For Purpose Live

Discover how to find your purpose and calling in life. Learn how to use God, nonprofits, and more to uncover your true calling and make a difference in the world. Get your free web class at http://www.forpurposelive.com/secrets

Does your nonprofit need help developing a logic model? Learn why logic models are essential for nonprofits, and how they can help with determining metrics that matter, program evaluation, fundraising, grant writing, and creating a theory of change. Discover the three key reasons why every nonprofit should create a logic models for all their programs. Get your logic model template at www.forpurposelive.com/logic Check out my new course at www.forpurposelive.com/logic-model

Discover how women can navigate leadership roles in the nonprofit sector. Learn 3 key strategies to help women become successful nonprofit employees and leaders. Get insights on the unique challenges women face when taking on a nonprofit leadership position. Get your free webclass at http://www.forpurposelive.com/secrets

I think we can all agree that metrics matter and that we must be measuring the effectiveness of our programs if we want to demonstrate impact… if you know me at all I believe it is our duty as people running nonprofits to demonstrate our impact. You don’t get the luxury of taking the public’s money to offer a public good without proving that you actually do what you say you do. If you have a mission…which if you’re a nonprofit you do…then you need to be able to measure in quantifiable terms how successful you’re being in accomplishing that mission. But I know we get overwhelmed by deciding what to measure, how to track it, and nonprofits find themselves often floating in a sea of data that may or may not be all that meaningful. So today I am talking to you about really the only metric you should care about and how you can measure it

Wooohooo its a new year… how many of you still have your head down, still motoring through from last year? You haven’t stopped to take a moment and reflect or set yourself up for the year to come. Well, thats fine I think a lot of nonprofits do this because there is so much to do and the show must go on right? But you owe it to your staff, board, volunteers and yourself to pause briefly to be thoughtful and strategic about making this year intentional adn better than the last. You don’t have to take any extra time to do this. Do it at your next staff or board meeting. Questions like this break up our autopilot and bring us back to our why. Ok lets talk about it.

We’re at the end of the year and as much as I’m always talking about strategic planning and getting your IMPACT roadmap done, it's all for nothing if you don’t report back on what you actually accomplished and that is where your impact report comes in. Every nonprofit should have an impact roadmap (that's my version of a simplified strategic plan) and an impact report every year. Every nonprofit should be great stewards of their mission and the funds they receive to support that mission so you have to publicly lay out what you plan to accomplish and then follow that up with how ya did. But, you don’t need to feel super overwhelmed or even like, shoot we didn’t even do a strategic plan..you can still start now with your first impact report - or first, good one - and I’m gonna show you how to create an impact report that actually means something to someone besides you. www.forpurposelive.com/secrets

So I’m a pretty direct person and the only reason being direct is perceived as being bad is because of the potential for the receiver to be offended…right? I tell clients that I’m going to shoot it to them straight and that my intention is to help and encourage them to not take anything personally. Most people get that, but why do I feel like I need to do this spiel? Because honestly most of us DO take things personally. It is impossible for us to not have some level of bias colored by our unique experience, upbringing, culture, and community but nonprofit founders might just be the worst about taking things personally and it’s for good reason. They followed a calling. Their business is their life’s calling and I get that. I actually think being protective and even defensive of your mission is a good thing, but not to the extent that it hurts your mission. Taking things personally or not being able to be objective definitely clouds our ability to make non-emotion, business decisions. So I think it's important for nonprofit founders to strengthen their objectivity muscle and today we’re going to talk about exactly how to do this and why it is so beneficial as a leader of a public good. Get your free webclass at www.forpurposelive.com/secrets

So I’ve been in the nonprofit world for my entire career and although I am an expert in the space there are a lot of things about the industry that I don’t like and am in fact on a mission to change. The good news is that there is nothing inherently wrong with nonprofits, they’re a great way to structure a business offering a public service. They require a board for checks and balances and give community members, funders, and other stakeholders the opportunity to give back to causes that speak directly to their heart…but nonprofits are messy because well..humans run them. The majority of problems nonprofits face are the direct result of the leadership that runs them. That’s right…its a YOU problem, but that's actually the good news because YOU is something we can change, and when we do not only will the nonprofit be better off, but those you serve, your volunteers, and staff will be better off too. And it’s not your fault that you may have some limiting beliefs that hold you back…I also had these limiting beliefs it’s not because I wasn’t confident or because I even came up with them, no, the industry fed me these beliefs and I had to fight through a lot of imposter syndrome before I felt confident saying, “ya know what…the whole industry has this wrong”…and trail blaze my own path. So today I’m going to go through some myths that I think only hold nonprofits back, and I hope it gives you permission to think differently. Get your free webclass at www.forpurposelive.com/secrets

One of the biggest questions I ask clients during our IMPACT ROADMAP strategy sessions is, what sets you apart? You could have the best mission, and programs but if you aren’t super clear on what sets you apart from another organization, then you haven’t answered the question of why a funder should support you. Your “what sets you apart” statement is your competitive edge and it also gives you a confidence boost. Write a good “what sets you apart statement” and then read it every morning to resolidify your identity in your purpose to serve exactly the way you do. It really makes a compelling addition to your impact roadmap, where you say what your doing, for who, why and how you do it but then you specifically call out WHY YOU. WHY are you the best person for the job? So in this episode I walk you through how to write a good “what sets you apart” statement.

Get your free what sets you apart worksheet at www.forpurposelive.com/apart

Have you done your 2023 strategic planning yet? I know a lot of nonprofit leaders are overwhelmed by the strategic planning process and for good reason. As nonprofit leaders we want to make sure we are spending our time on high ROI activities and the old way of strategic planning just seems, well kind of pointless. I know you think you spend your time on things that matter, but you HAVE to be able to articulate that to stakeholders and funders, and the way you do that is through a strategic plan…or a document that says exactly what you are trying to do, why, for who, how you’re going to measure success and the exact key activities you’re going to focus on to get you there. Every year you need to state your intended goals and key activities to get you there, so at the end of the year you can prove you did what you say BUT you don’t need to be a slave to the old strategic planning process where you spend 6 months dissecting every piece of your existence, the industry landscape and developing a 20 page document. As someone who has founded a nonprofit myself and been a nonprofit consultant for years, I HATE spending months or even weeks on planning and talking just to have the plan sit on a shelf. It ends up being more of a philosophical document than a practical one. So I have reinvented the strategic planning process to one that require less talk, and is all about more action so we can make BIG impact. I call this reinvention an IMPACT ROADMAP and you can create yours in a day and be ready to kick 2023 off right