Assessing Your Road Worthiness

Just like a beach vacation, running a nonprofit entity requires a special kind of planning, readiness and strategy. Sunscreen? Check. Hours for the restaurant you love? New book to read? Check. Garage code left with sister just in case? Check.

Nonprofits can benefit in the short and long run from a periodic Development Assessment to help assure their plans and activities are achieving the desired goals and fulfilling their organizations’ missions. A program and process audit is often planned prior to or just after a capital campaign, or whenever significant change in technology, purpose or leadership is on the horizon.

It’s helpful to have assistance in the process. There is value in stepping back and explaining your work and processes to someone else and getting their feedback.

Think of the assessment in these three vacation segments:

1.     Is your car ready to hit the road?

·         Organizational – Do you have clarity of purpose, defined roles, strong governance, and leadership?  Do you have the technical and staff infrastructure to manage data and financial transactions appropriately? Where are the pain points that you could work on? Are policies current?

·         Environmental – What environmental factors hinder your work now or in the future? We know the economy’s shifts can sometimes impact us, but what other factors influence your work? Do you have a rainy-day plan for those impacts so they are less traumatic for your organization and those you serve?

2.  Is everyone packed and ready to get in?

·         Program Activities – Is program and service funding sufficient? What kind of funding would improve your service or help your operations be more effective and efficient? Do you have a plan to grow? Do you have programs that may no longer be as effective as they were set up to be? Can you make a clear case for support? Can you thank donors in a timely, accurate manner?

·         Fundraising Activities – Do you have a core group of supporters giving regularly? Are they engaged with your purpose and work? Are you adding new donors and creating opportunities for them to step into volunteer and leadership roles? Are you making them aware of planned gift opportunities?

3.   Do you know how to get to the beach?

·         Future Fundraising – Do you have a clear picture of where your organization is headed and what it will take to get there? What needs will your organization or those you serve have in the future?

·         Annual Fundraising Goals – Have you identified the legs of the trip between where you are and where you need to be? Will the decisions you make today create a firm springboard? Do you have the organizational agility to take on new projects or needs that may arise?

·         Work Steps – Take pictures as you go. Document your processes and your goals so you can refer to them often. Maybe – like a great vacation photo – you want it on the wall to remind you of where you have been and where you are headed.

A Development Assessment – like that vacation – requires planning and some work along the way as you view everything you do with a different perspective. Also like that vacation, it should leave you clear-eyed, refreshed, and ready to get back to work. You should come away from it know what you are doing well, and where you can improve.

Have a great trip! Strawhecker Nonprofit Services is here for every step of your journey whether it’s a short, focused trip, or a cross-country trek. Give us a call.