Nonprofits are constantly asked to quantify their impact… But is this go-to metric of number served/reached, really the most important?
As with many things, when we measure impact, we need to capture complexity while distilling it into a simple framework.
This is the topic of a provocative article by @Mona Mourshed in the latest issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review.
She argues that “higher reach alone does not equate to impact. The unintended consequence of excessively or exclusively defining impact by reach is that “Nonprofit leaders can find themselves discussing how to serve more people through “lighter touch” models or debating ambiguous metrics like “reached” or “touched” to expand participant numbers” with potential implications on program quality.
For direct service organizations working to scale, she argues that you should look at three interrelated pillars simultaneously-- breadth, depth, and durability.
Not only do you look at the number of people you reach, but the depth of that reach in changing or affecting individuals’ lives, and the durability, how long after your work does that effect last.
While reach can be an important indicator of impact, it should not be at the expense of depth or durability.
📌Now You: Do you look at the depth of your impact as well as how many you reach?
#SSIR #nonprofits #nonprofitleadership #strategy #agilestrategy #agilefundraising #impact #impactmetrics #sucess #goals #accountability #reporting #funders #monamourshed #nonprofit #work #innovation #quality
Three dimensions for measuring impact
Nonprofits, particularly direct services organizations, might consider measuring their impact on three dimensions -- breadth, depth, and durability. But what should agile innovation and social impact organizations consider?
I would argue that determining how to measure impact depends on your “endgame”, that is the specific role that your nonprofit intends to play in the overall solution to the social problem, once it has proven the effectiveness of the core model or intervention.
ORGANIZATIONAL PATHWAYS
For example, if you are intending to gain impact from your work by expanding on what other organizations can do, you might measure impact as…
🔶The extent to which your work is distributed through existing platforms;
🔶The breadth, depth, and durability of those distribution platforms;
🔶How your technical assistance and training have enabled others to adopt and scale your work;
🔶How the most impactful parts of your solution are unbundled and how those parts achieve scale; and
🔶How your use of technology has enabled you to expand access to your work at a lower cost.
FIELD PATHWAYS
Education systems, juvenile justice, and child welfare systems, to name just a few, operate at a massive scale but don’t necessarily achieve a massive impact.
If you are intending to gain impact from your work by changing systems, then you might consider impact measures such as…
🔶 How you have coalesced and moved a constellation of organizations toward a shared target;
🔶The extent to which you and your partners are effective at changing a critical component of the system;
🔶The extent to which you and your partners are able to change the conversation, demonstrate an effective change management process and inject new leadership; and
🔶The extent to which you have influenced policy at various levels of the system.
❓Now you: Do you have field-building goals as well as organizational goals?
#nonprofits #nonprofitleadership #leadership #impact #impactmeasures #strategy #agile #agilestrategy #agilefundraising #fieldleadership #fieldbuilding #socialimpact #innovation #education #work #nonprofit #change
Monday
So Monday always hits me like a ton of bricks….
My mind is like popcorn, with pop-ups of to-dos and things undone.
Why is this when I could be breaking the tyranny of a 9 to 5, weekday job?
It's habit, expectations, training…
As an independent consultant, working from home,
I could theoretically work how and when I want to.
Yet, I am still bound to this pattern of work during the week, off on the weekend.
Perhaps it is time to look at the cadence and flow of my days.
Would I be more creative, more present, more productive, more loving?
Or, as I heard in a meditation today, “try being less not more”.
Hmm…
Now You: Would you like to change your work patterns?
#reflection #wfh #work #home #family #success #mindfulness #workingfromhome #change
Gain not the Gap in Strategic Planning
Are there strategic planning tools that focus on the gain, not the gap?
When you focus on the gain you look at how far you have come toward your goals or aspirations.
This is in contrast to focusing on looking at how far you have to go and what you need to improve to get to your goal.
This is where a SOAR comes into play. SOAR is an articulation of an organization’s Strengths, Opportunities, Aspirations, and Results. People are more familiar with the SWOT, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
Like a SWOT, it provides a framework for articulating your strategies through open brainstorming with your team.
Unlike a SWOT, the SOAR focuses more on articulating your vision and aspirations and aligns your actions toward the results you want to see in the world.
