Effective collaboration means knowing your organization’s strengths and its needs. Here's how clear content supports your collaborations.

Here's what you'll learn in this article: 

• How to emphasize your organization’s strengths.

• 
  

• 3 strategies for content that promotes collaboration in the areas your organization needs.

• 
  

• Additional services and resources to Make It Matter.

• 
  

Collaborate with Similar and Complimentary Organizations to Lift Each Other

Possibly the greatest hindrance to collaboration is a scarcity mindset stemming from a lack of clarity about what sets your organization apart and what it needs from the collaboration. First, recognize that there is enough. Collaboration done well pools strengths and lifts both organizations collectively.

Next, realize that collaborating well relies on clear communication. It isn’t enough to be “open to collaboration”. Collaboration with set logistics and goals allows both organizations to operate from the same place and gives natural points in the process for determining if the collaboration is a fit. Collaboration is more like a relationship with a transactional element. In this arrangement there is trust, ups and downs, and, ideally, greater benefit for both organizations.

Three strategies for content that promotes collaboration.

If your organization isn’t clear about how it will achieve its vision, then possible collaborators won’t understand how to work together either. Likewise, if your organization only wants to collaborate because it sounds like something to do, then each organization is unlikely to reap great benefits.

1. Know Your Organization’s Strengths   

What does your organization do well? Maybe your organization has a tremendous volunteer program, knows how to sustain supporters, or has a great marketing team for events. What you organization does well is you leverage for collaboration. Collaboration is more transactional and about pooling resources to achieve a greater benefit, so you want to showcase what your organization strengths are.

When looking for a collaboration include your organization’s strengths in a write-up. Whether it remains internal notes for you or becomes an ongoing page on your website, ensure there is clarity about what your organization does well and can share with others.

2. Know Your Organization’s Needs

Why does your organization want to collaborate? Maybe your organization needs to build a volunteer program, host its first event, or become more entrenched in the community. Knowing what your organization needs from a collaboration is how you will assess the fit of a possible collaboration.

Add your organization’s needs to the write-up that includes your organization’s strengths. Think of this like your organization’s collaboration wish list. As you name your needs, think expansively and include lofty needs and straightforward needs. Organization’s looking to collaborate will appreciate seeing your organization’s vision for collaboration.

3. Get More Specific

With your organization’s strengths and needs in mind, then get specific about what other organizations make sense as a collaborative partner. If you are looking to grow your reach in the community, then look for similar organizations—being extra clear about how your organization unique, not duplicative. For example, if your organization offers services to youth or rural residents, while theirs offers services to adults or urban residents.

Alternatively, if you are looking for a specific skill set then a contrasting organization might be a great fit, as long as they have the skill set you need. For example, if your organization provides meals for those in need, then collaborating with an organization that donates flower arrangements, might be a great fit—the tables will look great filled with food and flowers! Check out the collaboration wheel graphic in this article for ideas on complimentary and contrasting organizations.

When you reach out to an organization use your strengths and needs content to craft the ask.

Bottom Line: Collaboration amongst non-profit organizations lifts the community and achieves greater impact—get clear about your organization’s strengths and needs and start collaborating!

If your non-profit or donor program needs more support to Make It Matter, then check out our services and on demand resources.

Make sure others know what your non-profit does and why it matters. Here's how with 3 strategies.

Here's what you'll learn in this article: 

• How to make the most of your non-profit’s story each day.

• 
  

• 3 strategies for using your non-profits story so your audiences know what you do and why it matters.

• 
  

• Additional services and resources to Make It Matter.

Share your non-profit’s story every chance you get for maximum impact.

Once you have a compelling story (why it matters) to convey what your non-profit does (the evidence), then you need to get it to your audience. You want your story to be shared in myriad touch points across your organization. A story that permeates throughout your organization will not only attract champions to engage, but it will also help you in day to day decision making.

Sharing your non-profit’s story is an accessible and practical way to grow your non-profit’s impact and attract the support that you need. Sharing your story is achievable with intentional effort. It does not require a brand new marketing budget.

Three strategies for intentionally sharing your non-profit’s story to get the impact you want for your organization.

Having a compelling story is only one part of achieving greater impact for your organization. Next you need to ensure that your non-profit’s story is shared at every opportunity to reach your audience.

1. Who are your primary and secondary audience?  

For impact, you need your story to reach the right audience, not everyone. Ideally, your non-profit’s story includes a clear call to action about what your non-profit needs to to achieve its next priority.  Who can help with that call to action? If you want to expand your volunteer program, then your primary audience is potential volunteers. If you want to increase donations from local businesses, then your primary audience is local businesses.

To avoid diluting the power of your story focus on a primary and secondary audience. As you achieve your priorities, then you can refine the call to action in your story for the next priority and modify the primary and secondary audience accordingly.

2. Find your touchpoints

Think about your organization’s day-to-day. Chart it out like following a route on a map. Where are all of the places your organization goes each day? These are your touch points. For example, if you have a physical building, note the arrival to the building as one touch point. Get as detailed as you like from parking to arriving at the door.

Map all the touch points you can think of. You’ll use these touch to intentionally prioritize where you can include your non-profit’s story.

3. Be intentional about how your share your story

You are clear about who your primary and secondary audiences are. You have mapped your typical daily touchpoints. To make the most of your non-profit’s story share it in all the touch points that reach your primary and secondary audiences. If you are looking for potential volunteers, then make sure you are sharing your organization’s story the moment they arrive at your building—is it special parking signage or a sign on the door? If you are targeting local businesses, then what greeting do they get if they call your organization or reach out via social media?

