Of course you need more money. “No Money No Mission” is the theme of the graduate level Nonprofit Fundraising course that my colleague Dr. Bob Grimm and I are co-teaching at the University of Maryland this semester. All nonprofits need more money. But “why” do you need it? This is more than a “case statement” question. Fundraising needs should be driven by an overall … [Read more...] about Strategy Begets Fundraising
Strategy
Execution Beats Strategy?
While I preach and preach about the importance of having an excellent, coherent strategy I cannot deny the overwhelming importance of great execution. In recent weeks I have worked with two top leaders (both women incidentally)who are fantastic at execution - which has driven this home. The importance of being able to GSD (Get Stuff Done) is always vital, as two friends of … [Read more...] about Execution Beats Strategy?
Implementing Integrated Strategy
The three most important questions that your strategy should answer are: *What products/services/programs of value are we going to provide and to whom? *Who do we need to staff the provision of these products/services/programs? *How will we finance all of this activity? An organization should have at least one strategic goal which relates to each of these … [Read more...] about Implementing Integrated Strategy
SOAR without SWOTs
Frequently I tell people (including the grad students I teach) that strategy can be done well in many different ways. Certainly, I prefer the Mission Impact approach, but there are a lot of great methodologies out there that can work for organizations. One interesting approach is S.O.A.R., which you can read more about it at this link. S.O.A.R. stands for Strengths, … [Read more...] about SOAR without SWOTs
If You Really Had $100 Billion
When I encourage people to create an aspirational vision of what they would want their organization to look like if they could have it any way they wanted it – it is often hard to get them to “think big” or “think outside of the box.” To help people think big, I sometimes say “Imagine you just received an unrestricted gift of $100 billion. The donor said to do anything with … [Read more...] about If You Really Had $100 Billion