The SWOT takes a more competitive approach. It assesses the threats and weaknesses of the organization in the marketplace.
The SOAR, is more collaborative. It focuses on how your organization uses its strengths to create opportunities with others in the marketplace.
It is a leadership tool for setting the vision with an aspirational results-driven action plan.
Both tools are valuable, but the SOAR might be more inspirational to your team.
Now You: Do you focus on your gains or your gaps?
#nonprofits #nonprofitleadership #leadership #management #strategy #strategicplanning #agile #agilestrategy #agilefundraising #gapandgain #SOAR #SWOT
Are you looking at your earned revenue potential?
Non-profit leaders, are you looking at your earned revenue potential?
Zoot Velasco who studied small nonprofits that thrived during the recession found that what they had in common was that they focused on earned revenue strategies before philanthropy and grant seeking.
He coined the term “Social profit “ rather than nonprofit organizations.
In this dynamic, there is a direct relationship between the need, the organization’s solution, and the customer for products or services.
This is not to the exclusion of philanthropy or grant seeking but makes the organization less reliant on those sources of revenue.
Most nonprofits can tap into these three earned revenue streams …
1. Social enterprise – selling a product or service that meets a social need.
2. Government contracts—where the government pays the organization for providing a product or services that they would otherwise need to provide.
3. Fee-for-service, where the organization charges for the separate services it provides.
Now You: do you like the term social profit vs. nonprofit and why?
#zootvelasco #socialenterprise #nonprofits #nonprofitleadership #nonprofitfundraising #fundraising #agilefundraising #earnedrevenue #governmentcontracts #feeforservice #donors #investors #socialimpact #nonprofit #philanthropy #leaders
Without Empathy there is no persuasion
“Empathy is a precursor to persuasion. No one will listen to you before they feel heard.” Zoe Chance
More and more I see empathy as the root of all our human interactions.
Zoe Chance, the author of Influence is your Superpower, makes a profound connection between empathy and influence.
Active empathy is focusing on identifying the underlying values, experiences, and concerns of the other person, what they hold dear, and reflecting that back to them.
This has caused me pause—do I seek to influence, persuade, or get buy-in, by seeking empathy to genuinely align with that person.?
Now you: Are you an empathic listener, before you speak?
#leadership #empathy #influence #success #persuasion #zoechance #curiousmindsatwork #nonprofits #nonprofitleadership #fundraising #agilefundraising #strategy
Average
We live in a world that encourages—no, demands—that we measure ourselves against a horde of averages and supplies us with no end of justification for doing so. Todd Rose, The End of Average.
As I am the parent of a teen, I think about what this concept of the average (Todd Rose) means for young people, especially in schooling.
They are systematically moved through our educational system, measured, sorted, and put on a path in relation to the average.
What does this mean for a young person’s sense of belonging? Do they have to confine themselves to the average paradigm, the dominant culture?
Does this mean that our educational system numbs individual gifts, strengths, creativity and original thinking?
This may be why there is so much attention paid to the negative impact of social media on young people’s self-concept, particularly teenage girls.
It may not be the content but rather the implication that they should measure themselves against a mythical standard that is amplified in what we consume.
How then do our young people gain confidence in their own individuality and uniqueness?
If we are to ensure that teens thrive, we have to take a hard look at the way our systems are designed against the average.
Now You: Have you noticed this yardstick against average in schooling?
Creating a Culture for Innovation
“Instead of trying to come up with a vision and make innovation happen themselves, a leader of innovation creates a place—a context, an environment—where people are willing and able to do the hard work that innovative problem solving requires”. Linda Hill, Collective Genius
I’m very interested in how to create innovation-oriented nonprofits or social impact organizations. Linda Hills' work on innovation leadership is especially intriguing.
She studied leading corporate innovators to understand how leadership is different. What she discovered is that innovation leaders are not themselves creating the vision and inspiring others to follow, rather they are focused on creating an environment where everyone is participating in the problem-solving.
Make no mistake, leaders do hold the core purpose of the organization, but how the organization tackles the most compelling problems in a collaborative endeavor.
In times of ambiguity where the path is uncertain, leaders to do guide others down a path because this is unknown. What they do instead is build the muscles of innovation and the conditions that feed collaboration, experimentation, learning, failing, and discovering.