These details matter and can make the difference between a volunteer who shows up once and shows up for a life time.

Bottom Line: Share your non-profit’s story intentionally across your organization to get the impact you need.

Where to Learn More

If your non-profit or donor program needs more support to Make It Matter, then check out our services and on demand resources.

Musings That Matter: Expansive Thinking About Humanity's Problems

I recently spoke with Kirk Knestis, PhD, about Repairing the Ecosystem of Mobility.

Kirk is Executive Director of WheelCare Health Inc. Before starting this new nonprofit, he spent 25 years doing program and policy evaluation, focusing on innovations in federally funded education programs. Prior to that, he worked as a higher education instructor and master’s degree program manager, K-12 educator, and small business entrepreneur. He holds a BFA in Industrial Design, a Master in Teaching, and a terminal degree in program and policy evaluation

What problem are you facing? (see graphic)

• Ensuring people in Fairfax and Loudoun Counties (Virginia) with mobility needs have the right equipment, and the equipment is in optimal working order.

What part of the problem are you trying to solve? (see highlighted path in graphic)

• Connecting people (primarily low income seniors) with the right mobility equipment to meet their needs.

How are you meeting this need?

• By repairing their existing mobility equipment using an onsite delivery model.

• By redistributing donated and refurbished mobility equipment.

What do you need to better meet this need? (see outlined boxes in graphic)

• Funding through donations to subsidize sliding scale payments for client device repairs (two separate revenue streams).

• Eventually, foundation or other grant support to help make the mission sustainable.

• Access to unused equipment to refurbish and redistribute.

• Community relationships built on trust and transparency to make connections with (1) those who have mobility equipment to donate, (2) those who need mobility equipment, (3) individuals needing service of devices, and (4) decision-makers interested in supporting our mission with funding.

What support do you need one layer in and out from where you are trying to solve the problem?

• Need community champions (e.g., family members, medical providers, senior centers) in each of the four areas in the bullet above to help connect the service with those who need functional mobility equipment.

• Need to educate the community about the complexity of the problem and misaligned incentives including the transparent repair process and what optimal working order means when it comes to mobility equipment.

What does it look like to the outside observer?

• People often don’t recognize the problem because the individuals with mobility needs are literally more isolated from society; people with insufficient mobility aids even more so. Even those with mobility needs, don’t always recognize the resources available to restore—or even maintain—the functionality of their mobility equipment.

What can someone do today for long-term activism?

• Healthcare reimbursement needs to be redesigned to include reimbursement for equipment repair with a straightforward application and approval process.

• Emerging “right to repair” laws need to consider personal mobility devices, ideally as a particular challenge given how crucial they are to some Americans.

What magnificence can we imagine?

• It would be awesome if the ecosystem of mobility included functional equipment to mitigate individual suffering. At the community level in northern Virginia this looks like having a repair and maintenance ecosystem to efficiently afford mobility equipment to people who need them (or repair existing equipment for optimal use). This would ideally leverage equipment already in circulation to decrease costs to users and keep unused hardware out of the waste stream.

What’s next for You?

• Continue educating the community about this problem to build support—access, logistics, and financing—to keep repairing, refurbishing, and redistributing mobility equipment for those who need it!

Want to learn more?

Reach out via LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirk-knestis/ or contribute directly at  https://www.wheelcare.health/

Want to tell a better story in 2026 to help others know your non-profit matters? Here's how.

Here's what you'll learn in this article: 

• A practical approach to start telling a better story about your non-profit today.

• 3 steps to telling your non-profit’s story.

• Additional services and resources to Make It Matter.

• 
  

A non-profit’s evidence is what it does, and its story is why it matters.

Non-profits face a lot of obstacles. In addition to typically tight resources, they also often face outsize expectations from the public to solve humanity’s problems for $20, while also making a splashy video about their efforts. While the outsize expectations are problematic, there is also something to be gained in being clear about what you are doing and why.

Unfortunately, a lot of non-profits aren’t clear about their mission and vision, which makes it difficult for the public to engage. Avoid this lack of clarity in 2026 by having your non-profit’s story ready.

Three simple steps to telling a compelling story about your non-profit’s.

Having a compelling story about your non-profit is broadly useful to your non-profit whether onboarding staff or talking to potential donors. Here’s how to get your story ready for the new year:

1. Know the Elements of Your Story

To create a compelling story for your non-profit you need to know the basic elements: problem, role, and audience.

• What is the problem you want solved?

• What is your non-profit’s role in solving the problem? What does your program do at its core?

• Who benefits from what your program does to solve this problem?

With these three building blocks you can create a compelling story for your non-profit that tells people what you are doing to solve a problem and who is helped by having that problem solved.

For example, here’s how a story could look for a fictitious non-profit called Youth Learning Connections.

• What is the problem you want solved?

• Address worse educational outcomes among youth.

• 
  

• What is your non-profit’s role in solving the problem? What does your program do at its core?

• Youth Learning Connections (YLC) provides free extracurricular educational classes to youth.

• 
  

• Who benefits from what your program does to solve this problem?

• Youth still experiencing the effects of learning loss from the COVID Pandemic with limited access to extracurricular education resources.

2. Put it together

With the basic elements of your story at hand, you will want to put it together in a compelling narrative. Choose words and a format that fit your audience. You can also create different versions of your story for different audiences (e.g., donors vs. volunteers). The important part is keeping the elements the same and varying how you tell the story.

To put it together in a compelling narrative you’ll want to cover the following:

• Line one captures the problem, role, and audience.

• Line two captures and ideal example of your program working.

• Line three highlights an opportunity from line two to elevate your program.

