{"id":82,"date":"2007-11-25T00:00:47","date_gmt":"2007-11-25T06:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.financenewmexico.org\/articles\/?p=82"},"modified":"2013-06-24T15:26:03","modified_gmt":"2013-06-24T21:26:03","slug":"manage-your-non-profit-like-a-for-profit-business-george-kenefic-director-of-enterprise-empowerment-the-loan-fund","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/articles\/starting-or-managing-a-non-profit\/manage-your-non-profit-like-a-for-profit-business-george-kenefic-director-of-enterprise-empowerment-the-loan-fund\/","title":{"rendered":"Manage Your Non-Profit Like a For-Profit Business"},"content":{"rendered":"

By George Kenefic, Director of Enterprise Empowerment, The Loan Fund<\/em><\/p>\n

In my position advising non-profits that seek funding from The Loan Fund, I\u2019ve had experience with many non-profit organizations and I currently serve on the boards of two.\u00a0Regardless of their mission, they all have the same challenges as for-profit businesses \u2013 they must address everything from selling to human resources.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, good intentions aren\u2019t enough to build a sustainable organization, no matter how worthy the cause.\u00a0When it comes to funding the organization, it doesn\u2019t do much good to have financing if you don\u2019t know how to use it.<\/p>\n

Here are five critical elements and some tips to help get your non-profit started or back on track.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0Get the right people – As with for-profit businesses, people are the single most important factor that determines success. After all, it\u2019s people who implement plans. You\u2019ve also got to have the right people in the right roles.\u00a0A trail-blazer probably isn\u2019t going to be happy with day-to-day operations, and a stellar fundraiser may be terrible at managing staff.<\/p>\n

Tip:\u00a0Write job descriptions and performance measurements before any recruitment. If you expect a board member to raise money, state that right up front.\u00a0\u00a0 If you need your development director to also handle marketing, recruit accordingly.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0Do A Workable Plan \u2013 Your plan doesn\u2019t have to be long to be effective, but it does have to be written so it can be implemented. Both board and staff should be involved in planning \u2013 strategic or otherwise \u2013 to avoid confusion and duplicated effort. \u00a0Many entrepreneurs never write a plan and a large number of them ultimately fail.<\/p>\n

Tip:\u00a0Keep it Simple! For example, seven major objectives are too many. Try for three, maybe even one. The simpler you keep it, the more likely you are to keep focused on your mission and achieve results.<\/p>\n

3. Craft The Right Message \u2013 Before you do any marketing, ensure you\u2019ve got the right message for the right audience. \u00a0I often hear, \u201cIf they just understood, they\u2019d make that donation!\u201d\u00a0Unfortunately, like any customer of a for-profit business, it\u2019s not the job of the donor to understand. That\u2019s why it\u2019s critical to focus on one compelling message.\u00a0Don\u2019t try to tell everything you do, but do tell them why they should care.<\/p>\n

Tip: Passion points \u2013 the elements that get people\u2019s attention and compel them to act \u2013 can vary tremendously even within a single demographic.\u00a0For example, a lot of companies advertise to women by painting their products pink or talking about \u201chelping\u201d women overcome their fear of finances (or investing or technology.) In fact, a lot of women hate the color pink and don\u2019t believe they need help.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0Qualify Opportunities \u2013 One of the keys to success in the for-profit world is determining if your prospect is qualified to buy.\u00a0Doing so in a timely manner shortens the sales cycle and ensures quality customers.\u00a0The same is true in the non-profit world.\u00a0Don\u2019t chase every dollar.\u00a0Determine who will be most interested in your message and the best way to approach them.\u00a0This applies to grant-writing as well.<\/p>\n

Tip:\u00a0Write target profiles for each of your stakeholder groups.\u00a0Then, craft a sales strategy for each.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How can you most effectively reach them? Advertising may not be the answer.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0Measure Results \u2013 If you can\u2019t measure it, don\u2019t do it. Otherwise, how will you ever know if you\u2019re doing the right things?<\/p>\n

Tip:\u00a0Build measurements into your processes from the beginning.\u00a0This makes it much easier to do and ends the mad scramble for data when it comes time to report to your funders.<\/p>\n

And, last but certainly not least, don\u2019t be afraid to drop a plan that\u2019s not working.<\/p>\n

The Loan Fund, a partner in the Finance New Mexico initiative, provides financing and consulting to non-profits and for-profit businesses in New Mexico and the Navajo Nation.\u00a0 Find out more at www.loanfund.org.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Download 9_Funding Non-Profits PDF<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Five tips to get your non-profit organization started or back on track. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5985,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82\/revisions\/5985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}