I believe the social impact sector is also moving in this direction. The societal problems we are trying to solve require agile learning organizations.
Leadership, she posits, is about managing oneself, managing your network, and managing your team. How you understand yourself and your emotions are critical to creating a safe risk-taking organization that is charting a new path.
Now You: Name a quality that you believe is critical for innovation organizations
#nonprofits #nonprofitleadership #leadership #innovation #innovationleadership #collectivegenius #agility #agilestrategy #agilefundraising #LindaHill #selfawareness #emotionalintelligence #collaboration #socialimpact #agile #team #learning
Trust Based Philanthropy and Unrestricted Gifts
Has trust-based philanthropy resulted in more unrestricted support for nonprofits?
The field has been pushing for trust-based philanthropy for a long time. Trust-based philanthropy is an effort by foundations to change the way they operate in order to advance equity, shift power, and build mutually accountable relationships.
🔷 This has most often been reflected in the reduction of reporting requirements, loosening how the funds can be spent, including recognizing the need for support for indirect costs and relying on the expertise of the nonprofit to develop solutions.
🔷The Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) found that since the pandemic, “foundations made many changes to their practices, such as providing more unrestricted support and streamlining processes.
🔷CEP found that “Virtually all foundation leaders say their foundations are working differently now than in early 2020… and indicate that they will sustain these practices in the future.
🔷The Trust-Based Philanthropy Network articulated six practices for trust-based grantmaking including providing multiyear unrestricted support that reduces the drag on nonprofits and enables them to invest in their organizations as well as core programs.
❓Nonprofit Leaders: How have you benefited from Trust-based philanthropy from your foundation supporters?
#nonprofits #nonprofitleadership #trustbasedphilanthropy #fundraising #agilefundraising #foundations #unrestirctedsupport #generalsupport #nonprofitstrategy #growth
#philanthropy #nonprofit
When funders and nonprofits are learning organizations
When both the nonprofit and the funder are learning organizations, does this impact the balance of power and the way we define outcomes?
A key aspect of innovative social impact organizations is that they have a culture of continuous learning and agility. I find it interesting that one component of trust-based philanthropy is also to create learning cultures within foundations.
In the guide Trust-Based Philanthropy in 4D, they encourage foundations to examine why they use predetermined impact metrics rather than developing them dynamically for innovation work.
They suggest “Instead, build emergent learning into your systems and structures—either by adopting formal tools that guide your decisions or by informally encouraging ongoing learning discussions among staff and grantee partners.”
❗️If impact metrics were viewed not only as a means of accountability but also as key information to support learning and refinement, nonprofits would likely take greater leaps and risks in their proposed interventions.
❓Now You: What tools do you use to support learning in your organization?
#nonprofits #nonprofitleadership #trustbasedphilanthropy #fundraising #agilefundraising #foundations #nonprofitstrategy #growth #learning #learningculture #impact #impactmetrics #philanthropy #socialimpact #innovation #nonprofit
1
Giving Feedback for Growth
How do you give feedback so that it enables the person or team to take the next big step in refining their work?
Feedback on a work product is critical in a continuous learning process. But it can be as demoralizing as it is helpful if not provided in a growth mindset context.
A growth mindset is a belief that you can “grow” your abilities, through effort and hard work. Having this perspective “creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment (Dweck, 2015)
Feedback is a critical part of the growth mindset.
When we provide feedback on the process or strategies that a person used to get to the result, we are reinforcing their effort and their ability to adjust and improve, not just the outcome.
Bob Burg of the Go-Givers Movement points out that being “brutally honesty” is not the same as constructive feedback. “People are much more likely to be open, responsive, encouraged, inspired, and motivated to receive and accept feedback — and commit themselves to the suggested idea or action — when it’s provided with tact and appropriate direction than they are if feeling verbally attacked and brutalized. (Burg, 2022)
We can pay attention to our language to encourage growth, learning, and risk-taking. We can embrace a growth mindset and provide feedback as an investment in another person’s growth and success.
Now You: Do you seek feedback to improve your work?
#nonprofit #nonprofitleadership #leadership #growthmindset #agile #agilestrategy #success #feedback #caroledweck #bobburg #continuuousimprovement #learningculture #learning #team
The Gift of Receiving Feedback
Why is it so hard to stay open when I am receiving feedback?
