The root cause of many of the problems nonprofit organizations experience with their databases is often nothing to do with the software itself. Without plans to design and use them, processes to guide them, and people to effectively use and manage them, databases cannot deliver the value your organization wants or needs. Last month, we[…]
This is our third and final post in a series sharing tips from The IllumiLab team and members of our community of practice for nonprofits that are preparing to hire their first internal evaluator. In our last post, we shared some tips and questions to consider as you decide what type of support your evaluator[…]
A messy shared drive is more than a headache. It’s a business process and knowledge management disaster. An organization cannot plan thoughtfully, design intentionally, work efficiently, and learn continuously if it cannot store, find, and use its decisions, plans, efforts, and insights. Google Drive, SharePoint, OneDrive, etc. are all powerful tools for file sharing and[…]
Tools are Just Tools In our first years, The IllumiLab’s work was focused almost exclusively on building tools nonprofits could use to measure their performance (logic models, measures, data collection tools, performance management plans, etc.). This was the pain point organizations experienced, and this was the service they requested. But we soon realized that without[…]
In my last post, I argued that this crisis is an opportunity to re-imagine your work. It has the potential to change the way we define our Why, What, and How as organizations. In this post, I want to focus on our How – the processes we use to serve our clients, lead our teams,[…]
Yes, this is one of those posts that aims to re-frame this crisis, to find a silver lining, to see the glass half-full. If you’re not in the mood for that right now, I won’t be offended. But please do come back and read this post when you’re ready to think about what’s next. In[…]
Has your organization recently completed a strategic planning process and created a “plan” that is nothing more than a glorified (and long) laundry list? Do you create annual plans full of aspirational goals that never quite get fully operationalized or implemented because no one knows where to start? Did you get a list of feedback[…]
I’ve said it here many times. I hate waste! As a sector that’s starved for resources yet charged with addressing some of society’s most intractable problems, we can’t afford to waste any time, energy, knowledge, or money! We’ve all heard the saying “time is money.” In our sector, time is money, and money is the[…]
People in both for-profit and not-for-profit sectors often opine about the differences between the two. In the non-profit world, we say we are different because we are motivated by mission rather than money. The business world sometimes says we should be more like businesses. I agree with both, to some degree. Because our organizations are[…]