Avoid these common mistakes when applying business practices to conservation

Achieving best in class is not a conservation goal: Avoid these common mistakes when bringing business practices to conservation?

By Elizabeth Schuster, Environmental Economist

The conservation community often seeks out the business community to bring a certain business savvy to their operations. Without doubt, benefits have resulted from the trend in conservation nonprofits hiring staff or bringing on Board members with private sector experience.

Behind the scenes, greater business acumen can bring a sophistication to financial planning for conservation, especially for very small non-profits. Further, at times conservation staff can be ideological around their desire to protect the planet. That passion is powerful and leads to many successes in preserving land and protecting biodiversity.

That said, business practices can balance that passion by bringing tools to prioritize and assess tradeoffs, gauge consumer demand, and explore alternative business models.

All of that is to say that business best practices have a place in conservation. And that place is not in goal setting.

Occasionally I’ll hear about conservation nonprofits setting a goal of being the best at what they do. Maybe they want to be the premier land trust or the best watershed organization in the state or region. While achieving a ‘Best in Class’ level may make sense for businesses, it is misguided for conservation nonprofits.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD CONSERVATION GOAL?

Conservation organizations exist for a mission. The mission will have something to do with benefiting nature and may also directly include quality of life for communities. Conservation goals tend to be around themes such as:

• Improving biodiversity or reducing the rate at which species are going extinct
• Protecting land, habitat corridors, and/or improving ecosystem function
• Improving water quality and enhancing aquatic life
• Reducing carbon emissions and/or increasing carbon sequestration
• Maintaining and restore water quantity

Additional goals also frequently focus on ways in which nature benefits people, such as:

• Increasing the use of nature based solutions to reduce flooding for communities
• Providing abundant, clean drinking water to communities
• Increasing access to nature-based recreation
• Increasing the amount of native pollinator habitat benefiting agricultural yields

Good conservation goals have a direct, positive impact on nature. They are scalable, measurable, relevant, and achievable. Conservation nonprofits do not exist to be best in class. They exist to achieve positive outcomes around goals for nature and people, which in turn support their mission.

Ok, you ask, what if an organization really want to be the best at achieving their goals? In this scenario, they could set stretch goals that are known to be aspirational enough to make that organization a leader in conservation in the state (or in the country). Certainly, aiming for excellence and setting ambitious goals can be a good approach for conservation organizations.

Well, then set ambitious goals, but success is still measured by whether that organization is benefitting biodiversity, land, or whatever conservation goal you set. Success in conservation is not measured by being the best.

In fact, there are risks with aiming to be the best. Almost all impactful conservation happens through partnerships and being overly competitive with partners can mean that funds are redirected from other organizations to your organization, meaning there is no net impact on conservation goals. It can simply lead to a shuffling around of who gets funding.

Figure 1. Visual of the conservation strategic planning process (Image credit: Sustainable Economies Consulting)

WHERE DO BUSINESS BEST PRACTICES FIT IN THE CONSERVATION STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS?

Figure 1 shows visually how effective goals will support the organization’s mission. In conservation strategic planning, starting with goals is critical. Only after we have our goals established – which gives the organization a clear sense of purpose – can we start to consider business strategies.

Business strategies fit in the conservation strategic planning process in the following areas:

• After goals are set, financial forecasts can help inform which metrics for success are realistic.
• At the strategy level, new business models can be explored to generate new revenues for conservation programs
• You can include financial, cultural, and organizational goals in a separate but parallel process for governance and fundraising goals. This helps make it clear to internal and external stakeholders which are your conservation impact metrics, and which are organizational metrics.

The take home here is that when conservation nonprofits invite those with private sector experience to help, that feedback is greatly appreciated. At the same time, strategic planning for conservation is fundamentally different than strategic planning in the private sector.

I can speak from personal experience. I spent several years in manufacturing before I starting working in conservation and was surprised to see how different the process was in conservation. Let’s get clear as a conservation community on where business practices fit in conservation and where they actually hinder and misdirect conservation planning efforts.