Application of Business Tools

This is a complementary book to “Enterprising Nonprofits: a Toolkit for Social Entrepreneurs.” It covers additional critical issues organized in two topics: (1) value creation and performance, and (2) addressing growth, change and earned income strategies. The first offers insights to identify the service value that an organization can provide, and explanations, practical examples and deep analysis of how to develop a strategic vision, to position the organization’s value, to compete and/or to cooperate with other nonprofits and corporations, to recruit and motivate employees, establish relationships with donors and community, to implement a performance evaluation system. The second topic explores various earned income strategies their risks and challenges, strategic alternatives to scaling up, and how to successfully implement changes in an organization.

Provides practical tools to help nonprofits to become social enterprises through the adoption of entrepreneurial behaviors and business techniques. Covers important concepts of effective social entrepreneurship such as defining the organization mission.

Defines an approach to strategic management for public and nonprofit organizations that borrows concepts from the business sector that are relevant and helpful, but is tempered by an understanding of the distinctive missions, contexts, and constituencies of public and nonprofit organizations. This strategic management approach focuses on the analysis of strategy formulation models, the understanding of the organizational environment, distinctive competencies and comparative advantages, and the identification and implementation of organizational strategies that advance its mission.

 

Discusses the need for improvement in the governance of nonprofits. It recommends that the board of directors focus on important issues such as clarifying the mission and evaluating performance in the organization. In addition, it addresses mechanisms tha

Develops a framework to identify situations in which conventional marketing is appropriate to promote social causes and when it is necessary to adopt alternative approaches.

Identifies the need of a more critical role of the board of directors which includes assuring that the nonprofit mission is appropriate to its charitable orientation and that it accomplishes this mission effectively. It proposes a framework to help the board to provide oversight by devising its own system of measurement and control.

Proposes a significant change in the work performed by nonprofit boards. The new work implies a deep knowledge of the institution priorities, an involvement in both definition and implementation of policies related to those important issues, and a new organization of the board. The authors provide several examples that illustrate how this board’s strategic contribution will help the institution advance its mission.