• Line four highlights the current need of your program to pursue that new opportunity.

• Line five is the call to action for how people can support you in meeting the needs of that new opportunity.

Continuing with our fictitious example:

• Line 1: Every day Youth Learning Connections is providing free educational classes to youth to address growing research that today’s youth are at risk for worse outcomes related to declining educational engagement.

• 
  

• Line 2: One day the facility was quietly humming with youth engaged in classes for coding and starting a business.

• 
  

• Line 3: Because of that we knew we were giving youth an outlet that needed to be shared.

• 
  

• Line 4: Because of that we asked participants about becoming youth ambassadors to help us connect with more local schools and collaborate with potential funders.

• 
  

• Line 5: Youth Learning Connections needs your support to connect with other schools and engage talented and successful community members to support classes.

3. Simplify for Impact

With a drafted story reach out to colleagues for feedback on how to simplify and add impact. You can also ask key donors and volunteers who engage with your organization what they think. The aim is to get broad input that you can readily apply, not to get bogged down in constant fine tuning. If people are worried about that level of fine tuning, remind them that the story can evolve over time, you can also try different versions with different audiences to inform your decision-making about which is the best fit for your program’s needs.

This story can be used in a variety of ways to help your program such as: an elevator pitch, on your website as text or a video, to inform social media posts, and in talking with staff, volunteers, donors and other stakeholders. 

Bottom Line: Create a compelling story for your non-profit by knowing your problem, role, and audience.

Where to Learn More

If your non-profit or donor program needs more support to Make It Matter, then check out our services and on demand resources.

To reimagine how humanity solves its problems a shift in values is critical. I have heard our capitalist economy being compared to nature because it is always growing. While nature does grow, it isn’t unfettered growth—think of invasive weeds that choke out unique species. Nature is about growing and remaining in balance. Our societal values seem imbalanced at present and lacking emphasis on solidarity, collaboration, and innovation (that last one might give you more pause, but consider the cuts to university funding and the likelihood that scientific discoveries are made by people after 40, not before). Shifting the priority of our values requires changes to our daily approaches and activities.

Underlying solidarity is trust that we are all of one world, which is the truth, but, unfortunately, not the reality that most of us experience. To arrive at that degree of trust we must engage in what ails society through interaction with non-profits, whether volunteering, donating, or otherwise contributing. Such engagement with society gives us the opportunity to learn, have new ideas, and glean new perspectives, which are all useful to giving us the space to recognize and value all of humanity. Each day we choose the content that we consume. Imagine if we regularly sought out thought provoking content that brings us closer to living solidarity as a primary value.

Collaboration is underpinned by a need to be open to new experiences and possibilities. It requires security that there is enough. Arriving at that experience is coupled with elevating solidarity because the distribution of resources is heavily skewed. Amidst those larger policy needs, we can readily evaluate how we use our resources (money, staff, and time) to prioritize solidarity and collaboration. As we embrace a future with AI, we can leverage its ability to identify patterns and highlight repetitions where we might be able to streamline and pool our resources.

Innovation requires the space for experimenting, which must include grace for failures. With the space to experiment integrated throughout life via standard education and civic engagement is key. Seeking guidance, courses, and ongoing classes, is a great way to exercise your creativity, which you can use in your day-to-day to revamp tired processes and imagine something more.

With solidarity, collaboration, and innovation valued as top societal priorities that guide our approaches and activities, we can reimagine how we solve our problems. Non-profits are at the forefront of humanity’s challenges and face outsized expectations relative to how they are typically supported. Engaging in thought provoking content, creatively approaching our resources, and seeking new skills are all ways to get closer to the trust, openness, and experimenting that are needed to rebalance our values.

Bottom line: Let's reimagine how we solve humanity's problems by embracing a culture that values solidarity, collaboration, and innovation. To get there we need trust, openness, and experimenting, which we get by continuing to think, evolve, and try.

If your non-profit or donor program needs more support to Make It Matter, then check out our services and on demand resources.

Musings That Matter: Expansive Thinking About Humanity's Problems

I recently spoke with Nicole Brocato, PhD, about Getting The Right Information.

Nicole Brocato, PhD, is a research psychologist with over 20 years of experience in positive psychology, measure design, program evaluation, and advanced research methods. She works at Wake Forest University as the Director of Institutional Effectiveness and also does private consulting.

What problem are you facing? (see graphic)

• Giving people the best possible information in the way they need it

What part of the problem are you trying to solve? (see highlighted path in graphic)

• Address resource limitations by being an expert in tailoring software and information to be accessible

How are you meeting this need?

• By identifying ways to use readily available software

• By compiling information libraries that are trustworthy and accurate

What do you need to better meet this need? (see outlined box in graphic)

• Artificial Intelligence (AI) needs to work better (e.g., not making information up)

• Design software that is useful ‘out of the box’ and doesn’t need a degree to use well

• Public access to the best information

What support do you need one layer in and out from where you are trying to solve the problem?

• AI developers need to value the accuracy and limitations of the returned results

• Decision-makers who are more aware of varied information sources and characteristics

What does this problem space look like to the outside observer?

• People are feeling information overload (too technical and abundant) and information starvation (accuracy and applicability concerns)

What can someone do today for long-term activism?

• Public, government, and industry need to consider the moral and legal implications of information rights, access, the public domain, etc.

• Policy and funding decisions need to support the removal of pay walls for high-quality information access (e.g., explicit grant funding, organizational support, and other business models)

What magnificence can we imagine?

• For example, what if an organization could ask the internet how to conduct an internal program evaluation and receive responses from an AI-enabled search engine that were tailored to their unique situation and communication needs (e.g., slides, worksheets, report templates, etc.)

