Running a successful nonprofit requires more than just good intentions. The passion that births these charitable causes has to have a plan in order to achieve success. So what should startup nonprofits do in order to give their cause the best chance for success? Dreamscape Foundation caught up with Matthew Hale to glean some insight.
Who is Matthew Hale?
Matthew Hale is a Political Science professor at Seton Hall University where he has been teaching for 15 years. Yet Hale’s tenure there is only a part of his experience in the realm of public service. “I come at the study of nonprofits from a somewhat different perspective than a lot of people,” Hale said. “I worked in political campaigns and politics before I went back to school, and I’ve always been interested in how organizations form, survive and thrive when their focus is the public good and not the dollar bottom line.”He points out that political campaigns are, in fact, nonprofit organizations. All the money raised is invested in a clear purpose: to get someone elected. As someone who recently earned a seat on the Highland Park Borough Council, Hale is no stranger to putting his knowledge and experience into practice.Just like a nonprofit, he plans to use community resources and action to elevate the Highland Park community. So we asked him: what does it take to fund a cause and become a thriving nonprofit?
Tips for Creating a Successful Nonprofit
Starting a nonprofit is easy. The challenge is finding the momentum and financial backing to achieve its goal. Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been running your organization for years, these hurdles are always present. Yet there are right ways and wrong ways to clear this hurdle. “Nonprofits get in trouble when they try to do or become all things to everybody,” Hale explained. “When they follow the money in ways that are against what their core beliefs or values are, they get in trouble.”While finding the money to employ your staff, market your cause, and gain the resources it takes to fulfill your mission is no easy task, nonprofits have to keep their focus clear. “The most important thing in creating a nonprofit is figuring out what you add to the picture,” Hale said. “What is the problem or various problem you’re trying to solve and how will your nonprofit go about making the world a better place? How will you make the problem less of a problem?”Unlike businesses, nonprofits are heavily dependent upon the ideals of its founders. Without a clear objective and a passion for achieving it, your organization will flounder. It needs a strong purpose as well as a roadmap.Once you know your mission, you can begin advocating for it through your fundraising and marketing efforts. Many organizations start with a website, which is a powerful tool for digital marketing. However, all marketing efforts should start with gathering the right resources and creating a well-defined strategy. This includes a strong board of leaders, the right talent to put your plans into action, and a forward-thinking mindset.
The Money Challenge
“Every nonprofit struggles with money,” Hale stated. “There are very few nonprofits that have open checkbooks and if they do, most of them don’t have open checkbooks forever.”The money challenge is a hurdle nonprofit organizations will have to leap over time, and time again. It’s simply part of the territory of this type of venture. Because of the dependency nonprofits have on donations and giving, they have to constantly be creative with how they raise and spend their budget. An important step to keeping the ball rolling is hiring the right people for the job.“Sometimes the founders of nonprofits are so committed to their ideal that they don’t bring in people who are good at asking for money if they’re not,” Hale said. “There’s people who can ask for money and people who can’t. Being able to ask for money; being able to write grants; being able to cobble together funding is a fundamental part of being in a nonprofit.”Founders don’t have to micromanage every aspect of an organization. When he or she hires the right talent for the right positions, a strong foundation is created. This will carry the organization toward success.
The Importance of Being Proactive
But the work doesn’t end when all the pieces and people are in place. You have to think ahead. Concord Leadership Group reported that 67% of nonprofit CEOs are not planning to continue serving in their position five years down the road. Yet when organizations don’t plan ahead for transitions in leadership, they end up with replacements ill-equipped for the job.“One of the things nonprofits do is they don’t build a bench,” Hale pointed out. “The board that is created by the nonprofit is probably originally created by the founder’s family, friends, or acquaintances, and that’s okay for a while. But as the organization grows, it needs to develop into an organization that is more than just the dream of the initial group.“You need to be thinking about not just who is the executive director today, but who is the executive director tomorrow? A tough part of nonprofits and a mistake they often make is thinking the passion that someone has for this will be there forever. It may be, but it may not be. They might be moving on to other things.”Successful nonprofits look for leaders within their organization or outside of it who can step in when a senior member or important leader steps out. A successful nonprofit keeps a “deep bench” of recruits to continue their mission as it evolves.
Stay Passionately Committed or Find Someone Who Will
Lastly, you need to keep the fire going. A nonprofit isn’t just a job where you wake up to reap a paycheck. It requires dedication to the cause and its ideal. If you or someone in your organization is starting to drift in a new direction, be aware of it. Know when it’s time to pass the baton.“If you lose that idealism and look at it as just another organization and forget you’re doing this because you want to make the world a better place, then find a new job,” Hale stressed. “You have to keep the idealism and the hope and being positive in order to be a good nonprofit.”A clear mission driven by passion, a firm strategy, and the right talent has the tenacity to endure. Whether it’s through the original founders or new, upcoming leaders who take the cause and run with it, these elements are timeless pieces of the nonprofit formula.