Tag Archive: Ann Arbor


Volunteers, Volunteering and Volunteer Coordination

Filed Under: by Ilana Schuman-Stoler, leadership, management, volunteerism, young professionals by admin — 8 Comments
April 11, 2011

Apropos to this week’s National Volunteer Week 2011, and our most recent Spring Into Service event, this week’s blog will cover the topic of volunteer engagement and its contribution to the success of your organization. 

A volunteer is defined as a person who voluntarily expresses a willingness to undertake a service.  In the nonprofit world, recruiting, retaining and managing volunteers is a challenge but volunteers are a great resource that.  If implemented correctly, your volunteer engagement program can create success and will also build a network of supporters promoting the work that your organization does. 

Who Are They, These Kind, Giving, Community-Member-Volunteers?

Community members that voluntarily give assistance to your organization will represent a variety of characteristics (age, orientation to your organization, professional career/specialty), but they will be similar in that they all made the decision to take time to help your organization succeed in the work that you do.  Here are a few different examples of types of volunteers you might hear from or see at your volunteer events:

1)    The Community Volunteer: this volunteer is someone (or a group of someones) who come to support your organization at larger, volunteer-based community events—theater production, meal event, race, building renovation projects such as painting or organizing offices, classrooms or libraries, etc.  They might have found you through community bulletin boards or through an online search Like United Way’s Volunteer Solutions site.  These volunteers can be one-time volunteers or you might see them often.  Both are a consistent contributor to the success of your events in the short term, and to the success of your organization in the long term.

2)    The Long Term Volunteer: this volunteer is someone who has the desire to commit his or her help to your organization for an extended amount of time.  Often this volunteer will be assigned a project like database management, file organization, and other organization-specific projects.  These projects are created by the organization and the volunteer together making sure to have shared goals and expectations.

3)    Your Board! Your board members in particular are the ambassadors of your organization’s mission and vision and serve the purpose of propelling you and your organization towards all the success and recognition that it deserves.  It is important to note that the type of volunteering that board members do for your organization will depend on the age and maturity of your organization, your organization’s internal processes, staff size and mutual expectations between the board and your Executive Director.

Of course, all of your volunteers are ambassadors to your organization and this is extremely important to note as we move into the next section.

A Guide to Working With Volunteers

Above all and any guidelines to utilize when considering incorporating volunteers into your organization’s next fundraiser/5K/dinner event/community speaker/forum/roundtable etc, know this above all else: volunteers are not free help.  There is a structure that must be built around your volunteer engagement program(s) to ensure that both your organization and your volunteers are content with the work being done and the relationships being established.

1)    Empower Your Volunteers: HandsOn Network has tons of resources for developing volunteer programs for your organization that ensures consistency in the interaction between organization staff and volunteer community.  Enabling volunteers to do the volunteer work without too much micro-management is best.  An event that is staffed by volunteers needs to be properly planned to the point where volunteers can feel empowered to do what is asked of them independently (of course, there will always be questions and there must be staff available for this purpose).  Additionally, it is always a good idea to identify volunteers that are consistently helpful, independent, focused and committed to the work that is being done through your nonprofit.  These volunteers can be encouraged to take on a leadership role for future events, and might even have insight on how to run volunteer programs for your organization. 

HandsOn Network has a publication for developing volunteer leaders that can be used as an aid in this process of empowering your volunteers. 

2)    Thank Your Volunteers: This is an integral piece of volunteer program coordination at all levels of volunteer management.  Always keep a record of volunteers who worked at your event or who gave their time to your organization in any way.  Thank yous can be as simple as a card or even an e-mail, and can be as extravagant as a gift bag (gift certificates, t-shirts, mugs, etc.) dependent on the event, your budget, and your volunteer population.

Follow these guidelines, and your volunteer community will increase and recruiting and retaining volunteers will become a more simple and directed process that will lead to a broader community understanding of your organization’s mission, vision and purpose.

