In a world where the challenges facing nonprofit organizations are increasing, good intentions alone are not enough to achieve sustainable impact. Many entities operating in this sector inadvertently fall into repetitive patterns of strategic and organizational errors that hinder their growth and reduce their effectiveness, despite their efforts and dedication of their teams.
In this context, expert Jessica Davanza, a specialist in strategy and communication, provides a sharp critical reading of six of the most prominent of these mistakes, based on over twenty years of experience in developing brand identities for nonprofit organizations. The original article was published on the Round Square Strategy website under the title:
on December 20, 2021.
In this text, we present a complete professional translation of the article, while preserving its original content and the author's rights, believing in the importance of knowledge sharing and expanding the horizons of good practices in the Arab nonprofit sector.
Close your eyes. Imagine a ship in the open sea, its structure pierced with a million small holes. Each hole covered with tiny band-aids in a desperate attempt to stay afloat. One more massive wave or a strong gust of wind could sink the ship.
Now open your eyes. That ship resembles the state of a very large number of nonprofit organizations today. With 1.5 million nonprofits in the United States, collecting over $471.44 million annually (according to 2020 data), employing one in ten workers, it’s easy to assume that "big missions mean strong institutions". But spend one hour behind closed doors in many of these organizations, and you will find countless charities on the verge of launching lifeboats.
For far too long, nonprofits have followed a "temporary band-aid" approach to facing turbulent waves, without putting in place radical solutions to ensure a strong and sustainable future. While the world has radically changed over the past decade—from evolving donor behaviors to technological and philanthropic revolutions—many organizations' responses have been slow. Today, many charitable entities make their operational decisions based on short-term austerity measures, costing them larger long-term losses in relevance, relationships, reputation, and revenue.
So how do we break this cycle and steer the ship in a new direction? Here are six serious mistakes made by nonprofit organizations—and how to avoid them.
1. Fear of Focus
As mission-driven organizations, nonprofits are inherently programmed to help as many people as possible, in as many places as possible.
While our world desperately needs this kind of commitment, the lack of discipline in its execution turns it into a harmful institutional practice.
From the largest national nonprofit organizations to the smallest community associations, we see one after another developing operational plans that are unattainable or unrealistic.
Many organizations gather all possible stakeholders—each carrying a different agenda or favorite project—to concoct a 30-page plan that reflects everything the organization does and everything it might do someday.
In a well-meaning attempt to satisfy everyone, these "strategic" plans turn into consensus-based roadmaps, filled with routes and side roads that are difficult to traverse all at once.
Thus, previously limited resources get spread across too many areas, leading to modest incremental progress instead of effecting meaningful transformative change.
To set your nonprofit organization on a path toward sustainable institutional success and lasting impact for its mission, start first by reflecting on your ultimate vision and your reason for existence.
Think about institutional strengths—what do you do with the highest degree of efficiency and expertise, given your limited resources? And where do your core capabilities intersect with the greatest needs of your audience? This is where the conversation should begin.
Appoint an internal strategist or engage an external consultant to oversee the process and ensure objectivity and accountability, while forming a small multifunctional team to lead the process and recommend directions.
Before diving into everything you do, assess the market and study the broader context: What’s happening in the larger environment? Where are the opportunities for differentiation, collaboration, or growth?
Gather stakeholder insights through personal interviews and/or quantitative research to enrich the organizational direction—ensuring that the most important audiences have a voice, without granting everyone the right to vote.
Set concrete, measurable goals, and have the courage to prioritize core initiatives, while reducing or eliminating activities that don’t bring you closer to these outcomes.
And don’t forget to create a clear and visible dashboard for all staff, so everyone understands their position within the larger picture and can align their performance with the mission, improving efforts based on progress made.
2. Leading Without Leadership
These days, it seems virtually every nonprofit organization is thinking about a leadership change, is undergoing one, or has just come out of one.
Constant changes in the C-Suite positions alongside chronic challenges in board formation drain both funds and motivation.
We observe two key recurring challenges when discussing leadership in nonprofits:
First: Too many executive leaders... that do not lead
Particularly, we see many chief executives paralyzed when it comes to decision-making.
Employees, beneficiaries, and donors want a leader to steer the ship and clearly set the course.
But in the absence of a realistic action plan, or a firm commitment to executing it, we all become like those suffering from seasickness amidst constant turbulence and ongoing uncertainty.
Second: One of today’s biggest challenges is boards of directors
We recently worked with an organization that had only one woman on its board, no members from diverse racial backgrounds, and no one under the age of 50.
Yet its primary audience was young people, and its targeted donors included mothers and the millennial generation.
Half of board members had no social media accounts, yet they were entrusted with approving massive investments in advanced digital strategies.
This group—along with many others—makes critical decisions concerning the organization’s future, its strategic direction, its budget, and most importantly: the fate of the people that the organization was created to serve.
Does anyone see the problem here?
Leaders are appointed (or elected to volunteer leadership positions) to lead.
To lead teams, open doors, place the organization’s interests above their personal interests, and contribute to solving the most complex challenges our world faces.
