Listening and Learning

What a privilege it is to take a month or two to stand back and listen. That’s what we’ve been doing this winter…listening. A key part, if not the most important part, of our strategic planning process is to listen and “discover” what our stakeholders think about Senior Citizen Services both today and tomorrow. It has been reassuring to learn what a tremendous impact we are making for our seniors and their caregivers, but frustrating that we cannot do more. I have been struck by the broad support we have from so many wonderful people and entities, from individual donors, family foundations, governmental entities, nonprofit umbrella groups, and many more. Our supporters think we are continuing to improve and make a greater impact as well!

Cathy Brink of Brink*Matheney Consulting has been facilitating our process (by the way she is completely donating her time and won’t even let us pay for her lunch!). Cathy asked us to summarize our “learnings” to date last week and I thought I’d share some of them:
· Needs: SCS seniors are satisfied with our services and grateful for the various programs that help them. There is a greater need to help seniors awaiting services (home repairs and meals). There is greater need to help seniors and their caregivers access and coordinate overall services. There is a greater to help seniors with transportation.
· Relationships: Key stakeholders regard SCS highly. Key stakeholders seem to be pleased with SCS’ progress, with our dedication and services to our seniors, and with our impact. More emphasis should be placed on SCS leadership cultivating additional donors, funders and leaders. A number of key stakeholders (especially corporate) did not respond to requests for strategic planning input, revealing a potential relationship deficit as well.
· Clarity: Many of our stakeholders are not clear on what SCS does, our mission, our programs, our impact, etc. There is a general recognition that progress has been made with regard to marketing, but there appears to be a lot more to do. It is also important to note that most interviewees did not necessarily want more mail or email, but perhaps more clear messaging.
· Meals On Wheels Atlanta: Private donors, corporate donors and foundations are most interested in meals on wheels. There is generally positive support for SCS expanding its meals on wheels program outside of its current geographic focus, especially if additional resources followed.
· Other services: There is a general recognition that the other services SCS provides are important and should be continued (home repairs, Alzheimer’s day care, senior centers/wellness, etc.). There does not seem to be widespread private donor support for these programs, but stakeholders still find them worthy and seem to point toward governmental support. Fee-based revenue may also provide opportunities, but there was not overwhelming interest or direction in that regard.
· Collaboration and Competition: Most stakeholders recognize that SCS does a good deal of collaboration, but perhaps need to highlight these collaborations better.

What do you think? Please share your opinion with me at jsmythe@scsatl.org. We hope to launch our new plan in June, so please let me “listen” to your insights today!

-- by Jeff Smythe, Executive Director

Effective Nonprofit Strategies

This year, Senior Citizen Services was selected to present at the combined conferences of the National Council on Aging and the American Society on Aging. While we were one of more than one hundred presentations over the five day conference for more than 3,500 attendees, one of the highlights for me was a session entitled “Declining Resources: Nonprofits Zero In on Scope and Impact.” James Firman, President and CEO of National Council on Aging focused on five key strategies for aging-related nonprofits during the challenging economy. I would like to share his strategies here:

1. Believe in abundance, not scarcity: wealth = resources x technologyN
Nonprofits need to focus on diverse sources of income, including consumer disposable income, consumer assets, planned giving, Medicare and Medicaid, corporate giving, private foundations, other organizations (eg: collaboration), and older adults (eg: retiree leadership teams).

2. Know your hedgehog concept and live it!
This is based on Jim Collins’ Good To Great, where top performing companies knew what they were best at and focused completely on that core service or product. It is the intersection of what we are deeply passionate about, what drives our resource engine, and what we’re good at.

3. Get out of the business of providing programs and services and get into the business of producing and selling outcomes.

4. To raise funds, focus on the time of stakeholders and the brand—and the money should follow

5. Make surgical cuts, not across-the-board cuts. Stop the underperforming part of the organization, don’t slow everything down. Peter Drucker said that the largest mistake that nonprofit organizations make is their failure to abandon underperforming aspects of their mission.

In addition to James Firman’s key strategies, Serita Cox, Manager of Bridgespan, presented eight insights from experienced nonprofit leaders during the economic downturn:
1. Act quickly, not reactively; plan for contingencies
2. Protect your core competencies
3. Identify key people and keep them strong
4. Stay close to key funders
5. Shape up your organization—fitness time for nonprofits!
6. Involve your board again and again
7. Communicate openly and often
8. Know your cash flow—if you have to dip into reserves, try to restore them quickly

I figured for this month’s blog, these words of wisdom speak for themselves. We will learn from these experts, celebrate where we have already moved in their suggested directions, and push in the areas where needed.

by Jeffrey M. Smythe, Executive Director