In their new book, Forces for Good, Leslie R. Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant — two researchers who have run nonprofit organizations — examine a dozen "exemplary" charities to learn what makes them so successful. The authors identified the following 11 traits that they believe distinguish the most vibrant organizations from those that are less effective:
What High-Impact Nonprofit Groups Do:
o Work externally with all sectors of society
o Use leverage to change entire systems
o Do whatever it takes--short of compromising their core values
o Advocate for policy change and run programs
o Harness market forces and work with business
o Engage outsiders in meaningful experiences; build long-term relationships
o Nurture networks of nonprofits; build the field
o Constantly adapt and balance creativity with structure
o Empower others to lead and take action
o Invest in the basics: people, fund raising, and systems
o Focus on impact and measure progress against results or larger systemic change
What Less-Effective Groups Do:
o Focus exclusively on their own organization
o Use organizational growth to scale impact
o Would rather "be right" than "win"
o Only provide direct services, avoid politics
o Avoid engaging with business or capitalism
o Treat volunteers as free labor or donors as check writers; focus on transactions
o See fellow nonprofits as competitors
o Fear change, become mired in bureaucracy, or get overwhelmed with too many ideas
o Maintain a command-and-control hierarchy and allow the CEO to be the "hero"
o Neglect building basic infrastructure through insufficiently spending on "overhead"
o Focus on process; measure inputs, not outputs
From Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits; Leslie R. Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant; Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons; This material is used by permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Lois Schmidt, NRS, Willmar/Marshall/Redwood Falls
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