They should reflect the needs of those we serve, be held accountable for diversity, equity, and inclusion, act authentically, promote transparency, foster a spirit of collaboration, and pave a clear path to achieving our mission.
This is not a luxury—it’s a necessity, as much is at stake.
Thus, we must begin appointing leaders who act like true leaders.
We need to consider their connection to the mission, their depth of engagement, their understanding, communication abilities, and representation of the organization and its issues with its target audience.
3. External Communication Before Internal Cohesion
When resources are limited, investing in the internal audience may seem like a counterintuitive option, especially amidst multiple demands toward the external audience.
But this investment is among the most important things an organization can do.
Employees are your biggest advocates, your ambassadors, and your assets.
They are the first line of defense in fundraising, relationship building, and community marketing.
Without their full commitment, belief in the organization’s message, and ability to convey its story, we are genuinely at a disadvantage that hinders us from achieving our goals.
Internal communication and employee engagement are essential to success.
We must ensure that our employees understand what we do, why we do it, and what their role is in achieving it.
- How can we improve the onboarding experience so that we set employees up for success from the beginning?
- How do we reinforce this onboarding throughout the year?
- What are we doing to retain top talent?
We have worked with several local organizations where employee turnover rates reached 100% within just 18 months.
The losses from costs, productivity, knowledge, and relationships impede these organizations' ability to further invest in their mission.
Moreover, with the millennial generation representing 25% of the workforce, we must engage them in meaningful ways that meet their aspirations.
This can be achieved through:
- Transparent and frequent communication
- Platforms for dialogue
- Spaces for collaboration
- Genuine opportunities for participating in the life of the organization and serving the community
Having a clear plan for internal communication, performance management, recognition, and enhancing organizational engagement is no longer optional.
It is a necessity that cannot be postponed or pushed down the priority list.
4. Too Late for Innovation
Everything in our lives and our world—including how we communicate and fundraise—has changed completely from what it was just two years ago.
As the world around us evolved, many nonprofits’ responses have been reactive rather than proactive, in updating their tools and approaches.
While the pandemic sparked some momentum, yesterday’s strategies will not produce tomorrow’s results.
Today’s donors can fund whatever they want, whenever they want.
They want control, they want focus, they want to know their money will make a tangible impact—and they want a say in all of it.
Therefore, staying informed about prevailing trends, engaging in current dialogue, understanding audience needs and insights, and improving tools and innovating became not just incidental to the work—but an essential part of the nonprofit business model, impossible to ignore.
5. Actions Do Not Match Words
At the core of every organization lies the reason for its existence and what it represents—the brand promise.
This promise must extend across everything we do, from how we communicate to how we make decisions, through the programs and services we provide.
As the number of nonprofits increases and the size of available donations shrinks, competition is fierce, putting our commitment to our identity and principles to the test.
We recently witnessed an organization dedicated to helping students reach their full potential—cutting essential services designed to support them.
We saw a nonprofit health organization devoted to improving patients' quality of life—excluding patients entirely from the decision-making process.
And we observed a national organization relying on field staff for its existence and mission—eliminating hundreds of jobs and overburdening the remaining staff with extra responsibilities beyond their capacity.
One organization after another, we see them make cuts, reductions, and superficial adjustments, focusing solely on the immediate short-term challenge without considering the "bigger promise" they made to themselves.
Can you stand before your community and confidently say: We are living our organizational promise?
Ask yourself this question every time you face difficult decisions about resources, staffing, or programs.
Yes, we must balance income and delivery—which is not an easy task—
but the promise we made to those we serve must be more than just empty words.
6. Believing That "Branding" Is Just a Communications Team Matter
Speaking of the brand promise, the last mistake—which has become very common—is organizations resorting to branding strategy, or communication, or marketing, as a substitute for a missing or weak action plan.
"If only we had a better marketing campaign"
"If only our messaging were stronger"
"If only our social media strategy were more effective"
Then we would achieve success!
This is true, all these factors are important in crafting a clear and compelling story that drives people to action.
But communication alone will not save you.
In the absence of a strong vision and an action plan that supports it, clever campaigns will not persuade you to open your wallet.
Moreover, the communications or public relations team does not solely have ownership of communication or "branding".
Everyone—from the CEO to the janitor to the enthusiastic employee in the tech department—owns that brand.
Each of us is responsible for understanding the organization’s story and conveying it authentically.
There are no clear lines delineating who is responsible for brand metrics, the organization’s reputation, or its relevance with the audience.
Excellence in marketing is a collective responsibility.
And when we accept this truth, we can work together to strengthen the foundation, and create a launchpad for success.
In Conclusion
No nonprofit organization is immune to falling into these mistakes—they often stem from good intentions, passion for the mission, or the pressures of daily reality. But what truly makes a difference is the awareness of leaders and practitioners about these challenges, and their readiness to review, correct, and start anew.
Redirecting the ship onto the right course does not require miracles; it begins with conscious decisions, actionable strategies, and a genuine commitment to the promise of the mission for which the organization was established.
Through this article, Jessica Davanza calls for stopping, reflecting, and rebuilding from the inside out—moving from reactive work to proactive leadership, from distraction to focus, and from theoretical promises to tangible impact in people’s lives.
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