What’s next for you?

• Continue filling this gap while software and information systems are being refined, and society works through issues surrounding information access

Want to learn more? Reach out via LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolebrocato/ or email: nwbrocato[@]gmail.com

Musings That Matter: Expansive Thinking About Humanity's Problems

Musings That Matter is a new series to showcase what people are doing to effect change in society. This first one showcases work that I was doing before US Federal priorities shifted. If you’d like to participate in an upcoming article, message me.

Each post endeavors to:

imagine something better, magnificent even

generate ideas to act now

create dialogue to advance our thinking

sow a collective to keep working the problem.

They are not designed to capture every aspect of a problem space or explore every caveat to possible solutions.

They are designed to encourage creative thinking and dialogue. As a reader, 1) connect with the interviewee if you can help with their needs or have another idea, 2) reach out to me if you are working a problem and would like to participate in the series, and 3) be empowered to confront change where you have an opportunity to operate in solidarity with humanity.

What problem is the person facing? (see graphic)

• Healthcare—which requires many needs are met to receive care.

What part of the problem are you trying to solve? (see highlighted path in graphic)

• Healthcare quality through clinical decision support, specifically developing patient-centered support that gets patients the latest healthcare evidence they need at the point-of-care to make decisions about their care.

How are you meeting this need?

• By including patients in the design and implementation of clinical decision support.

What do you need to better meet this need? (see outlined box in graphic)

• Iterative development of clinical decision support with patients.

• Trust in the processes and systems that translate evidence into clinical decision support and then into electronic health systems.

• Business model to scale the development of standards-based clinical decision support that is patient-centered.

What support do you need one layer in and out from where you are trying to solve the problem?

• One layer closer to the patient, I need clear input from the clinical community on what they need from clinical decision support and how they want to use it when receiving care.

• One layer further away from where I’m operating, I need government and healthcare industry collaboration to define and use standard systems for ingesting clinical resources.

What does it look like to the outside observer?

• A complex space—lots of disjointed efforts tackling different parts of the problem, which creates confusion on how to collaborate to scale efforts. For example, clinical decision support lacks a clear business model within its space because it typically exists far away from the people it serves, which means others are likely to be the stewards and funders, so including patients in the design is difficult. Maybe AI companies should play a role given the use of technology to create clinical decision support and the need for trust (such as data ownership considerations)?

What can someone do today for long-term activism?

• As a patient, advocate for access to high-quality care by asking what other treatment options are available or what drove the single option presented.

• As a provider, advocate for your patients’ and professional needs to have access to rigorous clinical decision support.

• As a person behind the scenes, whether operating the health system or publishing medical evidence, advocate for collaboration that elevates quality within the healthcare system.

What magnificence can we imagine?

• People are receiving the latest evidence at the point-of-care to make decisions about their health care.

• People are iteratively involved in a trusted, standards-based process to develop the clinical decision support they need.

• The clinical decision support is informed by the latest best practices in science and technology to implement efficiently and effectively into healthcare systems.

What’s next for You?

• Given shifts in US federal priorities, identify where this work is still happening to create scalable collaborations across the healthcare space.

Want to learn more? Check out this Open Access article: Nothing for Me or About Me, Without Me: Codesign of Clinical Decision Support - 2022 - van Leeuwen - 2022 - Applied Clinical Informatics. Thieme Open Access

The expression that how we spend our days is how we spend our lives is especially prescient to our work. At a minimum it is a 40-hour professional week. There are 40-hours to do something that matters. In a lengthy career with many human services programs that start and finish there are going to be ebbs and flows with programs that miss the mark and ones that are a bright start of impact. When these differences occur it is the difference between having robust logistics processes, but less robust impact processes. A human services program that matters needs both types of processes to generate evidence and story to achieve success and impact that matters.

Non-profits and foundations need logistic and impact processes

Logistics processes are all the things we do to execute a program toward contractually defined success. Examples of logistics processes include:

• Making schedules

• Managing budgets

• Monitoring risks

• Developing deliverables

These processes are critical to ‘required success’ (i.e., the success that is generally highly controllable like delivering a final report) and ensuring future confidence in your organization’s ability to execute programs. These processes run on a continuum too, with the successful space ranging from satisfactory to excellent. Running a program with excellent logistics to achieve ‘excellence’ is, well, excellent, but the likelihood is high that the program outcomes can yield a deeper sense of purpose to the staff and organization with equally high-caliber impact processes. For example, a final report that meets all the expectations on paper (excellent evidence), but it ends up being shelf ware (didn’t matter because it lacked story).

Excellent logistics yield evidence

While excellent logistics likely generate content or evidence in service to the focus of your human services program, it is also critical to have a similarly devoted focus on impact processes. These processes are what get you to the story of your program—the softer parts, the art to go with the science. The story takes creativity, nuance, awareness of context. Examples of impact processes include:

• Defining the problem with the what and who

• Crafting the path from problem to solution

• Capturing context

• Sharing experiences

Excellent impact processes yield story

This aspect of human services programs is the differentiator in ‘success’ and ‘success with impact’. Impact processes are a responsibility of program leadership, likely in the level above the staff in charge of executing the program (i.e., the logistics like staff, budget, and outputs); however, the entire program team should be empowered as to their accountability in contributing to impact processes. For example, a final report that meets all the logistics expectations, while also includes where the program fits in the path to the problem’s solution, the broader context, and the start of next steps for exploring alternate collaborations. The reader of the final report feels the conviction of what the program accomplished, knows why it mattered, and how to use the program for the next effort in solving the problem. The latter is the program that makes the 40-hours (or more) a week a life that matters too.

