High-Performing Nonprofits:

High-performing nonprofits create systems that facilitate strategic leadership. This process begins with 1) developing and implementing a strategic plan, 2) providing clear and transparent information, 3) providing the resources and training needed for employees to carry out the mission, and 4) building cultures of excellence.

Strategic Planning: 

One of the most important types of planning that high-performing nonprofits can engage in is strategic planning. A 3 to 5-year strategic plan combined with the implementation of ethical standards, procedures, and organizational processes allow organizations to achieve their objectives and reach their mission.  

Strategic plans should always:

* Provide information in a clear and concise manner while describing all of the actions needed to achieve the mission;

* The plan should be systematically implemented throughout its duration;

* The Board of Directors and senior management should continuously monitor the progress of the plan and regularly reference it;

* The board of directors and the senior leadership should update the strategic plan as internal or external circumstances change; 

* The strategic plan should be aligned with the best practices in the field; and

* The Board of Directors and organizational staff should possess the needed skills and value systems to faithfully implement the plan.

With respect to the strategic plan, all staff should have a copy of the plan. They should also understand it, and its importance. 

Transparency and Clarity: 

The members of high-performing nonprofit organizations always know what is expected of them; receive guidance on how to work in relationship to the mission and the strategic plan; and have all of the information necessary to do their jobs. This also means that staff is involved with their supervisors in co-developing clear objectives with metric scales. 

In order to ensure follow-through, staff and/ or board members are assigned responsibilities and tasks with due dates when programs or new initiatives are developed. The steps needed to meet all objectives are clearly delineated with corresponding metric evaluation scales. As a result, everyone knows what they should and should not do to achieve the established goals and objectives.

Resources and Training:

The success of high-performing nonprofit organizations is attributable to a combination of strategic leadership; the skills and abilities of the staff and the board; and the existence of optimal systems that support the work of the participants. There is also always a plan to finance the objectives and meet the metric evaluation scales.

As a result, the organizational culture in high-performing nonprofit organizations ensures that staff and board members receive the resources and training needed to achieve the mission. Thus, there is enough staff to carry out the strategic plan and to do the work of the organization.

The skills and abilities of all staff allow for the work of the organization to be carried out with unity and efficiency. However, when the skills do not exist in the organization, staff receive the appropriate training or hire the needed staff with the supplementary skills needed to carry out the new task.

Culture of Excellence: 

In high-performing nonprofits, there is a culture of excellence and achievement of objectives amongst all participants. As a result, all of the objectives of the plan are always met. Furthermore, a formal process is always followed to systematically assess whether it is necessary to make systems changes or update programs.

Conclusion:

When nonprofit professionals come into the industry, whether they are administrators or direct care practitioners, they find themselves struggling between what they know are best practices and the realities of working in an environment with numerous external, and often counterintuitive constraints, that are placed on the nonprofits they work for by external private, philanthropic, government, and government funders. This is why high-performing nonprofits develop systems and engage in strategic leadership to carry out their missions ethically and steadily during unpredictable scenarios. 

For more information on how to build EPIC nonprofits, click here.

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