The Characteristics of A Successful Nonprofit (Revised)
All
kinds of organizations have characteristics of success. Whether
hospitals or hot-dog stands, realtors or restaurants, if you look long
and hard enough, you can find what makes the good ones good.
So it is in nonprofits. In 1993, and again in 2000, the first and second editions of my book Mission-Based Managment listed such characteristics for the nonprofit world. Now the 3rd Edition of Mission-Based Management is out, and I want to share with you the new list. The list below is directly from the new book.
These
characteristics have, of course, been updated since the second edition and in the intervening years I have
had hundreds of requests to put the list of characteristics in
priority order. As you will see, mission—which should always come
first—is first. After that, I have done my best to order them, but
at some peril to the reader. Remember this: They are all
important. They work together as a group, like the parts of a fine
symphony. You cannot be a good social entrepreneur without doing
great marketing, or be organizationally tech savvy without investing
in your staff. Ignore one or more parts and the whole is greatly
diminished. Bring them all together and their synergy outstrips the
sum of their individual contributions. So don’t perseverate on the
order. Just address each one in turn, and try to achieve and maintain
your mission-based status.
Here
are my ten characteristics of successful nonprofits.
1. A
viable mission. The first rule of not-for-profits is mission,
mission, and more mission. A mission-based organization needs to
follow its mission, and to do so it needs a mission that motivates,
is understandable, supportable, up-to-date and needed. Without the
mission, what’s the point? Unfortunately, at too many
not-for-profits, there is no point, because the mission has become
secondary to survival.
2.
Ethical, Accountable and Transparent. We are, after all, just
stewards of the community's resources. The best nonprofits understand
this, and are increasingly transparent in their work. But, good
accountability and transparency begins at home, inside the
organization. So does the all important emphasis on values and
ethical decision making.
3. A
businesslike board of directors. Your organization needs a group
of governing volunteers that know, understand, and pursue the
organization’s mission consistently, are connected to the
community, stick to policy, and are the check and balance on the
staff—as well as on the people who fund the organization. A board
needs the information, experience, character, and support to know how
to decide key issues quickly and effectively, and, in today’s tough
environment, they need to know when to say no to a good idea.
4. A
strong, well-educated staff. Any effective nonprofit needs staff
who are advocates for the mission, who manage from the bottom up, and
who are constantly trained and training. There is no investment more
necessary or more neglected than staff education and training.
5. Embracing
Technology for Mission. Far too many charitable organizations
still feel that technology is a necessary evil, not the path to
better mission. The best mission-based organizations embrace
technology as an accelerator of good mission. Technology touches
every corner of our lives every hour of every day, and it has
permanently changed the ways not-for-profits provide services, buy
services, hire, manage, communicate, raise funds, and keep abreast of
changes in the state of the art.
6. Social
entrepreneurs. Organizations that are willing to take risks to
perform their mission; to try (and often fail) and try again; to look
at markets and provide services to support their mission rather than
create bureaucracies to continue past (and often outdated) practices.
7. A
bias for marketing. Organizations that understand that everything
they do is marketing, and see every act, from service provision to
how the phone is answered, as a marketing opportunity to pursue their
mission.
8. Financially
empowered. Organizations that have diversified income, income
from non-traditional sources, an endowment, and therefore, the
ability to have an impact on their mission without waiting for help.
“Sure,” you say, “all of that would be nice if it dropped in my
lap.” Well, it doesn’t happen on its own. These organizations
make it happen.
9. A
vision for where they are
going. This is so simple, yet so often ignored. A strategic plan,
both the process and the document, is a key to success. Without a
plan, the only way you get anywhere is by accident: Isn’t what you
do too important to be left up to chance? Of course it is.
10. A
tight set of controls. These include personnel, finance,
operations, media, quality control, and maintenance policies. Good
controls free the organization to work on its mission rather than
watching its back all the time.
The
book is built around these characteristics, with one full chapter
devoted to each issue. And, can you pick out new characteristic, the
one that was not in the Second Edition? Why do you think I added it?
