Latest / Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast for Startup, Small, and Growing Nonprofits / Your Nonprofit's Flight Path: the 5 Growth Phases Every Nonprofit Goes Through (Pt 1)
Transcript
- Matt Stockman (00:00) Every nonprofit, regardless of mission or size, moves through a predictable series of phases. It starts with just a spark in phase one. You see a real problem in the world and you feel a personal responsibility to do something about it. Then from there, every organization grows through five distinct phases all the way to long-term health and sustainability. where your programs are thriving, your team is strong, your finances are stable, and the future and the vision is clear. Each phase comes with its own defining challenges, and just as importantly, each phase carries a very specific emotional and mental weight for you as the leader. What you're thinking, what you're worried about, and what feels overwhelming changes as your nonprofit grows. In progressing from one phase to the next, requires the right strategy at the right time. And when you understand the phase that you're in, it becomes much easier to determine what actually deserves your focus right now and what can wait. I've given these five phases a name. It's called the nonprofit flight path. And today, I want to walk you through the first two phases of it, help you name what you're thinking and feeling in these stages, and clarify what it really takes to move forward. Welcome to the Nonprofit Launch Plan podcast for startups, small and growing nonprofits. Thrilled you're here. This podcast exists to help you build your nonprofit from the ground up on a strong, sustainable foundation by providing clear frameworks and practical tools and real world guidance that you can actually put into practice. I'm your host, Matt Stockman. I'm a nonprofit growth coach and here at Nonprofit Launch Plan. We believe that every successful nonprofit has to be operating at peak performance across six key areas. Those six areas are leadership, fundraising, marketing, programs and services, operations, and finances. so on every episode of the podcast, we focus on one of these core areas to help you create lasting impact. without unnecessary complexity. now before we jump in, I wanna give you a heads up. If you're in the dreaming or early phases of your nonprofit, you're looking for clarity on mission and vision. You're building your board, you're doing your initial fundraising, and you're figuring out what your MVP is, your minimum viable nonprofit program is. This is my personal invitation to you to join me for an upcoming virtual Launchpad workshop, Essentials for Moving from Nonprofit Idea to Impact. I've been working on this behind the scenes for quite a while. I'm excited to have you as a part of it. Three hours over three days. where we workshop your mission statement and your vision statement, define who your board members should be, drill down into fundraising, and help you build out your beginning programs and a lot more. We'll talk about a lot of stuff during the workshop that we're not able to get into in the podcast, and so much more. So you really want to be there. If you're feeling overwhelmed or stuck in your dream for a nonprofit, sign up for the workshop. It's April 28 through the 30th. It's an hour each day. I want you to try your best to be there live. That does make a huge difference to experience it with other people who are in exactly the same place in this journey as you are. But you will have access to the recordings as well if you can't make all three sessions. Sign up today. The cost is $49 for the whole thing, but space is limited. So you want to get your name in now rather than later, go to nonprofitlaunchplan.com and click Workshop to sign up. every nonprofit, no matter the kind of work you do. We go through this series of phases. I've seen it time and time again with nonprofits of all different shapes and sizes. You start with dreaming of an idea of a problem you've seen in the world and you feel like you're the person who is supposed to help solve the problem. And then progressing through five different phases, the last phase being you're successful. You've got thriving programs, you've got a great team, you've got strong financial footing. and a clear vision for the future. And each of the phases along the way are marked by some very unique challenges that are in the forefront of that particular phase. And also for each phase, as the leader, you're likely feeling some really specific, acute emotional and mental stress. And advancing your nonprofit to the next phase takes some super specific strategy. And when you understand the five phases, and where your nonprofit is, it makes determining what you need to focus on next a whole lot easier and more streamlined. And oftentimes, this is where having a coach becomes really important, a coach is somebody who has the experience and outside perspective to guide you through pulling the right levers at the right time to grow through each phase of these five phases in a healthy and smart way. I called this journey through the five phases, the nonprofit flight path. I grew up as a complete nerd for all things NASA and space, so on and so forth. So you find references to space and rocket science all through everything that I create. And for you as a nonprofit leader, having the awareness of where you are in the five phases is the first but very important step to getting through it and into the next phase of growth. So today, I want to walk you through the first two phases of the nonprofit flight path and help you name what you're thinking, what you're feeling, and what it actually takes to move forward. and then in the next episode, we'll dive into phases three through five. So listen close and see if you can identify where you are in these phases. So. Phase one of the nonprofit flight path is what I call the idea or the dreaming phase. We've said it many times, every nonprofit starts with a problem. You see a problem up close, you've lived it, you've personally experienced it, you've experienced it through your job, and deep down, you think this problem shouldn't be a problem. And suddenly, you start to dream about what it could look like to be the one to solve the problem. You keep thinking about it, you dream about it until eventually doing nothing is just no longer an option. Now, immediately, you start asking yourself some quiet but really heavy questions in this moment in phase one. Typically, you haven't even said