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Ilana Schuman-Stoler is an employee at Nonprofit Enterprise at Work at our Ann Arbor office as a Program Assistant.  Feel free to contact Ilana regarding any of the advice, tools or service mentioned in this post by email at ilana@new.org or via phone at 734-998-0160 ext. 221

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Relationships -or- The Way to Raise Funds for Your Nonprofit

Filed Under: by Ann Gladwin by admin — 9 Comments
April 4, 2011

Last week we read about lifelong donors and the importance of cultivating such a donor base.  This week, we continue the conversation with resident resource specialist, Ann Gladwin about relationships and the secret to building them:

The Story

I had a nice chat with Marshall Howard the other day.  His book “Let’s Have Lunch Together” has been instrumental in my take on fundraising–though Mr. Howard still had to set me straight about the story.   The story is me, not the mission of the organization. That’s hard for most of us to grasp; we want to extol the virtues of our nonprofit’s impact on the community:  Look at the great strides we’re making… the number of people served!  According to Mr. Howard, this ‘story’ might rate a 6 out of 10–what about the remaining 4? 

I started to understand that it’s my relationship to the person I’m asking for support that is crucial.  Do they connect with the mission?  Perhaps, but it’s the fact that I asked them that is important.  And they are responding to me; I can ask a stranger for a donation to my cause, but I’m not likely to get results no matter for what I’m asking.  Ask someone I know for support?  Much more likely. 

Wow – that’s powerful!

Real Life Example

Mark Zuckerberg’s gift to Newark, New Jersey public schools serves as a real life example for this theory.   

Mr. Zuckerberg, 26, who grew up in Westchester County and now lives in California, has no particular connection to Newark. But in July, he and Mr. Booker met at a conference and began a continuing conversation about the mayor’s plans for the city, according to people familiar with their relationship.

From The New York Times

There’s that key word again, relationship.  I would treat it as a synonym for success.  

Get Connected

Another proponent of relationship building is Terry Axelrod, founder of Benevon (and guest writer on our blog last week).  She will present a Get Connected workshop for NEW in Detroit on Wednesday, April 27 (9am-10:30am).  This “Relationship Building for Fundraising” is yours to attend for free.  Sign up today!

Also visit Marshall Howard.com to find a multitude of free resources, including his blog. Get a fresh look at a tried and true method for bringing people into your organization.   

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Ann Gladwin is Resource Specialist for Nonprofit Enterprise at Work at our Ann Arbor office.  Feel free to contact Ann regarding any of the advice, tools or service mentioned in this post by email at agladwin@new.org or via phone at 734-998-0160 ext. 218.

You can contact Ann with questions on any aspect of nonprofit management.  Call for an appointment to use the Foundation Directory Online at either the Ann Arbor or Detroit office of NEW.

About NEW
NEW’s mission is to help nonprofits succeed by strengthening nonprofit management and offering solutions to issues facing our nonprofit community.

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True Contribution

Filed Under: Terry Axelrod by admin — 9 Comments
March 28, 2011

What we are looking for are happy lifelong donors. Lifelong donors are people who regard your organization’s work as vital and exciting. They are people for whom a gift to your organization is not just a donation, it’s a real contribution.

In the old fundraising reality, we would be scolding ourselves for not having asked for a check at the Point of Entry®. That was the “strong-arm the Rolodex” model of asking, where the underlying, unspoken assumption was: “Someone around here knows you, therefore we have a right to ask you for money.” Back then, we had short-term goals to meet. Cultivating lifelong donors was not a priority. Each successive wave of board members would solicit their friends. The old reality also presumed a bottomless pit of potential donors. Even if only a small percentage said yes, we could move on to others the next year. Our existence as nonprofit organizations was hand-to-mouth, year-to-year. Building something for the future was only a dream.

In the new reality, giving is an ongoing process of ever-deepening engagement, involvement, and permission from donors to ask them for more. There is a give-and-take which requires a depth of listening skills that was not essential before. There is a respect and honoring of each donor as an individual who is genuinely interested in contributing. There is an interest in building a long-term relationship.

To put it simply, you want to treat each donor as if they have the potential to become a major donor. Regardless of the size of their contribution, treat them with the same respect and dignity you would want to receive.

