Nonprofit Management and Sustainability

Nonprofit management is a very challenging process that necessitates a steady hand coupled with strategic leadership. Systems that build capacity support the short-and-long term objectives of the organizational mission in a sustainable manner. In other words, in order to achieve sustainability, an organization must become EPIC: 

Ethics + Planning + Infrastructure +Capacity = Sustainability

What is an EPIC organization?

An EPIC organization is one that is committed to putting its mission first through the following: 

Ethics:

Nonprofit management must respond to the high ethical standards that nonprofits are held to. Thus, organizations benefit from clearly defining their values and the corresponding evaluation metrics. This process allows the organization’s code of ethics and values to direct and drive the decision-making process, particularly in periods of turmoil or crisis.

Ethics clarity also helps to thwart fear-based decision-making that can potentially destabilize an organization during critical junctures of development. For example, pre-existing ethical parameters can help to define the types of funding opportunities that will be pursued in order to prioritize the needs of the clients, while balancing the long-term sustainability of the organization. Referencing organizational values can also help staff triage service priorities when faced with limited resources without being tempted by mission drift. 

Planning:

A thriving organization is rarely sustainable long-term if it is not strategic about how it is going to carry out its work and reach its goals. Nonprofit management requires that the organization is intentional about aligning its practices, goals, fundraising initiatives, and systems. A strategic and fundraising plan should be developed, implemented, and monitored that looks to build systems that support the mission, allow the organization to prepare itself for unexpected events by fortifying the organization’s fiscal health, and build the organizational infrastructure. For a list of the types of planning that your nonprofit should be undertaking, please subscribe to Third Sector News.

Infrastructure:

Advancing the mission requires the creation of systems that support an organization’s objectives. The organization should have clear and neutral processes detailing how decision-making is undertaken in the organization. This includes clear: organizational charts, policies, and procedures that clarify the rights of employees, accountability systems, protections, and employee responsibilities. Systems and metrics of performance should also be developed with respect to the annual operations plan, the legal and compliance arm, human resources, accounting, and financial systems, the Board of Directors, the technology plan, the facilities plan, contingency plans, and the internal programmatic and fiscal practices. 

Capacity:

Appropriate resources and capacities must be allocated to the operationalization of values so that employees and volunteers can achieve optimum performance with respect to furthering the mission. Thus, organizational success is contingent on:

* The implementation of the strategic plan; the work of the staff;

* The skill sets of the personnel, the board of directors, and the administrators; and

* The utilization of a set of optimal organizational systems that support the employees and their work.

This means nonprofit management must provide sufficient personnel, funding, and time to implement the strategic plan while allowing for the work of each individual staff member to be completed. In addition, the staff and board members all either have or must develop the required skill sets to carry out their work with realistic output expectations. 

EPIC Nonprofit Management Organizations:

EPIC organizations continuously strive to align their staff, organizational skills, leadership style, and their values through strategic management. Organizational leaders that are not adequately supported, can easily make rash decisions that are not consistent with the values of the organization. This is not because that Executive Director or nonprofit management team is unethical. Instead, they misguidedly try to solve immediate threats without necessarily looking at the big picture.

EPIC nonprofit management, however, builds-in controls and checks-and-balances to help decision-makers remain steady under the ups and downs of managing a nonprofit. If a period of crisis surfaces, for example, nonprofit management can ask for help from partners or negotiate some flexibility with funders because they have a track record of ethics and a tested infrastructure to rely on. Also, if the organization has invested in a reserve, financial threats can be absorbed by the organization. 

EPIC Nonprofit Management Benefits: 

The end result is that nonprofit management in an EPIC organization can help it remain sustainable, both during good times and bad, due to the following: 

* An ethical precedent is set that creates a balance between the client and the organization’s sustainability needs. The temptation of mission drift is eliminated because the focus is on achieving mission-driven results. Thus, the outcomes speak for themselves and are the best marketing tool for attracting resources for services that are still needed.

* EPIC nonprofit management builds a shared vision and respect. Staff and board members feel respected and empowered. As a result, they rally around the mission and become invested in its success. This is attributable to a culture of perpetual learning where information is shared freely amongst members of the team. As a result, they are able to engage in true and meaningful problem solving in order to advance the mission. 

It is not until one is tested in nonprofit management that one knows how one will react or perceive a situation. Under pressure and without a plan, anyone is susceptible to making mistakes. Managing an EPIC organization, though, helps leaders remain focused on the steps that are needed to achieve their missions in an unpredictable and, at times, chaotic environment. EPIC also helps to expand the number of options and solutions an organization has access to. 

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