Bottom line: Build impact processes into your programs for not only a program that matters, but a life too.

Where to Learn More

If your non-profit or donor program needs more support to Make It Matter, then check out our services and on demand resources.

Having enough is magic. It makes life easier and more comfortable, while, hopefully, prompting gratitude. Enough allows for growth and creativity, unlike scarcity which breeds fear and distraction. When needs are met, higher order considerations like fulfillment and sharing are possible. Enough is a sign of strength and stability in society. Unfortunately, human services programs are being cut outright, with little indication that there will be reshaping.  

Staff must know they matter

As organizations continue to shift to operating in scarcity, the detrimental impacts to staff and meaningful outcomes will escalate. What is there to do? Empower each level of the organization to hone in on the evidence and stories their programs are generating. First, staff must know and feel that their experiences matter. In times of disruption and great stress, it is not reassuring to see leadership ignore or minimize the new context out of their own fear or discomfort in how to respond. It is the responsibility of leadership to address the shifts with honesty and brace for the changes with strength and unity. This approach requires transparency about the mission and how staff can actively participate in supporting the response. It is not the time for passivity.

Plot possible outcomes to inform strategy

Second, running 'what if' scenarios without analysis is simply worry, but with analysis it becomes strategy. What was the direction of the program in the prior environment? What in the environment enabled those outcomes? What are possible directions of the program in the new environment? What in the new environment enables those outcomes? Plotting the possibilities from least to most likely gives a frame that can provide primary and secondary expectations. This type of analysis is also an appropriate time to also allow for intuition. What new directions resonate? Why? For example, if you only have a small amount of internal programmatic funding that remains, does it better align with the organization's mission and strengths to innovate to a new audience or stay the course and attempt to offer off-shoots of the program to generate intermittent funding until stability returns?

Focus on strengths

When resources are scarce, it is the time for bolstering strengths in staff and the organization, not focusing on weaknesses, which can be addressed with outsourcing. If your program generates "gold standard" evidence, but struggles with disseminating the results, then now is the time to keep generating the evidence and bring in expertise to address dissemination. An additional benefit of taking a strengths-focus is to staff morale, as strengths are an abundant resource that can reinvigorate growth and creativity. 

Connecting with staff, processing the possibilities, and taking a strengths focus are all predicated on functional team interactions. Ideally, there are already processes in place to support open dialogue and awareness of the operating environment for the program because of its criticality to the story, a necessary component of achieving impact. If they are not, then use the changes affecting human services programs as the impetus to start. In approaching the revised story, stay true to organizational culture and timeless, not political, qualities. 

Bottom line: Executing a program in a context of scarcity or threat requires proactive tactics with a strategic, strengths focus centered on staff, with a need to tell a professionally transparent story.

Where to Learn More

If your non-profit or donor program needs more support to Make It Matter, then check out our services and on demand resources.

Unprecedented. No matter your political views, the future is being changed through the retelling of storeis that have existed through America's history. It is perhaps the most powerful modern example of the role of story in our society. Companies, programs, and the people that make them possible are all trying to flex their own stories to stay relevant, let alone thrive. The abrupt story changes without evidence are creating confusion and disruption, not impact that matters.

Philanthropic programs must pivot like never before

Human services programs must pivot like never before, whether to shift their focus to new priorities or to identify new funding streams. It isn't uncommon to shift language to align to a new mission and vision that will allow the program to continue to matter within the new context. It is also sometimes necessary to shift outcomes depending on where the program is in its lifecycle to generate evidence that will drive the realigned story. Remember--if the story shifts without the right evidence, then the program won't be cohesive to have effective impact. Likewise, if the evidence shifts without the right story to showcase it, then the decision-makers won't pay attention. Ideally, program leadership is monitoring closely for the contextual shifts that necessitate a pivot as part of the program's impact processes. Decisive pivoting can make or break a program's future.

Get strategic about the layers of your non-profit

In an unprecedented time like this is for human services programs, the pivoting decisions must be more expansive and layered. Not only will the pivot have to include vigilance about the language used to tell the story, there must be consideration for linking with other domains to create an evidence base that is stronger and resilient. The reality is that programs may be cut or gutted, so what is left of the programs will need to be adapted to seed a start for future programs, which may have to occur in a different space from what is typically pursued. 

An expansive approach to pivoting includes all program resources operating at maximum effectiveness. This is not the time to "wait and see". This is not the time to leave staff wondering. This is not the time to flatly churn out deliverables. It is time for all layers of program leadership to plot scenarios and risk assessments. It is time for program leadership managing staff to provide information--it doesn't have to be prophetic, it has to be honest, and support. It is the time for program staff to confidently leverage their quality processes to deliver top outputs.

A layered approach to pivoting includes all the touch points of the program from the smallest details to desired impact on humanity. Part of delivering top outputs entails appropriately infusing them with the new context. Doing so relies on empowered staff being confident in the execution of their program's impact processes--entrenched awareness and development of the program's story with its evidence. Encouraging openness to new ideas and creativity in execution is critical. This effort might also include bringing in someone from outside the immediate program to offer a fresh perspective on where to pivot language, sources, and approaches, as well as think broadly for where the program might find safe harbor. 

Bottom line: Having a program that matters in unprecedented times is about decisive pivoting that is expansive and layered.

Where to Learn More

If your non-profit or donor program needs more support to Make It Matter, then check out our services and on demand resources.

