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Five Growth Tips for Your Nonprofit

There’s no reason why nonprofits shouldn’t have lofty growth goals like their counterparts in the for-profit world. While nonprofits may seek results that can’t be measured financially, strong financial growth will ensure nonprofits can meet donor expectations today and well in the future.

Many universities, think tanks and firms such as Qorval now devote extensive research and analysis to the nonprofit world. Indeed, nonprofit management today is more sophisticated than it was just a few decades ago. Some of those advances are because of computers and the rise of the internet, which has broadened the reach of even the smallest nonprofit organization. But the fact is that nonprofit executives and boards need to stay ahead of management and industry trends to keep their organizations growing.

Here are five growth tips for your nonprofit we’ve culled from the latest research in philanthropy:

1: Build a Great Team

Kathleen Kelly Janus, a lecturer at Stanford University and an expert on philanthropy, surveyed 200 social entrepreneurs and found hiring senior leaders early is especially critical to an organization’s ability to scale. In an article for the Stanford Social Innovation Review she points out another important factor is having a strong board of directors whose members can provide strategic input and help with fundraising. You can read the full article, here.

2: Analyze Fundraising Gains and Losses

Although many nonprofit organizations watch the bottom line carefully, it’s important to determine what caused those results. In the 2015 Fundraising Effectiveness Survey, the Association of Fundraising Professionals recommends evaluating growth in giving from one year to the next by calculating the net of gains minus losses. For most organizations, taking positive steps to reduce gift and donor losses is the least expensive strategy for increasing net fundraising gains.

3: Consider Internet Marketing

In results of a 2016 survey of 1,200 nonprofit organizations published by Nonprofit Research Collaborative, 70% of respondents reported increased charitable receipts using email appeals and other online requests such as a “give now” link on a website. Still, if the organization is experiencing mediocre results, the survey notes that such methods as email marketing may not overcome a drop in other kinds of charitable giving.

4: Use Social Media

The 2016 Nonprofit Research Collaborative survey found that 84% of responding organizations indicated growth in charitable gifts through social media, the highest percentage of any method. Still, fewer than half of responding organizations used social media for fundraising purposes.

5: Develop a High-Performance Organization

Mary Winkler, a senior research associate at the Urban Institute Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, writes in a recent article about the results of a group of nonprofit executives who identified common indicators of high-performance organizations. Among them: Courageous, adaptive executive and board leadership; disciplined, people-focused management; well-designed and well-implemented programs and strategies; financial health and sustainability; a culture that values learning; internal monitoring for continuous improvement; external evaluation for mission effectiveness.

Qorval can provide targeted, rapid assessment and management diagnostics for insights on how your nonprofit organization can grow. For more information visit www.qorval.com or call 239-430-0303.