Forming
an Effective Nonprofit Entity:
A scenario that does not solely
require Commitment but
Understanding
By Gatluak Ter Thach* USA,
July 5, 2008;
Quote:
“There is a reason to have an
agency plan, whether it is
viewed as strategic,
organizational, or business: it
provides a guide and a framework
to direct a successful
program. The plan must be a
living, breathing document to be
of value. It must be designed
for specific agency and be
concise enough to be useful,”
-John Dayton.
The center point for writing
this lengthy article is to tip
some concerns that engross in
shaping an Effective Nonprofit
organization from other
organizations. The author will
try not to censure other
entities for not becoming
sufficient enough to be
considered effective since it is
not the intent of the article;
the difference between the
Effective Nonprofit from other
organization sectors and what
involves to have the Effective
Nonprofit organization will then
be explored.
What is a
Nonprofit organization? A
non-profit organization
(abbreviated “NPO”, also
“not-for-profit”) is legally
constituted organization whose
objective is to support or
engage in activities of public
or private interest without any
commercial or monetary profit (Wikipedia).
NPOs are active in the
environment, humanitarian aids,
animal protection, education,
arts, social issues, charities,
etc. Before creating or
writing a mission statement of
NPO, you should ask yourself
what you think will be the new
NPO's primary benefits and
services to clients, groups of
clients who will benefit from
services, values that will guide
how your NPO will operate, and
how you would like others to
view your NPO.
Different organizations, such as
profit, family, political and/or
religion, etc…dissimilar from
NPO and if their dissimilarities
are unidentified chances-- are
that projected mission will be
unmet. The profit generates
profits to its beneficiaries; it
is ok to have profit entity, but
do not call it NPO. It is also
crucial enough for a family to
have a support organization for
harmonies and other family
advantages. Political and
religious organizations could as
well define their purposes.
None of them substitutes to NPO.
They serve diverse missions and
it could be demeaning for
considering them NPOs. Having
said that, it is really
significant to know which one
you are interested to form, so
that you will not puzzle your
mission.
Back to the Effective Nonprofit
organization (ENO). Why
considering ENOs different from
other NPOs? And as I stated
above, it does not mean NPO
could only be the effective
entity to create; every
organization, whether for NPO or
not, can be effective as long as
it defines and adheres to its
mission and goals.
Accomplishing the goals of any
nonprofit requires having the
necessary resources, monetary
and humanitarian. Whether it is
for writing a fundraising plan,
designing a capital campaign,
applying for grants, or having a
successful fundraising event,
require knowledge for nonprofits
to succeed. The function of the
NPO depends on its human
capital, the board members.
Board members, donors, and other
community leaders demand NPO
accountability. NPO leaders
would also like to know whether
their programs are successful.
Customers or clients surveys and
other performance measurement
tools can provide the data
needed by the board leaders to
know whether the entity is doing
what it deems.
Hint: Before an organization
becomes effective to provide its
services, it has to consider
asking itself few questions:
Has stated articles of
incorporation been filed? Has
the organization Publication 557
(Tax Exempt Status), Form 1023
and instruction Form 872-C to
obtain IRS status been filed?
Has the organization filed
federal employer identification
number (EIN) Form SS-4? Has it
applied for its state Charitable
Solicitation Permit to be able
to solicit funds from people
within its state or country for
that matter? Has the mission
statement been developed which
clearly defines its purposes as
illustrated above? Has a by-law
been developed and ratified?
What about the board members?
Are they selected and organized
to take leading roles? Has the
organization utilized benchmark
in selecting its board members?
Conducting a thorough needs
assessment is a prerequisite for
developing innovative program
activities to establishing goals
and objectives of the
organization. Knowing what your
clients really need prevents the
failure of the organization.
Effective organizations create
management plans for
implementations and
disseminating of its information
to the clients; they value and
respect their clients’
opinions. Planning for program
sustainability and building
strong budgets that withstand
unfavorable turn demands more
than just boards but
knowledgeable boards. Even
though board leaders could be
developed from “bottom up”
taking from Mr. Obama, it is
still important to assign some
one with a task when he knows
what to do about the task.
Leaders can be developed and
those that wait patiently will
definitely have leadership
wisdom when their turns arrive.
One major reason for some ENO to
succeed is its leaders.
Effective leaders never give off
from learning new things. They
like spending times wanting to
know how to do certain things in
the organization. They welcome
challenges as opportunities!
They like completions and that
is their sign of competence.
They set goals higher and
difficult to scramble. Learning
how to become an independent
leader and/or improve your
leadership skills is priority.
Prior to seek for leadership
capacity for a new formed
organization or stalled one,
leader needs to assess his
ability to know whether he can
remain a follower till his term
comes or he has what it takes to
move forward the organization.
Understanding the purpose of
self-evaluation is appreciably
critical for the life of any
organization. Designing
effective evaluation plans that
focus mostly on program
objectives and how to achieve
them could be best ideas for
effective leaders to do.
Establish evaluation methods and
tools to measure and analyze
whether or not you are still in
right path and your organization
does what it said to do is great
(plus!). Otherwise, revise your
strategies to fit in our moving
globe. Statistically,
eighty-five (85%) percent of
newly formed NPOs, especially by
foreign born individuals, died
or ended in ruin, unachieved to
their intents ahead of their
five years anniversaries. Few
of the factors, but not limited
to, unclear meaning of mission
statements, lack of developing
strategic plans (short and long
term goals), lack of management
and leadership visions could
then be the causes of failures.
To
form an organization with an
impression of becoming effective
organization whether it is NPO
or not, founder (s) need to know
what involves. Some suggestions
will include knowing your
clients and their values. Have
full plan of actions and
assessments- to know whether you
have what it takes to care out
the mission of organization for
program performances, analyze
and interpret your data reports
so you know what you have been
doing to determine the success
of your entity.
Learning how every component
functions in the organization,
knowing your strengths and
weaknesses too, allows you to
build an internal power of
livable effective organization.
To construct a lasting and
meaningful Nonprofit Effective
organization, you need not only
commit yourself to do it;
however, you must learn to know
how to do it.
Author lives and works in
Nashville, Tennessee (USA). He
is serving as board of directors
for Tennessee Department of
Children Service, Tennessee
Immigrant & Refugee Right
Coalitions, and advisory board
for Nashville Mayor on refugees
and immigrants. He is the
current executive director for
Sudanese Community & Women
Services Center. Author holds
M.S of Public Service from
Cumberland University and
Certificate of Nonprofit for
Leadership and Management from
Center for Nonprofit Management