In fact, discussions about nonprofit institutions are always associated with a lack of quality, and we hear these comments from important businessmen, government employees, and also bloggers who always highlight the "mistakes" of the nonprofit sector. For them, nonprofits need to think the way businesses think and act accordingly, and they also need more innovation.

In reality, the nonprofit sector is extremely important as it addresses the most complex societal issues, despite lacking resources. Therefore, we cannot afford to waste more time, energy, knowledge, and money.

In recent years, the "Harvard Business Review" published a report stating that nonprofits could earn an additional $100 billion if they operated with greater quality and mastery.

In this report, we will discuss what the concept of "quality improvement" means for nonprofit organizations, as well as the steps that nonprofits should follow to improve work quality and achieve success.

What do we mean by quality improvement?

Generally, quality improvement models, methods, and tools help support nonprofits, as they work to reduce errors and increase efficiency by controlling losses, as well as improving the quality of products and services for clients, through analytical, systematic, and sometimes statistical processes.

Furthermore, errors are reduced by standardizing work. Efficiency is created through planning and improving processes. Quality improvement is achieved by identifying customer requirements and planning for them. At this stage, social service professionals see that improving quality will capture the essence of nonprofits, and we will hear phrases from them such as:

"We are dealing with people, not inanimate objects," "It is very difficult to regulate our work in this sector," "Our work is not limited to profit, but is concerned with impact."

We do not deny the existence of such statements, but they will not hinder the process of quality improvement. So I will respond: efficiency is not the enemy of quality, and you can manage and measure subjective concepts, and money is our fuel in this mission.

What is the technical definition of quality?

Unfortunately, I believe our sector has offered a limited definition of the quality improvement process, and it has been applied in a mechanical way, which has caused it to lose much of its value. In fact, work on quality improvement starts after understanding the concept of quality. Among the most common definitions of this term, we mention "Quality is achieved when we are able to meet or exceed customer requirements and expectations." Unfortunately, when we interpret this definition literally and restrictively in our sector, we fall into the error of distinguishing some customers while overlooking some key dimensions related to quality in our work.

Who are our customers?

Unlike many companies, most customers do not benefit from the products and services they pay for. Therefore, we have two types of customers: funders and beneficiaries.

Unfortunately, we sometimes feel that the only customers who have the right to hold us accountable are those who write the checks. Therefore, we sometimes see that the needs of funders and licensing authorities obscure the people we aim to serve.

What do customers expect and what do they need?

At this point, our work becomes more complex, as each customer has different demands and expectations from the others. And often these are conflicting with each other, requiring us to make an effort to reconcile them. So, how will this affect the quality improvement process? If we maintain a narrow and limited definition of quality, that is, meeting specific requirements of the client, the quality improvement process will be limited solely to compliance and academic reliance in addition to funder reports.

It is worth noting that this approach is not only limited in its ability to improve quality or efficiency, but it often creates additional burdens and processes that lack effectiveness, which can impact the mission. But what is the true definition of quality? Does the definition we mentioned earlier include what we need in our sector?

What about organizational impact and culture? What about the maximum value we strive to achieve amid resource limitations? What about meeting the expectations of clients and vulnerable, marginalized communities? What about the struggling clients who suffer from a lack of appreciation and low wages? And what about the workers and volunteers who participated in this work to make a difference, not just to check boxes and fill out reports every day? How can we meet their expectations?

In fact, the mechanics of quality improvement lie in answering all these questions; they represent the essence of quality in nonprofit organizations.

Source