It is often helpful to begin by recalling that you too, are a donor. Your name is on the donor list of many organizations. Think for a moment of all the places you contributed money in the past year: your kids’ school or soccer team; your church, synagogue, or religious organization; your professional association; your alumni association; the community hospital.

Going back over your list, notice how much money you gave to each of them. Think about the medium by which you were solicited in each case: in person, by mail, by phone, online? Look at how many years you have been giving to each of these groups. Now think about how involved you feel with each organization you give to. How much contact do they have with you in the course of a year? Is there any correlation between how involved you feel and how much you give?

Next, look at your in-kind contributions. Make a similar list of the groups or individuals you have made a non-financial contribution to in the past year. Include any charitable organization where you have given your time, your expertise, volunteered on a board or a committee, planned an event, offered advice, or just listened to a friend in need. Think again of how many hours you spent doing this, the circumstances in which you were asked to make that contribution, and how connected or involved you felt with the organization or individual you gave to. For how many months or years have you been giving there?

Looking back over all the places you have given money or in-kind gifts, ask yourself what qualities were present when you felt good about your giving. You will notice that these same qualities are usually missing when you haven’t felt good about contributing.

In those cases where you felt good about your giving, you probably have felt it truly made a difference. You felt connected or involved with the cause. It related to a personal experience you had been through. You were giving back or repaying a favor or a debt of gratitude. You were memorializing a loved one.

The odds are, if it was truly a contribution rather than giving as a result of feeling manipulated or “strong-armed” by someone, you weren’t even looking for recognition when you did it. The giving itself was a source of personal pleasure. You felt connected in some way to the group or cause. You felt they were making good use of your contribution. You felt that whatever the size of your contribution, they needed it and appreciated it.

That is exactly the way you want your donors to feel when they give to your organization. They should feel so good about their gift they don’t have to tell anyone else they did it —they should feel as if your organization is their special project, their personal indulgence.

You want them to feel as though they have sprinkled “fairy dust” on the most worthy organization in the world. You want them to feel as though they are an insider to your organization, as though they are a true friend or even part of the family. If you have accomplished that, you will have allowed them to truly contribute. That’s the feeling you are after.

Everything you do to connect and reconnect with a potential donor after the Point of Entry, should be designed to deepen and enhance this sense of true contribution. That is what will develop loyal, committed lifelong donors who are giving for the right reasons.

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Terry Axelrod is the Founder & CEO of Benevon – Benevon has trained and coached more than 3,000 nonprofit organizations to customize and effectively implement the mission-based Benevon Model for nonprofit fundraising from individual donors.  Terry will speaking in Detroit on April 27, free and open to the public on behalf of NEW & The Arts League of Michigan. Terry can be contacted at info@benevon.com. Feel free to contact Dan Robin regarding the April 27 event at drobin@new.org or via phone at 313-887-7788 ext. 300

About NEW
NEW’s mission is to help nonprofits succeed by strengthening nonprofit management and offering solutions to issues facing our nonprofit community.

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What Exactly is a Good Nonprofit Board?

Filed Under: By Diana Kern, governance, leadership, management by admin — 26 Comments
March 21, 2011


By Diana Kern, Vice President of NEW

My favorite line in the nonprofit world is, “If you’ve seen one nonprofit board, you’ve seen one nonprofit board.”  Having served on many nonprofit boards and working with over 50 boards a year in southeast Michigan I see a lot of variations.  Depending on the mission, the board chair, the revenue situation, the strength of the board’s committees and many other assorted factors, I witness effective and productive boards, unengaged and completely detached boards, and all types in between.

 

Boards that stand out for me are ones that:

  • Have board chairs that create cultures of accountability (meeting attendance, committee work, returning emails, etc.)
  • Have passion for the mission
  • Partner with their top executive and think about ways to relieve pressure from that person
  • Make a meaningful, unrestricted annual donation
  • Are real ambassadors for the services, programs and mission of the nonprofit in their personal spheres of influence
  • Focus on their own productivity, succession and ability to affect mission accomplishment
  • Embrace training and education

What Area Executive Directors Say

In 2009 I engaged in an informal survey of executive directors in southeast Michigan.  I asked them, “Besides fundraising, what is the most important thing you need from your board members today.” Keeping in mind this was at the height of the recession and all of executive directors I spoke to wanted boards that would embrace fundraising, what I heard was really interesting.

