Impactful, Efficient And Responsible
The UK will grow by 3.6% in 2022 before posting zero growth in 2023, according to the OECD, with inflation expected to average 8.8% this year and fall only slightly to 7.4% in 2023. The predictions – contained in the OECD’s half-yearly economic outlook – represent a sharp downgrade from the estimated 4.7% growth this year and 2.1% next year made six months ago. Laurence Boone, the thinktank’s chief economist, said the UK was being hit by a combination of factors, including higher interest rates, higher taxes, reduced trade and more expensive energy.
In this context, all organisations and in particular not for profits have to test their resilience and re-evaluate their model. Is your organisation as impactful, efficient and responsible as it should be? It is a strategic imperative for all not for profits to excel equally in these three areas to successfully navigate into those uncertain times.
Here is a quick checklist and some recommendations for non-profit leaders…
Imapactful
Is your strategy based on clearly articulated impact objectives and a logic model / theory of change detailing how you will deliver it?
Do you have the right impact management framework and capabilities to ensure targeted quality impact data collection and analysis?
Is your impact reporting validated by a third party and enabling effective communication of your achievements and opportunities for improvement?
Are your structure, processes and culture ensuring impact-driven decision-making for your resource allocation?
Potential Actions
Link your theory of change to your strategy and operating plans
Partner with a third party to review your social impact reporting and identify opportunities for improvement
Introduce economic assessments of your social impact to test value for money (e.g., social return on investment, health economics, QALY)
Review your performance reporting and governance to introduce impact metrics
Efficient
Is your operating model aligned with your strategic requirements?
Is your resource model fit for purpose and optimised?
Is your operational and financial decision-making informed by reliable and comprehensive performance data?
Potential Actions
Clarify your business and financial model by defining clear profitability and expenditure targets across all operational areas
Introduce a transparent and reliable cost allocation model to make financial decisions based on the true cost of delivering services and activities.
Introduce zero-based budgeting to positively question your budget and understand fixed and variable spend
Review your third party spent to identify demand management and procurement opportunities to reduce costs
Benchmark your support function and services to assess your relative competitiveness vs. peers and target your cost savings effort
Review your spans and layers to address resources inefficiencies
Identify resource-intensive and high-frequency processes to assess opportunities for automation through better use of technology and analytics
Responsible
Are you an environment-friendly organisation on a clear path to net-zero?
Do you have the policies and practices to ensure a relentless focus on diversity and inclusion, well-being, talent growth, career development, and respect for human rights?
Do you have the governance and risk frameworks in place to enable sound management?
Potential Actions
Run a materiality analysis to understand what matters the most to your stakeholders and your organisation
Measure carbon emissions and identify opportunities to achieve net zero.
Introduce robust and dynamic performance management tools such as OKRs