The Not-for-Profit As a Business

As many of my friends know, I have volunteered for years with various not-for-profit operations. First as a volunteer (Opportunity Workshop, Ronald McDonald House, etc.) and more recently as a board member (Meals on Wheels, Reach for Resources, University of Minnesota) and I have always been struck by the conflict that exists between the "Heart" (not-for-profit mission) and the "Head" (business process and operations needed to improve). I have always been frustrated by, what I observe, as the reluctance on the not-for-profit's part (actually the people - ED's and board members) to embrace and implement basic business management approaches. The heart too often overrides the head (yes, the head can try and squash the mission - but that is certainly not the intent here). This conflict seems to me to be what makes too many not-for-profits less effective than they could be.

I have gotten frustrated by the unwillingness by so many wonderful volunteers and staff to establish simple accountability, goals and expected outcomes. Too often we fall back to "don't they all do a great job, don't they all try so hard" and similar mantras. I agree - they do. But, undirected zeal and effort often results in the wrong or unintended outcomes as well as less than optimal client and staff experience. I see not-for-profits veering into unsustainable territory where their unwillingness to embrace any sort of business processes makes them work harder and harder for lower and lower return as well as reduced total satisfaction all around. This has proven to be especially important as grants and donation opportunities have evolved (and many have flat out disappeared). Where, in the past, donations could be used for general operating expenses, today, more donors want to see the outcomes that their donations help achieve. This flies in the face of how many not-for-profits are run.

With the U of M, I serve on the advisory board for curriculum for the IT program. As part of that, I have become involved in Case Competition judging (Corrie Fiedler and Ken Reily - take a bow here please) and there is a very large International case competition going on this weekend (March 25-27, 2021) and one of the cases I was fortunate to judge was the 5-Hour case of LifeLine Pilots. I had never heard of this group (you can find them here: https://lifelinepilots.org/) but they do amazing work to help folks who need medical services that are far from where the patient lives and the patient can't afford to travel to get the help they need. The students overall did AMAZING but I could readily see the disconnect between head and heart. The cool part is that with a little coaching, all of these students could become not-for-profit consultants in today's world - since the need to evolve past the pure play heart aspect is more important than ever - see the evolution in funding for outcomes.

I have been encouraged by my friend @SayreDarling to write about some of my experiences in the not-for-profit space, so for the next few weeks I will be covering topics that I have observed and experienced in that world - and will attempt tp shed some light on how this business channel (yes, they are businesses even though they are not how I might look at business traditionally) can improve given the changes taking place in the world and based on how Customer Experience can be brought more directly to this space.

If you are a not-for-profit struggling with how to evolve or plot your future course, connect with my friend Joel Swanson via his web site: https://mileoneteams.com/. Joel has a great process for assisting folks get back on track.

If you are interested in exploring more strategic options with your not-for-profit, you can connect with me below. The world is changing - are you ready for those changes?

Do you want to build a more sustainable not-for-profit where you can outpace both the competition and who you were yesterday? Schedule a 30-minute session to explore the possibilities: https://calendly.com/craigespelien/30-minute-meet_greet