When we were first introduced to Sam Brown, it was clear he had a story to tell. The Captain, now retired, has visible burn wounds, something we were aware he had sustained while serving in Afghanistan. The details of how he sustained them – and his journey back home and to recovery – quickly took a back seat to the strategic and operational planning work we did with him and the other leaders of Allies […]
WDavis
The Emerging Capital Market for Nonprofits
Old view: every (_____) years, our nonprofit organization runs a capital campaign to a) build a new building, b) fix the building we built during the last capital campaign, c) try to persuade donors to “invest” their money in our endowment fund. In between campaigns, we manage as best we can…
New view: our nonprofit/social benefit company continuously requires capital investment to: a) strengthen our ability to produce, analyze, and consume outcome data, b) research […]
What is Strategy?
Vision, mission, core purpose, goals, objectives, strategies, tactics, performance measures, core competencies, BHAGs, SWOT analyses…?! The world of strategic planning is awash with terms that are widely circulated, inconsistently used, and often misunderstood. In this classic paper, Harvard professor Michael Porter presents what may be the clearest explanation of strategy available to nonprofit leadership.
Click here to access What is Strategy and let us know what you think!
Discovering Your Core Purpose
Before Good to Great, before Built to Last, Jim Collins and Jerry Porras gave the world the Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal — the BHAG — in the Harvard Business Review article Building Your Company’s Vision. This is one of the most clarifying models we have encountered for building a powerful, shared vision for an organization’s future — an absolute must-read for nonprofit leaders!
Click here to access Building Your Company’s Vision and […]
The Hard Work of Measuring Social Impact
Measuring outcomes and social impact is one of the most important and difficult challenges facing nonprofit leaders. In this article, the roles of a nonprofit organization’s “Theory of Change” and strategy are discussed in the context of the cost/benefit. Measuring impact is complex, and it isn’t free. Here is some thinking on where and how to focus your organization’s efforts to measure social impact.