I know I am not alone. As soon as the person is talking and I experience discomfort I feel a spike of adrenaline and I stop listening. My body tenses as if preparing for a lion and I want to run.
But I know that feedback is a critical part of agile team processes. To receive feedback is really a gift, even if it feels like a gift I don’t want to open.
So I am trying a few things—
🚩Ascribe positive intent and goodwill.
🚩Take the emotion out of it
🚩find nuggets in the conversation that I can embrace.
🚩Take note of things that I may not agree with or find difficult to explore later.
🚩Question why it might have t created a reaction in me?
🚩Explore how the other person might be feeling when they were speaking to me
🚩Stay curious and in a learning mode.
❓Now You: What do you do to stay open and curious?
#nonprofit #nonprofitleadership #leadership #strategy #feedback #growthmindset #agile #agilefundraisinig #listening #improvement #team #learning
Focus on raising money for the future
Fundraisers are focusing on the problem of raising money for right now or are you focused on raising money for the future?
Seth Godin says “People always address the now problems before they work on the later problems”… because of the stories they tell themselves about the problem. All problems must become present problems regardless of whether or not they are immediate.
In other words, if we as fundraisers paint a compelling picture of the problem and need for the future of our organization in ways that make it immediate and palpable, then the future funding needs and vision drive our work in the present.
It is a trap to raise money right in front of you for the current operating budget. That is not to say it’s not urgent and important.
Rather the operating budget for today can be raised by focusing on the big picture, long term. We drop a nut into our current basket while collecting a bunch of nuts for the future.
This agility enables us to hold the long-term view. Seize opportunities that contribute to the present and invest in the future.
❓Now you: Are you focused on raising money with a picture of today or a picture of tomorrow?
There is no time like the present.
Contact me to develop your funding strategies for the long game.
1. Download the featured article on agile fundraising from my Linkedin profile https://lnkd.in/gC5hkdED
2. Set up a 30-minute discovery call by emailing me at lpoller@agilefundraisingstrategy.com or messaging me on linked in https://lnkd.in/gMJp7HWU
#fundraising #nonprofit #nonprofitleadership #agilefundraising #sethgodin #agile #leadership #fundraisinggoals #mindset #strategy #agilestrategy #strategicadvancement
Creativity
“The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you’ll discover will be wonderful. What you’ll discover is yourself.”
— Alan Alda
The wilderness of intuition… I often have a moment of intuitive visioning where I see a way forward on something I have been grappling with. It is not something I can or create intentionally, rather it just comes of its own accord.
But for me the creative is not a place where no one has been before. Rather it is a storm made up of bits, connecting the thoughts and ideas of others that I find along the path. It is a process of revealing, discovering and then creating.
Now you: how will you leave the city of your comfort today?
#creativity #creative #connections
Agile Sprints for Fundraising
Why use agile sprints for better fundraising outcomes?
A sprint is a short, time-boxed period when a team works to complete a set amount of work
Sprint methodologies have several key advantages…
1. Collaborative teams that include fundraising expertise organize themselves around a shared goal and engage in planning and working together.
2. Sprints break down large complex fundraising efforts into bite-size work with an outcome that is visible to the team and validated externally.
3. Fundraising can be never-ending and overwhelming, especially in a small shop context. Sprint planning enables the team to determine what is really important and commit to that work. It gives the team an opportunity to prune the workload to what is essential.
4. Sprints encourage teams to evaluate their efforts as part of continuous learning. Teams make adjustments and reframe their work to address challenges and opportunities. This agility leads to better outcomes.
Now You: How does your sprint fit into your marathon?
#nonprofits, #nonprofit #agilefundraising #fundraising #sprints #agile #collaboration #success #learning #improvement #strategy #agilestrategy #team #work #planning
Importance of Critical Friends
“If you show somebody a piece of your work and you ask them 'What do you think?', they will probably say it's okay because they don't want to offend you.
Next time, instead of asking if it's right, ask them what's wrong.
They may not say what you want to hear, but the chances are they will give you truthful criticism.”
― Paul Arden
Critical friends are very important to continuous improvement, learning, and innovation.
