Here is a discussion of these five key areas and how you should capitalize on them to improve your nonprofit.

Focus on your mission

Unlike for-profit organizations that can state with ease that their mission is to improve shareholder value, nonprofit leaders often lack clarity of purpose. Lack of clarity in mission, therefore, remains the leading threat to nonprofit organizations and their existence. With this challenge, nonprofits can be steered astray by stakeholders who may exert pressure on them to accommodate some interests that may affect the delivery of services. Lack of clear focus on your nonprofit’s mission results in a loss of multi-million-dollar donation opportunity.

Succession planning

 Like any other organization, succession in nonprofits is a critical topic that must be looked at carefully as it determines the future of your not for profit. The succession must be intentional and must ensure that the organization is led by a dynamic and visionary leader who is capable of taking it to the next level. For many nonprofits, however, successions are often chaotic and are faced with challenges. Failure to establish a clear succession strategy leads to a takeover by people whose personality traits are not aligned to the mission of the organization. As a leader of a nonprofit, therefore, put in place the right succession plan to ensure that the best take over the leadership.

Board of governance

The board of governance of a nonprofit must be dynamic and should consist of people who are enthusiastic about the work of their business and the mission of the nonprofit. Failure to find such people means that board meetings will be turned into rubberstamping sessions instead of strategic meetings that produce meaningful discourse about the future of the organization. Such meetings can be exhausting and less fruitful. As such, nonprofit board meetings need to be not only exciting but should be capable of influencing the strategies and must also inform critical decisions.

Fundraising is critical

For any nonprofit to pursue its course successfully, money is always the leading requirement. This means that a nonprofit must invest in development. As such, every dollar should be spent to get more funds by reducing unnecessary expenditures. Every member of the nonprofit should always engage in charitable giving and must help in raising funds. In short, all strategies should be focused on gathering more money for the organization regardless of the changing times.

Performance measurement

Performance measurement is the key to the success of every organization, including nonprofits. However, many nonprofits do not conduct due diligence in ensuring that they research data and do not measure the extent to which data can be reliable or could impact their operations. Various evaluation methods can be used to measure the performance of organizations. One of them is randomized controlled trials (RCT). Unfortunately, many nonprofits are reluctant to embrace these methods, leading to failure.

These five areas are what determine the success of nonprofits in the modern era, where competition is intense, and the environment changes faster. Simple as they may appear, they are challenging in practice but useful if implemented accordingly.