Nonprofit Leadership Choice Point: Program and Services

This post is part of our “Nonprofit Strategy Now” series: reflections on nonprofit strategy development in 2020 by Jenny Kramm, Collectivity Senior Consultant, see original post here

What follows are five key choice points that you may be encountering as a nonprofit organization today making strategic choices.  

Choice Point 1: Program and Services

Some of our clients programs or services are overwhelmed with demand, others are in a holding pattern, and others are on a pathway to close. This is a time to review your programs and services and make choices. 

We’re humbled by the ingenuity of our clients, like Project Home of Interfaith Action St. Paul. Pre-pandemic, their programming model housed people that were homeless in churches and other faith based buildings that had physical capacity. Challenges with COVID-19 spreading forced them to adapt, and they did, very quickly. Thanks to their work to adapt how their program operates 23 children and families can call a historic 1917 hotel home for now. 

Like a release of energy after a wildfire in the forest, pinecones open up and their seeds get planted in the ground: wildfires are essential for that ecological phenomenon. What are the pinecones opening up in your organization as a result of our community’s energy release? What are the seeds that have been dropped? Which seeds are sprouting that you want to invest money, time and energy in growing?

This line of inquiry could open up analysis of your organization’s programs and services that could result in some of the programs/services/fruit trees in your organization to die and some new programs/services/trees to grow new fruit that you wouldn’t have imagined.

Is this a discussion you’d like to explore with Collectivity’s help?

We facilitate board, staff, and smaller group strategic discussion virtually and in person. Contact us to get the conversation started.