A nonprofit organization recently reached out to me and asked for a Letter of Support. I’m not sure what your community is like, but this is a common occurrence in ours. In order to get additional funding, grants, support or continue in existence, nonprofits have to continually reach out to key people to get support, usually in the form of a letter. “I am writing this letter in support of…In closing, I hope that you will favorably consider…”

Or, more often with citizens, you might get ballot options to approve this nonprofit or that nonprofit for some amount of money. This usually happens every ballot season and it's usually the same nonprofits year after year asking not only for your vote, but for your tax money.

If you’re like me, do you ever wish you had more time to “measure and evaluate their success?” In the Letter of Support, should I first ask the nonprofit “why” they deserve a letter of support? As a voter, should you ask those nonprofits for a recent P&L or their recent customer satisfaction survey? Look, if I am going to approve $25,000 for you every year, I’d like to see some progress or know you’re heading in the right direction!

In another case, I was also recently working with a client doing some work on their nonprofit executive director position. Even though I encouraged the board to consider this executive director for a 23% raise, I attached the idea of better measuring the executives performance too. Yes, I wanted that executive to get paid more because I had looked over the “organic” evidence of their work and similar organizations and I had determined that they deserved to be paid more. However, I also think “with great compensation comes great responsibility.” My recommendation was for the board to approve the pay increase and to measure the executive on the following:

The board should establish at least an annual performance review or a 360 degree analysis (a feedback process focused on leadership above, direct reports below, and side to side: customers, community and peers) for the director.
Goals should be established for and with the executive in this process and can lead to salary increases, bonuses and most importantly intrinsic motivation for both parties.
The board should create a rubric around necessary goals for the director and I recommended the following buckets of strategic work: membership growth, membership satisfaction (through survey and interviews), community engagement and satisfaction (through survey and interviews), increased awareness through advocacy and marketing, and innovation and visioning.

Tom Peters once encouraged us to be what he called “economic patriots,” and to not walk by “shoddy product or service." He encouraged every consumer to call out poor products or behavior; his argument being that the only way we could continually be competitive in the global marketplace, was to “call ourselves out” if need be.

Shoddy, by definition, means poor quality, badly made or done.

Vermont, where I live, has the most nonprofits per capita. With a nonprofit for every 160 people, Vermont has double the number of charities per capita as the national average (320)!

That is an amazing amount of nonprofits for one of the smallest states in the country. I am sure there are plenty of good reasons for that many nonprofits existing including need, poverty, services, etc. However, having been on the frontlines of nonprofits for many years and seeing the operations of these nonprofits, I often cringe at the antiquated models they are using to stay alive.

We must also not walk by shoddy community organizations, like nonprofits, as they created much of the very fabric of our downtowns, villages and cities!

If we commit to not walk by shoddy organizations, what should we be looking for? Let’s first start by getting the basic data and facts to begin to evaluate the success. Here is where I would start (and this doesn’t just work for nonprofits, but any organization):

Mission, Values and Vision: When did the organization last visit your mission, values and/or vision statement? Were the mission, values and/or vision enhanced during the process?
Internal Stakeholder Survey: When was the last time the organization conducted an internal stakeholders survey (staff, board, leadership) to better identify positive improvements and/or necessary recommendations? Would the organization be willing to share any high level results?
External Customer Survey: When was the last time the organization conducted an external customer survey (students, members, patrons, donors, consumers) to better identify positive improvements and/or necessary recommendations? Would the organization be willing to share any high level results?
External Stakeholder Survey: When was the last time the organization conducted an external stakeholder survey (community members, community leaderships, donors, competitors) to better identify positive improvements and/or necessary recommendations? Would the organization be willing to share any high level results?
Goal Setting and Planning: Has the organization recently completed any type of visioning, goal-setting, SWOT analysis or strategic plan for the organization? Would the organization be willing to share the plan, results or high level outcomes?
Industry Standards: What other ways does the organization measure success? Are there certain industry standards, overseeing board, certifications, requirements, etc.?
Competitive Analysis: Are there any other organizations in the region that are doing work similar to the organization? If so, explain the differences, specific talents of each organization or why the organizations have not combined.

As you can see the list above is about attaining objective, quantifiable data. It is not about the single opinion of the executive leader, the marketing campaign or the board president. Facts over opinions. True success over the need for money or your vote. Or as Deming is famous for saying, ”In God we trust. All others must bring data.”

I shared this list with a peer and he agreed with me adding, “Most organizations are on the gerbil wheel and never consider this stuff; why improve when we’re crazy busy helping people.”

What could nonprofits gain in knowledge, service, efficiency and mission work if they applied some of the list above to their organizations. Could they help more people, be more sufficient, be better stewards of their finances, and expand their services? The results would be exciting.