This Month's topic: Entrepreneurship
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Helping the Victims of Katrina
There's no
question the first thing this month should be helping people in the
Gulf Coast who are suffering from Katrina. I lived in Louisiana for
three years, and went to graduate school at Tulane, so I'm very
familiar with the area and know the difficulties everyone faces in
dealing with the aftermath. It will be years before the area gets back
on its feet.
There are already wonderful stories of people trying to help--I heard a
bit on NPR last night about a neighborhood in Idaho Falls that wants to
rent a bus, drive to Baton Rouge and take 5 families back to Idaho with
them for as long as it takes....we'll hear more about that level of
compassion in the coming weeks, just as we will also see and hear
seemingly endless stories of tragedy and sadness.
So, what can we do? First, mobilize our networks. Talk to you staff,
your board, your community leaders about what your town, your agency,
your network can do.
Second, post ways for people to give cash. It's really what the Red
Cross, Salvation Army and the other organizations struggling to help
need most.
Here are some organizations, websites and phone numbers you can post on your site.
Remember to note that if people give online, to target the gift for
hurricane relief. Also check with your local United Way, as well as
your mayor's office to see if any community relief efforts are being
planned.
I fully believe that we've just seen the tip of this tragedy, and that
it will turn out to be the largest natural disaster--by far--- in our
nation's history. We need to help now, and then continue to remember to
help as the months and years pass and our attention gets shifted to
other events. |
| This Month's Topic: Entrepreneurship |
Each month, this area provides with a
number of my favorite and most helpful sites regarding the topic of the month.
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Management
Tip of the Month
Each issue, I start with a discussion
of my management perspective on the month's topic, and give you a few hands-on
ideas to consider.
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Recommended Publications
Here, I provide you with my
recommendations on the best printed materials available that can help you
become more mission-capable in the area of entrepreneurship.
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Technology
I provide you with some good ideas for
uses of tech to better your organization in the area of entrepreneurship.
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Marketing
Tip
So much to say, so little space to say
it.....
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Next
Issue
In October, we'll look at an issue that is
really important: Entrepreneurship. Good idea or bad? The answer is, well, yes, and we'll examine the how and why.
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Websites of the
Month
Here are my recommendations for websites of interest
on this month's topic, Entrepreneurship
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Top
Management Tip of the Month
Entrepreneurship...the panacea for all that ails you?
No, it's not, but it is a great way of improving your organization and taking "good" risk.
Entrepreneurism has become trendy and mis-understood simultaneously
over the past few years. It is often naively seen as a panacea for any
financial shortfalls. At the Alliance for Nonprofit convention last
summer, I was in a meeting where the financial needs of the Alliance
were being discussed, and a foundation officer leaned over to me and
said (seriously) "All we need some a bit of social entrepreneurship and
everything will be fine." Or not.
Couldn't be further from the facts of the matter. First, a couple of definitions, or at least my definitions. A social entrepreneur is someone who takes risks on behalf of the people her or his organization serves. For-profit entrepreneurs take risk for themselves and their stockholders. Nonprofit entrepreneurs take risks for the stakeholders.
Second, reasonable risk is a good thing. It's the only way we grow,
learn, and develop best practices. Note, however, that I say reasonable
risk. To be a good steward, you need to take risks, but you also need
to take them prudently. This requires the business skill of being able
to develop feasibility studies and business plans. Why? Because you are
a mission-based business!
Third, entrepreneurial activities don't have to mean only a new
business, and certainly don't mean a for-profit subsidiary. You can use
these skills to evaluate whether or not to accept a new contract that
will cause substantial growth (and the attendant strain) in your
organization, you can use them to evaluate a possible merger or
collaboration, or to see what would happen if you took an existing
service and offered it to a new population or geographic area.
But remember, any new activity is risky. So evaluate carefully and take
good risk. As you look through the resources below (including my book Social Entrepreneurship) think about applications for your organization and its mission.
Finally, I have a business planning tool (including a readiness test) available free on my website. Go to: http://www.missionbased.com/content/adbusplancourse.pdf to download your copy.
If
you found this hint helpful, there are lots more management, marketing, and
technology ideas for you in the "Ideas" section at
www.missionbased.com. Check them
out--they're free.
And, remember to take a look at the
Mission-Based Management
Blog.