A model program is not a fantasy, but its existence is unbelievable. We can each likely recall an example from history of a model human services program that mattered and changed the course of society. Reflecting on the qualities of that program, feelings will resonate; they come from the story that has entrenched the program as a model. There are myriad human services programs occurring at any given moment with just as many opportunities to make them matter. Often those opportunities are over looked or only considered at program transition as part of lessons learned, without a clear process to translate those lessons learned to future programs. A common reason these opportunities aren't identified and executed is because of rote processes, natural momentum, and unclear team expectations and accountability. 

Process is not the enemy

A program operates within a context that brings typical processes to the phases of the program. These typical processes can be born out of organizational culture, experience in the topic area or from senior team members, and unique program features. Success may come from these typical processes, but it is less likely to also include impact and a program that matters. It is similar to education where success is often defined as the final grade, which isn't synonymous with what the impact of the course material on the students life or whether it will matter to that student beyond the course. There are typical processes to achieving a successful final grade just like there are typical processes to executing a successful program. The challenge to programs that matter is ensuring that the typical processes do not take priority over processes that lead to impact and a program that matters.

Time informs decision-making

Time continues with or without us. Once a program contractually begins time will continue moving regardless of whether any activities are contributing to relevant program outputs. This natural momentum is a thorn to the execution of many programs. Time can offer a false sense of security that there are months before the final output is due, so there is no need to consider it at the start of the program. Time can create an overly burdensome pressure where team members with certain styles feel activities are "emergencies" that deserve the attention of the entire team, when in reality this is rarely the case. Time is a valuable resource and important constraint to a program. As one of the most precious program resources it must be managed carefully and not squandered (like not considering the final output until the end of the program). Time as a constraining creates necessary boundaries for the program, which dictates what is feasible to achieve when also accounting for staff and monetary resources. A program that matters leverages the natural momentum from time to motivate decisions and actions to best use time as a resource and boundary.

Team members need to know the program's story

Team members may know in theory that the organization and senior leaders want the program to have impact and matter, but if that expectation isn't supported with concrete direction and actions, then it is less likely to be achieved. At the initial design of the program the problem/solution and who will benefit needs to be clear to all who will be involved in the program. This frame of the program's story must then become entrenched in the program's execution, so it can be expanded and developed into a story of impact that matters. Team members need to know their role in this process and be supported in the execution throughout the program's life cycle. Program leaders can articulate, model, and reinforce the expectation for all team members to participate in the process of executing a program that matters using evidence and impact. For example, if a team member elevates that a similar program is starting, then it is the responsibility of program leadership to reinforce the good work of the team member to raise the existence of the similar program, and then follow through on how it can add to the evidence or story of this program. If it cannot, then it is vital to share that information back to the team to close the loop and reinforce the process. 

Impact processes get results

In a model program typical processes are bolstered by processes specific to impact. Time is used as an asset to motivate decisions and frame expectations. Team members are made responsible for their role in the program's evidence and story through clear expectations that are modeled and reinforced. Each human services program has the potential to be a model program but only by harnessing the processes and approaches that generate evidence with story.

Bottom line: A model program must leverage impact processes, time, and team members to matter.

Where to Learn More

If your non-profit or donor program needs more support to Make It Matter, then check out our services and on demand resources.

A program success is not synonymous with a program that matters. The archives of human services research are replete with examples of evidence that were not successful at the outset because they were initially refuted or ignored, only to later be rediscovered and provide a crucial link to current thinking. With a different lens, the evidence mattered, which may allow it to be redefined in hindsight as a success. The challenge in the present is to keep 'success' and 'matters' distinct and care about both. 

Success Doesn't Mean it Mattered

A common program 'success' isn't often one that matters. Meeting a program milestone or delivering a program output are often common successes required of the program team, but they often only provide a minimum view of success that allows the program team and key stakeholders to affirm that all the contractual requirements or other fundee needs were met, without ever answering whether it mattered. While it is usually necessary to achieve success in this way for the program, it is not the only consideration. 

Success and Impact Require Different Tactics

Caring about 'success' and the 'impact' to have a program that matters necessitates program leadership (most often, but it is possible from other members of the program team) offering a broader lens to infuse the evidence from the program with story. Unfortunately, the latter process isn't common in programs, with the focus primarily on typical markers of success that are dictated by the funding organization. The latter might yield a good program, even a very good one, but it is unlikely to fall into the category of great or excellent one and usher in a new paradigm or catalyze a new line of inquiry. Applying the broader lens to infuse story is a process with tactics best applied throughout the program life cycle. While these tactics are best led by program leadership, the entire team can be empowered to identify and elevate elements of story to enhance the program impact. 

Tactics to infuse story into a program can be used during the key phases of the program's lifecycle: design, start, implementation, and end. During the design of the program there is a unique opportunity to tell the context during which the program is being created, including a plain language articulation of the solution the program is providing to the present problem. The context includes the layers in which the program operates moving out from the program team's place within the organization to the organization's place within the stakeholder community. Within each layer it is key to describe the driver behind the need for this program now and what role it is serving within each layer. A success at this phase that matters is to be able to articulate the problem/solution and the primary/secondary stakeholders in the context of external factors. 

Reimagine Success Benchmarks to Promote Impact

The start of the program is an optimal time to orient the program team to the differences between 'success' and 'matters', and that this program is focused on both. Presenting the write-up from the design phase that includes the context for the problem/solution and primary/secondary stakeholders will ground the team, so program leadership can get specific about the role each team member has in successfully gathering evidence and story. Each team member is responsible for executing the program as well as possible, beign mindful of potential risks and limitations to elevate and document. Additionally, each team member is responsible for having awareness of the broader context, including noting relevant articles, activities in industry, shifts for stakeholders, etc. that effect the program's story. A success at this phase that matters is having an empowered team that is alert to the needs that drive evidence and story.

