In their book, Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits, Leslie R. Crutchfield and Heather MacLeod Grant describe the key practices they uncovered in studying a cross section of nonprofits that achieve large-scale results. Their key findings:
1. Advocate and Serve. While it may seem counterintuitive, the nonprofit organizations that they found had the greatest impact are the ones that both delivered services and advocated for systematic change. Some started out with the service model and become advocates, and some the reverse, but ultimately they found the best success was when they were able to bridge the divide between service and advocacy and become good at doing both. The more they advocate and serve, the greater the levels of impacts they achieve.
2. Make Markets Work. Tapping into the power of self interest and the laws of economics is far more effective than appealing to pure altruism. Not content to rely on traditional notions of charity or to see the private sector as the enemy, great nonprofits find ways to work with the markets and help business “do well while doing good.” They influence business practices, build corporate sponsorships, and develop earned-income ventures – all ways of leveraging market forces to achieve social change on a grander scale.
3. Inspire Evangelists. Great nonprofits see volunteers as much more than a source of free labor or membership dues. They create meaningful ways to engage individuals and emotional experiences that help them connect to the group’s mission and core values. They see volunteers, donors, and advisers not only for what they can contribute to the organization in terms of time, money and guidance but also for what they can do as evangelists for their cause. They build and sustain strong communities to help them achieve their larger goals.
4. Nurture Nonprofit Networks. Although most groups pay lip service to collaboration, many of them really see other nonprofits as competition for scarce resources. But high-impact organizations help the competition succeed, building networks of nonprofit alliances and devoting remarkable time and energy to advancing their larger fields. They freely share wealth, expertise, talent, and power with the peers, not because they are saints, but because it’s in their self-interest to do so.
5. Master the Art of Adaptation. While the organizations they featured are exceptionally adaptive, modifying their tactics is needed to increase their success. They responded to changing circumstances with one innovation after another. Along the way, they’ve made mistakes, and even produce some flops. But unlike many nonprofits, they have also mastered the ability to listen, learn, and modify their approach based on external cues allowing them to sustain their impact and stay relevant.
6. Share Leadership. These CEOs are exceptionally strategic and gifted entrepreneurs, but they also know they must share power in order to be a stronger force for good. They distribute leadership throughout the organization and the nonprofit network-empowering others to lead. And they cultivate a strong second-in-command, build enduring executive teams of long tenure, and develop highly engaging boards in order to have more impact.
WAKE-UP CALL: How many of these traits does your nonprofit have?
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The concept of cultural competency advocacy is addressed tangentially in the post above about hunger in America. One solution to the problem was the need to address U.S. agricultural policy. Here is the relevant excerpt:
“We need to look at how agricultural policy relates to this problem,” said Joel Berg, Executive Director of the NYC Coalition Against Hunger, “If we look at history, we see that America has never had a food production problem (even during the Great Depression). The problem is people don’t have the money to buy the food. We have an over-reliance on subsidizing farmers, which has caused problems with the types of foods we produce, concentrated farming operations, and animal waste. We need to put the small and family farmer back into the process.”
Local programs that are blind to the larger issues will not be sustainable in the long run. Effective nonprofits, such as Share Our Strength are learning how to combine advocacy with their programs to create systemic change.
[…] For more on impact, see the entry: The Impact of Leverage and Habits of High Impact Nonprofits […]
[…] Other speakers include Ami Dar, Executive Director of Action Without Borders / Idealist, who will address Hope & Hype on the Web. How your organization can make the most of all the tools we have at our fingertips. I saw Ami Dar speak last year at CT conference and he inspired me to think about how to use more online tools – and as a result, I have been using Google Docs for collaboration. Marshall Howard will discuss how to Build More Capacity With the Power of Collaborative Relationships, which is something that I am a big proponent of. Collaboration is a key habit of a nonprofits’s success. Read about other habits of success for a nonprofit. […]
Thank you for reminding me of this Six Best Practices book. I will be using this as Chair of the nonprofit Kids X-Press magazine the only one of its kind entirely written and illustrated by kids for kids, the most exciting literacy program since Sesame Street, now distributed in 5 major cities. However, we are still a small organization with challenges in board development. I will be using this Red Rooster message at our next board meeting.
Robert Miss, Partner, Resource Development Counsel, Advisors
in Philanthropy and Organizational Management