 

They ranked their top three needs in the following order:

  • Passion for the mission
  • Be engaged (come to meetings, read your board packet before you come, provide vision)
  • Be an ambassador

 

In some cases I had executive directors tell me in confidence that they work around their boards because they provide no real value to mission.   I also had executive directors that are burned out from having to lead their boards through every step.   Sadly, I had many tell me that many of their board members do not even make a personal annual gift to the nonprofit.

Board’s rank a C+

The BoardSource Nonprofit Governance Index 2010, a survey of approximately 1,750 nonprofits from across the country, reported that chief executives give their boards a C+ on overall performance.  I don’t know about you, but if I ever came home with a C+ I would have had to spend evenings and weekends hitting the books!  Where did board members get the most failing grades?   They got poor marks for commitment, engagement and attendance, being ambassadors in the community, engaging in their own self-assessments, recruiting their own peers (building succession for the board) and of course, fundraising.  Interestingly, this national study mirrored my informal responses from southeast Michigan.

[The full report can be downloaded here ]

If you think about it, many of us have professions that require continuing education classes annually so we can continue to be at the top of our games.  However, to be a nonprofit board member you can just move from one board to the next, year after year, with no training.  You might have no idea what it means to be a good board member, what the best practices are today for boards or what the IRS and others are suggesting supports quality governance and transparency yet you could be responsible for oversight of thousands or millions of donor dollars.

 

Board Members Ask Yourself a Question

As a board member myself, I try to focus on how I can add value.   How do I add value to the board and how do I add value to the executive director?  Showing up to a meeting once a month, signing a conflict of interest statement, and writing a $100 check every year is not the behavior of quality board member in my opinion.    I also focus on avoiding micromanaging but I embrace my role as gatekeeper of the mission with the oversight requirements necessary.

 

The BoardSource Index also reported that 70% of nonprofit boards now have term limits.  I am a firm believer in terms limits, but that is a story for an entire other blog on another day.   However, when I join a board and I know that I have six years maximum to provide service I ask my self this question. “When I leave this board in six years can I leave knowing I left the nonprofit and board in a better position than when I got there?”  If I can’t, I think long and hard about accepting the volunteer role.   Being a board member today involves some heavy lifting if you take the role seriously.

 

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Diana Kern is the Vice President at Nonprofit Enterprise at Work.  Diana received the Randolph W. White Memorial Award for Community Service in 2003 for her dedication to ser ving the housing community and she is a certified trainer with the Institute of Real Estate Management.   Feel free to contact Diana regarding any of the advice, tools or services mentioned in this post by email at dkern@new.org or via phone at 734-998-0160 extension 230

About NEW
NEW’s mission is to help nonprofits succeed by strengthening nonprofit management and offering solutions to issues facing our nonprofit community.

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Would all the 25-40 year olds PLEASE STAND UP!

Filed Under: Events, management, Uncategorized by admin — 2 Comments
March 14, 2011

Blog contribution by Yodit Mesfin Johnson, NEW (Nonprofit Enterprise at Work) and guest blogger Michele Lewis-Watts, Michigan Women’s Foundation

The  “Power pipeline” (Crain’s Detroit Business 12/12/20) article got us and some other young professionals we know thinking about our role in the rapidly changing SE Michigan region, specifically in the nonprofit sector.

We all know how this starts; nonprofit board service has typically been a rite of passage. Usually, the “mature”, knowledgeable and typically, deep pocketed individuals in our community were invited to serve on the boards of charitable organizations. It was civic duty at it’s finest for Baby Boomers and they served their respective communities well –most of the time.

The Who

When we look at the leadership of most nonprofit boards now, it’s safe to summarize the composition as well, older folk. In some instances it’s a very elite group of well, older folk and in other cases it’s a group of just, well, older folk. Catch the drift?