As a program gets underway and finds routine in its repetitive processes it is valuable to include a regular check-in between different levels of program leadership to maintain focus on, not only the program execution, but also the story building with the program. While each program team member is responsible for deepening the connection between the evidence and story, it is program leadership who is accountable to ensure it remains an active priority throughout the program's execution, with findings chronologically documented. This also allows program leadership to have a holistic view of the program at all times, which is imminently valuable for demonstrating program success throughout and knowing when to pivot, as needed. A success at this phase that matters includes having a regular process established to consider the program's evolving evidence and story elements.

When a program ends documenting and reporting out the successes and lessons learned is common, and to achieve a program that matters, it is also necessary to prominently showcase the story of the program. It is common to want a program that matters, it is less common to have and use the strategy and tactics conducive to achieve a program that matters. At the end of the program it is as much about the science as art. It is necessary to hold the expectation that story integrated with the evidence will yield impact. Even amidst traditional report outs, there are opportunities to creatively integrate the story of the program. It will take working differently than is typical, but it will be worth it not only for the success of the program, but also for the inspiration and meaning that the program team will yield and carry to their next program. A success at this phase that matters includes finding as many places as possible to tell the program's story--to integrate the context with the evidence, to provide stakeholders an in depth understanding of why this program matters to human services research.

Bottom line: Common program successes aren't enough to achieve a program that matters.

Where to Learn More

If your non-profit or donor program needs more support to Make It Matter, then check out our services and on demand resources.

Philanthropy has Underused (and misused) Resources

• makeitmatterprogra

• 3 min read

People and their time are incredibly underused (and misused) resources. The reasons are varied whether personal or societal. Organizations and program leaders have a responsibility to work within their scope to empower people and value their time. People are vital for the unique strengths they bring to a program, while their time is finite and divided across numerous daily demands. Story is arguably humankind's most powerful creation, and it can bring good an bad. Human services research can occur in various settings that have their own operating culture. At times that operating culture, through story, can take on an ethos that overshadows the real humans that exist within it. The latter is a slippery slope toward negative outcomes like underused program resources. 

There is no mission without people

In this scenario where the program's operating culture has an outsize story, the people on the program team can lose track of their role and its associated power to effect change. For example, if the operating culture is so strict in its program processes that there is no room to innovate or voice concern, then the program team will approach the program automatically, without exerting their unique strengths to rigorously execute the research and build the story necessary to a program that matters. Organizational leadership is critical to manage how operating culture is impacting the people on the program team. Just as within a program, the story must be propelling and supporting the needs of the stakeholders affected, not the other way around--the story is still just a story after all. It is meant to be rewritten, as stakeholder needs evolve and new ideas built on better evidence are generated. 

Clearly communicate next steps

While time use is also affected by operating culture, it is more likely to be an underused resource related to missed communication opportunities. People squander time when they are confused about next steps; whether that confusion results from lack of leadership, schedule confusion, limited understanding of output expectations, etc. Here is where program leadership is key to regularly monitor for this type of blocker as part of standard program processes, so team members feel accountable to and supported by program leadership to raise blockers they may be experiencing to execution. This monitoring process is most successful when program staff do not feel personally judged and program leadership are effective at resolving the blocker (at a minimum program leadership is empathetic to the frustration associated with blockers that are not immediately able to be resolved). 

Ultimately, an effective operating culture and proactive leadership can make better use of staff and their time. Fully using program resources is beneficial to morale, outcomes, and organization reputation. It is a success that matters to distribute staff strengths across the program execution needs, which is easiest to do in a supportive operating culture that is open to reimagining the story for the better. Time is best used when program team members are supported to speak out when they are stuck, overwhelmed, available, etc. It is also an opportunity to remain vigilant the the context unfluencing the program and recognize when a pause or pivot may be in order to prevent spending time on an output that is overcome by late breaking events.

Bottom line: People and their time are paramount to having a program that matters; a supportive operating culture and responsive leadership will make the most of these resources.

Where to Learn More

If your non-profit or donor program needs more support to Make It Matter, then check out our services and on demand resources.

Human services programs have largely advanced the way people live. Sometimes the research was accepted when it was conducted and many times the research was not accepted because it was a departure from current thinking. The evidence existed, but the story was lacking, so the program didn't achieve the desired impact.

Option A: Program 'Make Hats' achieved 'making hats'.

Option B: Program 'Make Hats' responded to an increasing occurrence of heat exhaustion in outdoor workers by delivering 3,000 sustainably made hats---next 'Make Hats' is looking at shifting working hours.

Option A gives the evidence without story. Option B gives the evidence and starts a story. Programs need evidence and story to achieve impact and matter. 

Philanthropic programs need evidence and story

A program that has either evidence or story but not both, is likely to struggle to achieve impact and matter over time. Typically, program staff are trained to gather evidence, but there is less emphasis on how to integrate that with story. Collecting evidence usually entails concrete and measurable steps, while story is less defined and replicable. For example, reviewing the literature is a largely consistent process each time, but story telling is more nuanced and requires different skill sets.

Broadly, it makes programs worth doing if they add to a larger body of understanding and further improve the way people live. Practically, achieving impact with a program often means that the program itself can mature and transition to reach more lives. It also creates positive morale within a program, if the staff know the purpose and see the impact, which will only better serve the program through engaged and committed staff.

