems are resolved
Have we done the appropriate business analyses? Have we consulted/involve d the appropriate people? Proceed with caution
hat do you do well, really well, as opposed to jus ting by?
Job placement, contract fulfillment, budgeting, employ morale, just-in-time‌..?
The key with expansion is to do more of what you do well. Back in the day, we could get by with OJT; emember OJT?
Not any more. We have to be good at what we do on one.
hat are they?
A key ability or strength that an organization has acquired that differentiates it from others, gives it competitive advantage, and contributes to its longerm success." (from BZ Business Dictionary)
How do you know if you’ve got one or more core competencies? This is hard, and fraught with danger. What we’re proud of might not always be what we’re good at, and what we’re good at might not always be what our customers want.
ders...
ther CRPs are doing laundry (call centers, multite expansion)...so we should too.”
ur Funders (or AbilityOne) told us about a mode ey would like us to use...it’ll work, right?”
en the best model only works with the right peo the right time in the right place....that’s why yo l be doing feasibility studies first!
And then, there’s capacity
Evaluating a Growth Opportunity
the growth area consistent with ur mission and values?
it something we ready do really well?
Do we have the apacity to grow?
Do we have the cash to invest?
Can we protect our existing services’ quality? Can we get good before we start? Do NOT proceed until problems are resolved
Have we done the appropriate business analyses? Have we consulted/involve d the appropriate people? Proceed with caution
ough people with disabilities suited for the job a nd
ough staff without disabilities to support them
ough physical space
ough HR capacity
ough IT capacity
equate raw materials/equipment/transportation
d, staging the growth physical space, IT, HR, nsportation, waste removal and the like is a y part of any strategic plan for growth.
15 minutes, we’ll reconvene and I’ll talk about owth from a cash and quality perspective for abo minutes.
en, we’ll hear from a panel whose organizations ve grown and what they’ve learned from the ocess. See you then!
s is just 90 minutes of a 2-day AbilityOne course ed Smart Growth for CRPs.
ext present the training November 15-16 in n Francisco.
anks for coming!
mail me with any questions: eter@missionbased.com
SESSION TITLE: Smart1 SESSION CODE: CRP-W130