While we Gen X, Y and Millennials may not be able to stroke a big check, we can show you a thing or two about fundraising on Facebook! As the Crain’s article stated, we want to be asked to be involved.

Boomers might say we’re selfish, self centered and disinterested in anything other than ourselves.  And while admittedly there is some truth to this, we’d suggest that another more practical reason that we’ve been disengaged thus far (aside from being broke and not being asked to be on boards) is that 25-40 year olds have a lot going on personally and professionally. The younger end of this spectrum is often finishing school, beginning careers, paying off student loans, building credit and credibility, while the older end of this demographic is busy changing diapers, caring for loved ones or climbing the proverbial professional ladder. We may be involved in church or community groups or clubs but rarely are we involved in—or for that matter invited to be a part of the kind of transformational conversations that move a city and a region forward.

The How

Yodit:

Two years ago when we at NEW were asked by a funder to attract younger, more diverse talent to nonprofit boards, we knew we were going to have to meet that young talent where they were.  That’s the reason we used the premise of “speed-networking” as a platform for learning about service opportunities in SE Michigan. Spring/Fall Into Service was our answer to their request. These seasonal events were designed to appeal, in part, to a younger demographic. It seems to have worked as since 2009, we’ve matched more than 60 attendees to nonprofit boards.

Michele:

At the  Michigan Women’s Foundation, we recognize that it cannot be business as usual and that texting, Skyping, telecommuting, social media, cloud-based systems and the like must be fully integrated into work plans and work styles; that time-intensive “bored” Board meetings are not the only way to make decisions and get work done, that only looking at the richest donors is not the only way to raise money; that having the usual suspects around the table only gets you the usual answers.

In the article, Terry Barclay of Inforum indicated that these generations “don’t write the checks,”—but  we do write checks.  We just write checks of a different size. It is a mistake to ignore that fact and wait for us to be able to write bigger checks before we are invited to sit at board tables or given more responsibility. We give of our treasures, but are ready to give of our time and talents in many different ways.

The Network

Generation X and Generation Y have different value systems. We want to lead and work differently. We seek better balance among our professional, social and home lives and know that the balance is not only possible, but doable. Older generations see this difference as a lack of commitment to work or that we don’t want to pay our dues instead of recognizing how this difference could benefit the organization and the employees of the organization.  As a result more young people are leaning toward entrepreneurship. Why should I work for you when you won’t ask for my ideas or don’t use them when they are suggested.

The aforementioned Crain’s article discusses some of our colleagues who are doing awesome work in the community (shout out to Vince, Austin, Claire, and Josh) and deserved to be recognized. Now we just need more young folks to step up and be called up. We have to make sure that we don’t inadvertently create a new “usual suspects list”; only younger.

And there’s more, recently I (Yodit) attended an event at the Downtown Detroit Synagogue. Detroit’s only remaining synagogue, this 90 year old institution is being revitalized by an almost exclusively under 40 board of directors. Ever mindful to seek guidance from older leaders (Jewish and not) , these young people are embracing cross cultural, inter faith and inter generational collaborations and epitomize what a group of passionate, engaged, and empowered people can do.

Another great project is  the  Young Nonprofit Professionals Network, we’ve partnered with them for this year’s Spring Into Service event because we want to model what we’re asking of our community; inclusion of young talent. We also believe in their mission; to promote an efficient, viable, and inclusive nonprofit sector that supports the growth, learning, and development of young professionals.

Not only does the field need to encourage your children, employees, neighbors and colleagues to get involved in service activities with organizations like those we’ve mentioned, we must be intentional in recruiting, engaging, mentoring and cultivating young talent.  These jewels will inherit the region and deserve to be a part of shaping and transforming what it will look like the baton is passed. There is much to be done in our great state, let’s be sure we have all hands on deck for this journey.

Read the Crain’s article HERE

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Michele Lewis-Watts is the Pr0gram Director at the Michigan Women’s Foundation which seeks to help women and girls achieve economic justice experience their communities as safe places value and have equal access to education and training address gender discrimination in all forms and to transform society.

