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Move Like You've Got A Purpose

For those of you who haven't got the benefit of an army education or have not lived in an army family, I will give you a taste of it right now: "Soldier, move like you got a purpose!" Whether you work at a for-profit corporation or a not-for-profit organization (NPO), you have a mission to fulfill.

Those intrepid souls who migrate from the profit ranks to the boards and trenches of NPO's tend to make the same mistakes each time. They scratch their heads and wonder when the place is going to turn a profit. When the veterans disabuse them of that notion, they proceed as if there are no similarities between profit entities and NPO's at all. They begin to think that the definition of an NPO is a corporation you don't have to take seriously. That sound you hear is their organization's downfall. In fact there are several key similarities that will astonish NPO newbies, and even many veterans: sales, customer service, and bottom line.

Every NPO ever created sells something whether it be venue admission, Girl Scout cookies, or simply the notion that your service is a necessary one. The latter is the most important of all. In fund raising I've often heard the lament that there is no return on investment. Not so. Not only is there a return on investment, but that ROI often takes the form dollar and cents since the quality of your community and your real estate value are tied together. Beyond that, the return contributors get is a satisfaction that is worth more than money. Therefore many of the rules of sales apply. I advise preventing buyer's remorse.

The next key similarity is customer service. For-profits all-too-often get their customer service wrong. When they are not monopolies, the market punishes them fairly quickly because competitors step in to take advantage by getting that aspect of their own business right. Some NPO's have even more trouble understanding the need for good customer service since they may not have competitors that offer their service, and may not recognize they compete with a whole range of dissimilar uses of their client's time and money. NPO's that subsist largely on government funds are not punished quickly, and may have a tendency to miss the fact that good customer service is essential. As in retail, it is five times harder to find a new customer than to keep the old one happy.

The last and perhaps most astonishing of the three similarities and rules I identify is that even NPO's must watch the bottom line. The words "not for profit" do not have to translate into "tremendous loss." At a certain point, supporters will not bear up well under the brunt of an organization in constant crisis. If some years are deficits, other years must be an accumulation of rainy day funds. Travel junkets, empire building, and other wasteful spending should be no more acceptable in NPO's than anywhere else.

In short, understand the for-profit and NPO similarities, move like you've got a purpose, and your organization will be a success.

Learn more about this author, Ben Parris.
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