501 Focused

“ Vision without action is a dream. Action without vision is simply passing the time. Action with Vision is making a positive difference. ” - Joel Barker This past year or so has been tough for a lot of people - and for a lot of organizations. Many are struggling to find a job, to find health insurance coverage, to find donors and members. . . Inspiration to seek a better way can be hard when you’re just trying to get through each day, but dreaming of what the future can hold is sometimes the driving force for change. In the last post we covered Mission Statements - the foundation of your existence and operations . Once you’ve defined who you are, it’s time to move to who you want to be. That’s where a Vision Statement comes in. Your dreams are found in the Vision Statement; how does the future “you” look? The Mission and Vision Statements should tie together so that you don’t veer too far off from one trying to attain the other. Consider this as the destination you want to reach,...

“I haven't any courage at all. I even scare myself.” - The Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz This post is all about Courage. In my last post, I said we’d talk more about Getting Focused, and I believe courage is a big part of that -- especially when it comes to strategic planning. Wikipedia’s definition of courage is “the ability to confront fear, pain, risk/danger, uncertainty, or intimidation.” Those of us who work in the nonprofit arena see a lot of examples of courage -- from the individuals with the courage to leave abusive situations and seek help from a shelter to those who travel long distances to render aid when disasters strike. Strategic planning also takes a bit of courage, maybe not on that scale, but courage nonetheless. For a group to take on strategic planning, it must be willing to look outside the norms of operation, to confront failures (and possibly risk new ones), to let go of successes if they take the organization off course from its mission, and to fo...

Welcome to 501 Focused . As the name implies, this blog is focused on addressing the needs of nonprofits [501(c)(3)] and associations [501(c)(6)] . Over the next several months, we’ll cover strategic planning and many of the aspects of what makes that -- and the organizations who engage in it -- successful. In the spirit of being “501 Focused,” this blog plans to highlight a nonprofit or association with each posting. See the “Focus On” section at the bottom of the post for our featured organizations. To kick things off, I’d like to share some personal insight I recently had involving both work and family -- two aspects of our lives that often intersect, whether we want them to or not. I just returned from a board meeting for an association of surgeons, where I facilitated a session to help them plan some projects for the next few years. Two days later I got a call telling me my mother had fallen and was at a local hospital. While it might seem strange to connect the two,...