6 Notable Points in Building an Innovation-Sustained Nonprofit
Every not-for-profit knows they need an innovative and profitable business model. However, the challenge lies in ‘how’ to achieve it and develop the capacity to do so.
A joint summary by Bridgespan and Rockefeller foundation on the top 145 not-for-profit leaders identified the gap created by a challenge dubbed “Innovation-aspiration”. The survey highlighted that most not-for-profit leaders (about 80%) envisaged that to achieve success, they must sight solutions that improve societal growth, but only a few (40%) had the knowledge on how to go about it.
This made obvious the view that most not-for-profit had an impaired definition of ‘innovation’. The researchers identified innovation in the sector as a hiatus from small or large practices with the sole purpose of generating a significantly positive impact in society. This also explained that most not-for-profits are caught up in the loop of plodding for grants etc. trapped a business cycle.
Answering the question on “If your nonprofit is positioned for sustained innovation”, is dependent on a continuous and intentional approach to being proactive and effective at innovation.
High-performing nonprofits across dissimilar fields have developed a learning curve from which they have undergone systematic research, experimentation & testing over time. This indicates that the capacity and innovation can be cultivated.
The team identified six notable shared features by highly innovative not-for-profits:
Catalytic Leadership
This entailed the empowerment of employees to search for and take charge of ground-breaking solutions. These organizations empower their teams to push the limit of what is achievable; this has gotten them leaders at all levels of the organization, encouraging their teams to innovate. 3 features of a not-for-profit with catalytic leadership:
● Vision
● Clearly defined boundaries with questions and results to focus on.
● Leaders embodying the characters their teams emulate
For example, Higher achievement (an academic mentoring group based in Washington) uses data to obtain the KPI, which guides their decision-making and opportunities for innovation. The CEO and her team, has defined fixed and flexible objectives. A staff was allowed to pitch solutions to a challenge, which excited other staff, and saw improved results in the performance of their students.
Curious Culture
Employees are encouraged to think outside the box, critic assumptions and be innovation iconoclasts. Curious and creative work culture is a healthy environ for innovation growth. Curiosity cultured organizations are bound by communications, collaboration, and trust. These organizations encourage debates, brainstorming, and reinvention of wheels within their spaces.
Example, Kiva — an international micro-loaning platform, whose volunteer member (Matt Flannery) was supported into setting up ‘Kiva Zip’, a US version among small businesses.
Diversity
The secret of an organization’s ability to generate ideas is dependent on the diversity of the teams based on 3 views — demographics, styles and intellectual abilities. This approach does not stop at hiring a diverse team, but achieving true inclusion with onboard staff, with the clash of ideas and perspectives, is one of the keys to potential ideas. 3 features of a not-for-profit with diversity:
● The building of teams that harness their diversity
● The hiring of people who are diverse on the earlier highlighted views.
● Train their staff to lead and contribute to diverse and inclusive teams
Porous Boundaries
These not-for-profits enable a wide scope on the flow of information and insight both from within and outside the organization (constituents). 3 features of a not-for-profit with flexible boundaries:
● They invest in staff connections and systems that support growth on insights.
● Crowdsource ideas from constituents and other external voices
● Co-create solutions with constituents
For example, Bangladesh-based NGO, BRAC, as one of the largest by size it has over 100,000 people from 11 nations reaching out to 138 million constituents via its social services. However, BRAC devised ways to generate and circulate insights into the organization through:
● Use of in-person meeting and tech-enabled tools
● Conference (Frugal innovation forum) to build connections and exchange information and ideas on a large scale.
● Run large scale innovation competitions for ideas crowdsourcing.
● Update staff on happenings via their social innovation lab and the research & evaluation department.
Idea Pathways
These are management structures that provide a process tree for the generation of lots of ideas. These ideas are ones that have completed the steps highlighted by Eric Fries (The Lean Startup).
Only a few not-for-profits have deployed this approach. 3 features of a not-for-profit with idea pathways:
● Produce new ideas systematically
● Prioritize and scale the best ideas
● Test runs ideas using metrics and methodologies.
For example, One Acre Fund is an organization that aids African farmers in increasing their crop yields and profits from harvest sale. The teams develop pathways to introduce new products to its farmers that will deliver long-term profits. One Acre Fund’s pathway involved having a developed multistage process that ensures each tree species met the laid down criteria before they are introduced to the farmers. This includes Nurseries testing, small and large field trails. On introduction to the farmers, a 55% increase in the farmer’s income was observed.
Ready Resources
Innovation is resource-dependent. Even for profit-oriented organizations can barely survive without this. This applies to social sectors. Nonprofits stand to reduce huge risks by only allocating resources to new test products with high degree potentials. 3 features of a not-for-profit with resources:
● Investments in tech tools and training
● Management and structuring innovation focus and project deliveries.
● Provides resources for innovation initiatives
For example, Oxfam International, a leading nonprofit with over 20 subsidiary NGOs in 90 cities and over 1 billion generated revenue in 2016. However, it struggled with innovation investment (time & finance). To this effect, its fundraising team tested out new approaches for the generation of grants and alternative funding mechanisms. These approaches enabled Oxfam to invest in training progress toolkits & support for its teams with ideas experimentations to run.
In providing a solution to the time challenges its teams face with innovating for the future and also delivering on day-to-day works. Oxfam routine its country leads to enrolling in a program — Impact@Scale Accelerators. An accelerator pay with participants from over several countries developing ideas that are helpful for their countries and Oxfam’s impact, income and influence.
In innovation, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to the challenges ahead. Leaders at every stage must build models using their experience & expertise to solve challenges and anticipate more. This survey has underscored these 6 approaches to integrating innovation into a not-for-profit, continuously, for long-term sustenance and achievement — the improvement of human and environmental well-being.