Making It Matter really is about the people

Human services programs are driven by people for people. Rote program execution can occur when the culture in which a program is executed loses its compelling story (or never had one). Depending on the pervasiveness of the cultural or contextual shortcomings surrounding a program this limitation to achieving programs that matter can be a serious obstacle. Overcoming such an obstacle often comes down to finding personal value or employing trial tactics to remedy the situation before cutting losses and moving to another program. Because human service programs have advanced the way people live and resources are finite, make the focus programs that matter.

If the problem being solved is there, then keep working at the solution by collecting evidence and looking for new angles to tell the story. If the evidence or story become stagnant, then foster a sense of openness in the organizational culture conducting the human services program to look to novel domains and call on new expertise to contribute novel perspectives and ideas. 

Bottom line: Humans create and tell stories about what they create, which has changed the world; having programs that matter is a means to continue changing the world.

Where to Learn More

If your non-profit or donor program needs more support to Make It Matter, then check out our services and on demand resources.

Risks fall along a multi-facted spectrum of likelihood and degree of harm. Relatedly, our individual personalities and styles are differently attuned to assessing and responding to risks. If some of us never tried the berry, then others may have starved. Conversely, some of us who didn't try the berry carried on to try something else. In the context of human services programs the stakes aren't usually so extreme, and there are processes available to provide a balanced approach. Sometimes the approach will work out well, and other times it will be a lesson learned for a future program (if the latter, the ideal is that the lesson learned has a life beyond being a bullet point in a report). 

Staff, time, and budget are common sources of risk

Human services programs share similarities and have unique qualities, much like the people they are designed to serve. A powerful program is one that efficiently builds from the shared similarities, while focusing resources on the unique qualities. Program risks often occur with resources (i.e., staff, time, and budget) or with the outputs being produced by the program.

Common staff risks include over reliance on a single team member without redundancy, missing opportunities to mentor/mentee staff within the program team, and failing to resolve inter-team work flow pain points. Common time risks include the obvious lament of not having enough time to properly execute the activities of the program, unexpected time pressures from program stakeholders, and limited time to realize enough impact to ensure the continuation of the program. Common budget risks beyond limited funding, include over using funds during periods of confusion on next steps and improper tracking. Common output risks include low quality, miscommunication over client expectations, and failure to make decisions. 

Effectively monitoring where risks often occur allows the program team to protect the program in the near- and long-term. While program leadership is accountable to the overall success of the project, and it is their responsibility to establish risk-management practices as a critical component of program execution, it is the responsibility of the entire team to identify risks and feel empowered to elevate them until they receive necessary mitigation. 

Put the risk in context

Monitoring risks is also built on evidence and story. There needs to be evidence that a risk exists to avoid ruminating on unfounded possibilities. For example, if a team member is concerned about staff redundancy for certifying accessibility, then the evidence to provide is the number of staff on the team with the expertise and the impacted outputs. Adding the story element to the evidence underpinning the risk, will help people less involved with the risk immediately understand why it needs mitigation. For example, Team member X has a month long vacation in four months, with no additional team member able to complete the accessibility certification of the final report, which is a contractual requirement. The additional detail and specificity beyond the bare evidence creates context and grabs attention to the risk.

Bottom line: An empowered team that readily monitors common risks associated with program resources and outputs prevents them from becoming issues.

Where to Learn More

If your non-profit or donor program needs more support to Make It Matter, then check out our services and on demand resources.

Implement a program with a clear role in being a solution (at least in part) to a problem.

Making a program matter is a dance between the ideal and the real. Ideally, a human services program is born out of a problem that is facing society, whether it be healthcare quality or drug abuse. The human services program is then designed as a solution to a problem, which guides the progression of the program. The evidence base is consulted to thoroughly understand why and how this problem remains and to elucidate how this new program can contribute to solving the problem--how to make this program matter. Logistically, there will be an ideal distribution of resources--staff, time, and budget, to implement the program. As the program is implemented, it will continuously be guided by the problem and its role in the solution, with a balance between gathering the evidence and telling the story. 

Don't rush getting clear about what your program does

In reality, more often than not, these ideal circumstances and program resources do not permeate across the life cycle of a program. For example, 'time' is a resource often constrained that drives a false sense of urgency to skirt around the theory connecting the problem with the solution this program will offer. This accommodation to time seeds a disconnect at the outset where some program staff see the story and other staff only have a vague notion of the story. From here the foundation of the program is already evidencing cracks that can lead to delays and course corrections later in the implementation of the program. 

Being a leader means knowing when to take a tactical pause

Making a program matter requires constant monitoring and careful analysis of the trade offs between the ideal and the real. Think of this careful analysis as the breaths in the dance between the ideal and the real. A careful analysis is not to be confused with a lengthy distraction; rather, it can be a momentary tactical pause. When 'time' is feeling constrained, it is necessary for the program lead to pause and evaluate the cause of the pressure to determine the best mitigation. If time is limited because the human services program is needed to provide insights in a key domain to the organization's stakeholders to guide year-end decision making, then that context needs to be at the forefront of the program's implementation, with plain language direction from the program lead that begins the story by articulating the problem and solution. The pause to provide clear direction is all too often skipped, and the program implementation team lacks the unifying guidance that provides confidence and a strong program foundation.

The dance between the ideal and the real is an ongoing part of the program throughout its life cycle that does not have to be a burden. The monitoring can integrate within standard program roles and processes to ensure the evidence and story remain cohesive, as inevitable tradeoffs are made between the ideal and real circumstances of program implementation.

Bottom line: Maintain an upward look toward the ideal program outcomes, while looking outward for real obstacles to surmount.

Where to Learn More

If your non-profit or donor program needs more support to Make It Matter, then check out our services and on demand resources.