By Joyce Penland, CFRE
Conducting a “diagnostic assessment” or an “internal procedures audit” can be a powerful tool in providing nonprofits a roadmap for future success. In the development assessments the Bacon Lee & Associates team has initiated for our clients, we have learned that while the actual process is sometimes challenging for staff and nonprofit leaders, the results form a strong foundation for future planning.
We are strong proponents of development assessments for nonprofits who are seeking to make changes to better equip staff and volunteers to be effective fundraisers. Many development assessments are spurred by nonprofit managers who want to know how they “stack up” against other nonprofits and how they can improve results. Sometimes we are engaged in development assessments when board members want to test a new strategy or when staff changes need to be made. Regardless of need for the assessment, the outcome helps steer future action for the entire team—CEO, development staff, board members and volunteers.
In one assessment we conducted, results showed that the nonprofit client needed to do more community outreach and image building to overcome some mistaken beliefs about its mission. The community at large did not have enough knowledge about the organization and the people it served to have a strong opinion of it, and for those who had an opinion, it was negative. We helped the organization strategize some important “next steps” to help bolster its public image and to make friends among those who could support it in the future.
In another assessment, we helped an already strong organization look at its internal processes and procedures and to make changes to staff responsibilities. Helping to assess the staff’s inherent strengths and weaknesses, we strategized with the Development Director to empower his team members to utilize their natural gifts and worked with him to build the case to hire an additional staff member.
Development assessments are an important mechanism to help appraise where an organization is now versus where it wants to go in the future. By looking down the road with the clients, we offer advice and counsel that can help good organizations become great and great organizations become even greater.