Yodit Mesfin Johnson is the Director of Business Development at Nonprofit Enterprise at Work.  She was the youngest recipient of the renowned International Athena Award for her contribution to the women’s business community. She currently serves on the Michigan Israel Business Bridge and is an advisor on several local boards and committees.  Feel free to contact Yodit regarding any of the advice, tools or services mentioned in this post by email at ymesfin@new.org or via phone at 734-998-0160 ext. 238

About NEW
NEW’s mission is to help nonprofits succeed by strengthening nonprofit management and offering solutions to issues facing our nonprofit community.

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The Nonprofit Utopia

Filed Under: governance, leadership, management, Michael Tyson, Uncategorized by admin — 10 Comments
March 7, 2011

This post is the final post of three written by our new President/CEO Michael Tyson.  These posts were also featured as a three-part series on www.metromode.com

As John Lennon said, “You may say I’m a dreamer…but I’m not the only one.”  I believe that a ‘nonprofit utopia’ could exist, and that the time is ripe for it to begin in Metro Detroit.  We are at a critical juncture.  We are working to redefine ourselves, and to emerge leaner and meaner, and yes even greener (as in eco-friendly).  Shared resources, collaboration, and creative synergy could exist in the nonprofit community –and beyond – in and between Metro Detroit communities, including the city of Detroit.  Being a visionary is about imagining the possibilities, closing your eyes and envisioning how nonprofits in Metro Detroit could work together to achieve even greater success than they do currently.  But what would or could that look like?  And how would it work?

A Focus on Sharing

The truth is, some of this is already happening through shared efforts and collaboration.   Shared accounting and Human Resources duties exist already between nonprofits in our area.   Shared office space and resources for organizations with is in existence right here at NEW.  There may be other collaborative efforts going on currently that are not public knowledge – or are at least unknown to most of us.

More could be done in collaboration in terms of information technology (IT),  allowing nonprofit organizations to share documents, best practices, and software applications.  The technology exists to allow this to happen.  All it would take is recognizing the benefit of the collaboration, and reaching an agreement.  It may be easier said than done, but it is possible.  It is possible that shared IT professionals could manage servers, websites, and networks for multiple organizations.

It would be necessary to find funders, philanthropists, etc. who are willing to support “back office” sharing and capacity building would also be crucial to making this successful.  Getting the people who write the checks to buy into the vision would be key!

A Move for Collaboration

The potential impact on the Metro Detroit area if an effective nonprofit resource-sharing network were to be developed is immeasurable.  Streamlining the work we as nonprofits do and eliminating redundancy of missions could make for a more productive, dynamic and powerful nonprofit sector in Southeastern Michigan.  There are nearly 50,000 nonprofits in the state.  Until the economy improves, the competition for funding is extremely high.  This makes the entire sector vulnerable.  Donors’ dollars could be used more efficiently and effectively.   The focus on fiduciary responsibility is vital to the survival of nonprofits, and the ability to use those dollars more effectively and efficiently would certainly appeal to those who are giving them.  We have a duty to mission and money and that includes respecting what donors want.

Are there things that NEW could do to be a catalyst to this vision?  Certainly there are.  What things is NEW currently doing toward this end?  NEW’s strength is in governance and IT capacity building. These are especially important components to making improvements in the nonprofit sector. It is important, now more than ever, to have strong infrastructure. We can help improve operations so that nonprofits can focus on mission.  NEW also has the tools to help nonprofit boards focus on everything that has been discussed in this blog over the last 3 days!

Our Role Moving Forward and My Vision for the Future

After completing this, the third in a series around nonprofits and nonprofit management, I would like to say that I have enjoyed having this opportunity not only to tout the strengths of the company which I lead, but also to propose a bold vision of what could be, and to solicit input for getting there.

NEW uniquely understands the challenges of the nonprofit community. NEW is in the trenches with our clients.  We understand nonprofits because we are a nonprofit.  What makes us stand out is that we’ve embraced the philosophy that you can do good, make a difference AND make money doing it.  Other nonprofits have learned this valuable lesson.  Has yours?

