Want to have some fun?
Ask a nonprofit executive director or chief program officer how many programs their nonprofit
offers.
You get the not-so-rare treat of watching someone trying to count without taking off their shoes
after they’ve run exhausted their fingers. And, oh, the look of resignation and the defeated sigh.
Of course, this problem is typical of nonprofits. We get too little money to try out new ideas, but
thanks to the drive to better meet the mission and a dash of unbridled optimism, we pilot that
program. After a year or two, we see that the program doesn’t fully pay for itself, but any
number of people – a funder, board member, a member of the program team – simply cannot
fathom the idea of letting it go.
One day, we find ourselves looking at a menu of programs that call to mind a pile of dirty clothes
on laundry day. We can’t address the pile without sorting out what’s in front of us – whites,
colors, delicates. And it all seems so daunting that we procrastinate, even though we know that
it all gets more daunting with every minute (and we can always find something to wear to put
this off until tomorrow).
If clean clothes or an impactful, sustainable program portfolio are our goal, why do we delay?
Just like with our laundry, for our programs, it is about figuring out where to start. It’s about
taking that first step in organizing them so that we can act. It’s figuring out the programmatic
equivalent of colors, whites, and delicates.
So, how do you get started, pull the first sock out of that pile of programs?
If you have a strategic plan of some kind, you’re all set to begin this work. Even if you don’t, you
can still make this happen with the insertion of a few additional conversations to make sure
there is some strategic clarity in the current moment.
Either way, first, you need to make a list of all of your programs (no matter how many sheets of
paper that may take). You may notice that you’ve waited far too long to do this exercise. Take
several deep breaths, forgiving yourself, and then move onto the next step.
You divide up your laundry so that each type of clothing will come out at the end of the wash cycle cleaner than it went in and still in good condition. For your programs, you need to decide
what criteria comprise impact and sustainability – the two key characteristics of healthy
programs.
Deciding what is most important to you as an organization may be the most valuable part of this
process. Often, our sustainability conversations are sidetracked by criteria that are less
important than others but dominate the conversation.
These conversations should include your senior leadership team to ensure you have a
comprehensive view of the programmatic, fundraising, financial, and talent considerations for
each area you review.
Eventually, if you decide you want to trim or rebalance the program portfolio, you can use the
information from these conversations as the foundation for a generative and strategic
conversation with your board of directors.
Here are some of the criteria you may want to consider (and you are likely to land upon a few of
your own through this process). I suggest discussing all of them and then picking the three or
four that seem most relevant.
Under each criterion, I offer a few questions to help you arrive at your ranking.
MISSION/STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT
When you think about your vision for the organization (where it needs to be three
years from today), does this program get you closer or pull you further away?
When you describe your current strategy and then mention this program do you get
confused looks or huge smiles and a “tell me more?”
Does this program look a little bit like your organization did, say, 20 years ago?
Is the impact it has or used to have, something that we have all learned as a sector there
are better ways to go about?
PROGRAM QUALITY
Does your program use the most current approaches in your field?
How do you measure the impact of this program?
SUSTAINABILITY
Are you able to fully fund this program? Is its budget fully covered?
Is staff fully enabled and capable to deliver the program? Is there enough capacity?
FUNDABILITY
Are your donors interested in this program or issue area?
Are there donors that you have not cultivated who could support this program?
Would the results you could share be compelling to long-time or new funders?
NICHE
Do other groups offer the same program more broadly, more effectively, or both?
Is your approach unique compared to those other groups and ripe for expansion with the
right resources?
CREDIBILITY
Would someone who participates in your program recommend it to others?
Do nonprofit colleagues call to pick your brain about this program? Do they want to learn more from you?
BOARD COMMITMENT
Are your board members aware of the program (not just the long-time board members –
the newer board members too)?
Would your board assign a different value than you would?
COMMUNITY BUILDING
Does this strengthen your relationships with your communities, or does it diminish them?
Do community members see the offering as relevant and helpful?
VISIBILITY
Does this program draw positive visibility to your organization?
Are you asked to speak on panels about what you offer and how you go about the work?
Once you’ve discussed the various criteria (and any you have added), whittle down to the four
that are most important to you.
For each of those criteria, you can begin by applying your evaluation of how your organization
performs against that criterion. I suggest starting with a simple scale for each:
one = kind of embarrassing
two = average on a good day
three = nothing to be ashamed of
four = we’re rocking it – ask anyone
Next, fire up Excel, Sheets, or whatever spreadsheet program you use.
List your programs, each in their own row in column A.
Head columns B, C, D, and E with your four top criteria.
Next to each program, enter the rating you assigned (1, 2, 3, or 4) to each criterion.
Add up each row in column F.
Sort your programs from highest overall score to lowest overall score.
Take a gut check. Does this look like what you expected? If not, I suggest you revisit the criteria.
Ultimately, your criteria, gut, and reality will line up. This is a great part of the conversation. Do
not run away from it. It may be the most important part of this process.
Wait, I can hear you saying, “Gary, not all criteria are equal in our judgment.” OK. OK. You can
add this step to the process above (and I encourage you to!):
Take each criterion and weight its importance relative to the other criteria (start with 1,
2, and 3). For instance, you might decide that impact is more important fundability,
which is more important than visibility. Weight impact as 3, fundability as 2, and visibility
as 1.
Now take your initial 1, 2, 3, or 4 rating and multiply it by the weight.
Now, those criteria that are most important to you either add or detract from the total
more meaningfully and purposefully.
This can change the totals enough to help line up reality with your gut or point out areas that might require some more conversation or research.
Check out my generic sample of each version below.
Weighted
One complication in this process is that staff, donors, board, and community partners might
evaluate some of these criteria differently or consider some more important than others. Rather
than present your evaluation as a fait accompli at your next board meeting (seriously – don’t!),
present it as the beginning of a conversation. Inviting everyone in your network into this
conversation can help them to help you in making the challenging decisions ahead.
Coming to agreement on which criteria matter most across your stakeholder groups and in
alignment with your strategy is possibly the biggest benefit of this exercise.
This approach does require a commitment to say no to some things you do. I can tell you
firsthand that donors, board members, staff, and partners appreciate the rigor and the spirit of
inclusion.
Just like organizing your laundry, cleaning up your programming will make everyone feel better.
And just like organizing your laundry, it will feel even better only if you take the next step after all
that organization and do the work of cleaning up.
If you are interested in engaging in this type of exercise with your organization, I'm happy to set
up a quick call to discuss and answer any questions you have period feel free to e-mail me at
gary@garybagley.com or connect with me on LinkedIn.
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