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Top
Print Resources
My four recommendations for texts on Entrepreneurship are shown below. I particularly recommend the first one---the author is such a nice guy!
Social Entrepreneurship: The Art of Mission-Based Business Development, by Peter Brinckerhoff
How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, by David Bornstein.
Enterprising Nonprofits: A Toolkit for Social Entrepreneurs, by Greg Dees, et.al.
Venture Forth! The Essential Guide to Starting a Money-Making Business in Your Nonprofit Organization, by Rolfe Larson
Again, If you don't find enough choices here, type
"Social Entrepreneurship" at Amazon.com and you'll have more choices
than you probably want!
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Top
Technology Tip
Can tech help your entrepreneurial efforts?
Of course. But only if you are smart about it.
First, you need to find the right combination of hardware and software,
and then you need to remember GIGO--garbage in, garbage out. The
software, and the answers it gives you are only as smart as you are, so
THINK.
Finally, when the software gives you some output, you have to really pay attention to the implications.
Story: A few years ago, I had a client who wanted to expand an existing
service to a new area, and the state agency that supported the
organization agreed. It would grant the agency $750,000 for one year to
provide the services, with the condition that it would pay the agency
within 60 days of service provision. The CEO and CFO ran the numbers,
and realized that they could do the work needed and do it well for
$740k (or $10,000 less than the grant) and jumped at it. What they
ignored was the information generated by their business planning
consultant (and his software) about cash flow. While the contract would
generate net revenue, three months into the grant they would be nearly
$300,000 in arrears in cash (due to startup costs and the 60 day delay
in payment. The organization nearly went bankrupt---doing good and
profitable works.
So, what's the best tech tool? At this point, I think the state of the art is BusinessPlan Pro from Palo Alto
software. It's good, flexible, and forces you to answer the right
questions. Even better, it comes with over 500 sample business plans.
The 2006 version was just released at only $99.95.
Frankly, even if you never use the software, the sample plans are worth
that. Take a look, and rest assured, I get no financial benefit of any
kind if you buy the software!
If you found this hint helpful, there are lots more
management, marketing, and technology ideas for you in the "Ideas" section at
www.missionbased.com. Check them
out--they're free.
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Top
Training Schedule for Peter Brinckerhoff
Below you'll see the date, location, and topics
of public training I'm scheduled to do in the next few months. For more
information on a particular speaking engagement, get in touch with the contact
person listed in the right hand column, or
email me.
For more information on my availability throughout
the next 12-18 months, available topics, sample agendas, and fees go to
www.missionbased.com/training.htm
Marketing Tip
Marketing and Entrepreneurship: Joined at the hip.
OK, here's the deal:
Marketing is key to entrepreneurship. We can talk about it for weeks,
but to distill it to it's key, here are three things to remember.
First, the service (or product) you want to provide will certainly make sense to you. That doesn't matter. What matters is this: Do people want what you are selling/providing in the way that you are selling/providing it, in the location and at the times you are selling/providing it for the price you are selling/providing it? If the answer to each of those parts is not a resounding yes! you are doomed.
Second, you may think that entrepreneurism is about doing new things.
In some cases that's true. But more often it's about doing more
of what we already do, and do well.
Core competencies are what you want to grow, not just do more of stuff
that you only do adequately, or worse, try things that you have no idea
about. Don't chase the money.
Third, entrepreneurial activities usually mean increased competition? Are you mentally and financially capable of competing?
Finally remember that marketing your new activity must not take too
much attention away from your traditional core markets. If it does, you
risk losing the people upon whom you probably heavily depend.
New services, new markets are exciting and challenging. Just don't take
your eyes off your existing customers as you rise to meet new needs and
wants in your community.
If you want to see more about this in detail, take
a look at more about my book
Mission-Based Marketing; Second
Edition
If you found this hint helpful, there are lots more
management, marketing, and technology ideas for you in the "Ideas" section at
www.missionbased.com. Check them
out--they're free.
Back to
Top
Future Topics in
2005-06 for the Mission-Based Management Newsletter....
| October |
Internal
Communications |
| November |
Board
Recruitment |
| December |
Better
Budgeting |
| January,
2006 |
Generation
Change |
| February |
Accountability |
| Send me
your topic suggestions at peter@missionbased.com |
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You asked, so here they are:
Past Single-Topic Issues of the Mission-Based Management Newsletter...
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