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Michael Tyson is the President and CEO at Nonprofit Enterprise at Work.  Feel free to contact Michael regarding any of the advice, tools or services mentioned in this post by email at mtyson@new.org or via phone at 734-998-0160 ext. 204

About NEW
NEW’s mission is to help nonprofits succeed by strengthening nonprofit management and offering solutions to issues facing our nonprofit community.

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Defining the Successful Nonprofit

Filed Under: governance, leadership, management, Michael Tyson, Uncategorized by admin — 30 Comments
February 28, 2011

In today’s world where success is so often defined by how much money one earns, whether as an individual or as an organization, how do you define success when your ultimate goal is not earning a profit?  What does that kind of success look like?

Speaking in terms of NEW, success is defined by  (1) Our ability to impact our customers, in terms of our mission to help nonprofits make a difference; (2) Our ability to earn revenue to support that mission; and (3) Our ability to strike the appropriate balance of those two things which allows us to attract the contributions that allow us to keep our fees affordable for the nonprofits we serve – in short, helping nonprofits do more with less!

Success, as defined for the nonprofit, poses challenges in a world where value is determined by one’s “bottom line.”  Nonprofits must heed the “double bottom line” not only of money, but also of mission.  Are we as the nonprofit meeting what we set out to do?  Have we lost sight of it?  Are we on the right track?  And how is all of this measured, anyway, if it’s even objectively measurable?  Do arts and culture nonprofits define success in terms of how many patrons they have, how many shows are put on, how much music is played, or how much artwork is on display?  Do human services nonprofits define success in terms of how many people are served, or how well they are served regardless of number?  These questions are not posed to make light of the missions of nonprofits, but rather to try to point out the difficulty of defining success for nonprofits in terms of a profit-driven culture.

Successful nonprofits have found ways to meet the double bottom lines of money and mission.  They have stayed true to their mission over the course of time, or have been able to modify it to meet the needs of a changing society.  They have successfully managed their financial resources.  They have a history of strong leadership, well-trained board members who understand the mission of the organization, and of a strong but flexible infrastructure that can bend – but not break – during difficult times.

Those who fund the nonprofit organization can sometimes define success for the nonprofit.  In speaking of donors, success for the nonprofit may be defined in terms of whether they believe their dollars have been used effectively.  Has the outcome the donor hoped for, which hopefully resembles the mission of the nonprofit, been achieved?  Was there a specific purpose intended for their donation, and was that purpose met?  In terms of grants received by a nonprofit, success would likely be defined in allocating the grant dollars to achieve the purpose and outcome in the grant proposal, which must often be reported back to the granting body.

There are organizations that recommend and rate nonprofits based on a variety of criteria.  Some may view these organizations as defining a nonprofit’s success.  Charity Navigator, GuideStar, and the American Institute of Philanthropy are a few.  Crain’s Detroit gives an annual award for the Best Managed Nonprofit in the Metro Detroit area.   These are certainly helpful to philanthropists, corporations, and individuals when determining which charitable nonprofit to which they’d like to contribute, but they do not necessarily define whether a nonprofit is successful or not because a nonprofit could still be meeting its mission and not be recognized by any of these organizations.  To provide a list of successful nonprofits in Detroit would be an exhaustive task, because success in the nonprofit world can be nebulous!  So I would like to approach it from a different point of view.

Reader Poll:

In soliciting input from my colleagues at NEW for this blog, NEW’s Diana Kern formulated the following questions on defining success for nonprofits.  Should success be measured by:

  • Mission accomplishment based on outcomes?
  • A strong balance sheet?
  • Diversified income?
  • A growing budget everyone year instead of a shrinking budget?
  • A magic number for overhead and fundraising percentages versus money spent on programs and services?

I invite you, the reader, to post your feedback to these questions!  How do you define success?

This post is the second in a series of three Michael wrote as a guest blogger for metromode.  Next up:  The Nonprofit Utopia

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Michael Tyson is the President and CEO at Nonprofit Enterprise at Work.  Feel free to contact Michael regarding any of the advice, tools or services mentioned in this post by email at mtyson@new.org or via phone at 734-998-0160 ext. 204

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