Today, donors and consumers expect to know how their dollars are being spent, the impact that their dollars will make, and the time frame within which the impact will occur. New technologies enable a nonprofit to furnish answers to these questions in an authentic, impactful way. However, innovation requires more than new technology. Management must engage its human resources, that is, its “stakeholders”, to participate in the innovation process.

Innovation is here to stay. Management has much to gain and little to lose by planning for change in collaboration with its stakeholders. Such may produce ideas which facilitate implementation or disclose obstacles to success which management had not foreseen. Informed directors and donors are far more likely to endorse changes as a positive measure of its organization’s resilience than those who have had no opportunity to be heard. Building consensus is essential to the advancement of any nonprofit in today’s ever-changing business world.

Mention the words Demographic Study to a Senior Manager of a nonprofit organization, and you’re likely to hear one of the following responses:

• “It’s a luxury that we can’t afford!”

• “Who’s got the time?”

• “We know what we’re doing!”

• “We do it our way!”

Scientific studies of human populations seem difficult, burdensome, costly, and even unnecessary. Many fundraisers and social service program professionals often work in the present and may have little time or resources to consider the future.

Planning professionals have a very different view. The essence of their jobs involves the acquisition of facts from which they can determine the needs of their constituents; the extent to which those needs are unmet or fulfilled; the ways in which the needs may change in the future; and the ways in which their nonprofit will address future needs. Demographic studies performed by well credentialed demographers is the gold standard for determining the needs of specific populations served by the nonprofit, consistent with its Vision and Mission.

Nonprofit organizations often overlook the value of a diverse, diligent, responsible, and accountable Board of Directors. Instead, they use Board appointments to reward major donors and/or past lay leaders for their past support, without requiring their ongoing efforts. In short, the Board becomes an honorary group rather than an active working Board with planning and oversight responsibilities, whose members support the organization financially and otherwise.

It is fair to say that nonprofit organizations, whether big or small, exist to meet a need, whether it be in a neighborhood, a community, a region, a nation, or the world. A nonprofit’s Mission is composed with great care, as it is the stakeholders’ signature statement of the need(s) they intend to satisfy.

Some nonprofits will then create a Business Plan or a Strategic Plan to set forth how they propose to fulfill their Mission. In many cases, these Plans draw upon data and past experience, and include provisions for determining the likelihood that their Mission will be accomplished in a timely manner. These performance indicators are commonly known as Metrics.

Historically, nonprofit organizations have relied upon proceeds from dinners, celebrations, tributes, galas, and special events to provide much of its annual revenue. There are many examples of changes in fundraising methods during COVID which have produced better than expected results.

Not-for-profit executives: Is it time to assess your organization’s vision and mission, its processes for implementation, your models and metrics for measurement of your performance, and your resilience in addressing unexpected, unmet needs?

SRS Consulting, a Management Consulting business serving non-profit organizations sponsored “Breakfast & Build”, an event designed to promote and support Habitat for Humanity.