Critical because they provide thoughtful, truthful critique of what is wrong, or what can be improved.
Friends because they are deeply committed to your success and the success of your work.
Provide feedback to others how you would like them to do for you.
Now You: Are you a critical friend?
#nonprofit #nonprofitleadership #leadership #innovation #designthinking #growthmindset #improvementculture #learning #feedback #criticalfriends #agile #agileinnovation #agilestrategy #agilefundraising
Restarting a professional practice
What do you do when you have to restart an important professional practice that has been neglected?
I am grappling with that right now as I try to begin to write again. For about a year, I wrote a daily blog post. It was a great way to reflect, explore a new topic, and get out there. When I decided to write three days a week instead of every day, it seemed like an intentional way of adapting this practice.
But life got busy and when I became overwhelmed I just stopped. It was not intentional, not thought out, just a default. I miss this ritual, the anchor it provided, and the way it set up my day for success.
So today, I am restarting.
I told myself that it does not have to be perfect, wise or insightful. I just decided to show up.
At this moment, I can either look at how much of a gap there is from my former practice … or at what I am gaining each time I take a step forward.
Now You: Is there a practice you hope to restart?
#nonprofitleadership #nonprofit #agilefundraising #agile #fundraising #dailypractice #gapandgain
Why have funders shied away from tech nonprofits?
Why have philanthropic funders traditionally shied away from tech nonprofits?
In a recent Forbes article, Shannon Farley suggests that this is the right time for funders to look to nonprofits that use tech to solve large-scale societal problems, especially where there has been a market failure.
High-potential tech nonprofits, like their for-profit counterparts, have a proven product-market fit and are on the path to being revenue self-sustaining.
According to Farley, there are approximately 1,000 high-potential tech nonprofits today. Yet there remains a lack of catalytic philanthropic investment in these organizations.
Funders have long decried the need for nonprofits to generate sustaining revenue. Here is the opportunity.
The mission focus of these high-growth tech organizations often means that they are looking at the market differently—for example focusing on the marginalized populations not well served by the market.
That does not mean that the scope and scale of the market is not significant. It might mean that the revenue is generated through third-party payors or through a B to C model. T
There are a growing number of philanthropy organizations that are taking a venture approach looking for high growth potential, technology, and a compelling social impact.
If you are a social impact organization that leverages technology and is pursuing dynamic funding, contact me at Agile Fundraising and Strategy Consulting lpoller@agilefundraisingstrategy.com for a brief introductory conversation.
#highpotentialtechnonprofit #nonprofitinnovation #nonprofit #leadership #nonprofitleadership #funding #philanthropy #fundraising #agilefundraising. #technology #nonprofits #socialimpact #opportunity #investment #tech #growth
Your Future Organization
Our current organization is not our future organization.
When we go to funders we are presenting our future organization and our unrealized potential.
Funders appreciate the opportunity to invest in your future. They consider…
☑️ the magnitude of the problem that together you could tackle;
☑️ the scale and scope of their investment relative to this problem;
☑️ your empathy and your ability to design with those you are serving;
☑️ how your past track record is a window into your potential success;
☑️ your confidence about the significance of your future work;
☑️Your humility and understanding that what you are trying to do may not work.
❓Now you: Do you think about your future self when you put yourself out there?
#nonprofits #nonprofitleadership #fundraising #agilefundraising #funders #foundations #future #success #opportunity #work #investment #design #empathy
Part of a big world
“Being a part of a very big world does not make you feel small. It fuels you; it makes you feel like an important part of something so much bigger than yourself. It reminds you that you matter — that you have a part to play in however you define the ‘plan.’ “ JOAN GARRY
In her call to action to the nonprofit community, Joan Garry reminds us that almost everyone has a connection to the nonprofit community.
We all need to do our part to be ambassadors and publicists for the important work nonprofits do in and for our communities. Think about one nonprofit that has touched your life this year and give them a shout out.
Thanks, Joan for reminding us that being part of something bigger than yourself does not make you small it reminds you of your purpose and your contribution.
Now You: Give a shout out to a nonprofit that you care about.
#JoanGarry #nonprofits #nonprofitleadership #community #purpose #fundraising #agilefundraising #leadership #goodwork