anything about this to another person yet. This is all just happening in your mind. The questions you're asking are, where do I even start? Is there a future where I might be doing this instead of what I'm doing right now? Do I even have what it takes to do this? I mean, I don't know anything about starting a nonprofit. Can I do this while I keep my job? What would my community look like if this actually worked? Phase one is all about feeling excitement because the purpose is energizing. It's about feeling fear because the risk is real. It's about feeling a fair amount of anxiety because the path ahead is just unclear. This is the phase where imagination is high, dreaming is high, and there's almost no clarity. There's some dangers that come along with phase one. One danger is staying here too long. So many people I talk to who have told me, I tell them what I do and how I help people, and they've told me, you know, a long time ago I had a dream for a nonprofit, and then they tell me a little bit about the dream, and I think, boy, you missed an opportunity because it does really solve a real problem in the world. So oftentimes, one of the dangers of phase one is we never get out of phase one. It's just something we think about or dream about and go, well, maybe next year, or maybe after I retire, or maybe after the kids go to college, or whatever. phase one is dreaming without pressure testing it, confusing inspiration with being actually ready to move forward. But there are some specific things that do help you move forward. And not to make this a pitch, but I promise you, if you sign up for that Launchpad workshop I was just talking about, it's specifically created for people like you who are trying to get into phase two of the nonprofit flight path. If you go to nonprofitlaunchplan.com, click workshop, you can sign up right there. It will be a $49 investment that you will not regret. simply because you're gonna get so much clarity about what your next steps look like. Now, moving from phase one to phase two, besides the workshop, of course, you begin to externalize the idea, meaning you speak it out loud to somebody. It's a lot different when you actually share with another person this thing that you're dreaming about. You share it with a couple of people who will tell you the truth. You will do some research as to whether or not this problem is real and widespread. That will help you get to phase two. And you give the idea what I call the 24-hour test, meaning like you can sit around for an evening and really dream up an idea and come up with what the future is going to look like and really just kind of find a lot of passion in your heart and in your soul about creating this and taking the next next step forward, and I always tell people in a situation like Give yourself 24 hours, and if in 24 hours you still feel the same sense of passion that you did the previous 24 hours ago, you might be on to something. It's the same way I've always considered buying a car. I'll go look at a car and I'll fall in love with the car and I think I gotta have the car and I'm willing to pull all these levers and spend all this money in order to get the car and the best thing I can do is wait 24 hours before I actually make the decision to buy the car. I have bought so many cars in my mind and then 24 hours later just never gave it another thought and thankfully I still have the car that's paid for. now because I put the 24-hour test into practice. So give your idea the 24-hour test to see if it still burns in your heart with the passion that it does right now in this moment. So those are all some practical steps to get you from phase one, the dreaming phase of your nonprofit, and the nonprofit flight path, to phase two, which is what I call the building consensus phase. This is the phase where your idea leaves your head and enters the real world. And that transition is very exciting, exhilarating as a matter of fact, but super unsettling at the same time, because you start talking to people that you trust about this, your family, your friends, mentors. Hopefully many of them affirm what you're seeing. They've given you some wisdom. and hopefully they've given you some encouragement that you're at least generally speaking on the right track. Yes, the problem is real. Yes, it matters. Yes, you're not the only one who's seen this problem. Yes, somebody should be doing something about it and suddenly it hits you. That somebody is you. In that moment, here's what you're thinking. What? Where do I even begin? Who actually knows how to do this? What am I missing that I don't even know how to ask yet? This is where oftentimes the research spiral starts. It's late nights, it's endless tabs open on your computer. You're Googling incessantly how to start a nonprofit. How long does it take? How much does it cost? Question after question after question. And then with every answer that you find, 10 more questions come up. In those moments, and I wonder if you're here right now, You're feeling, on one hand, affirmation because somebody else believes in this idea. They're saying, yes, this is needed. But on the other hand, you may be feeling a bit of discouragement because now you're seeing, man, this is really layered and difficult and complex. There's legal steps. There are financial requirements. There's board expectations. That realization, that passion alone won't be enough, brings on a lot of fear in that moment. And it intensifies in phase two. Not really abstract fear, but real practical fear. Like, can I afford this? I think I need to hire an attorney. How am going to pay them? I think I might need an accountant. How are we going to do that? What if I get this wrong? This is also the phase where self-doubt creeps in sometimes quietly, sometimes not so quietly. You start wondering if you're actually qualified or if somebody else would be better suited to do this. The risk of phase two, the building consensus phase, is that people either stall out completely, get stuck researching forever and never actually take a step, or you mentally rush ahead too fast and envision a starting point that's kind of unrealistic. This happens when your head is in the clouds and you immediately allow your thinking and planning to shoot too big, too quick. I've met with lot of passionate people who have a dream of a nonprofit that is kind of lopsided from day one, meaning they've got an idea that in their mind can only come to fruition if they've bought property and they own two or three facilities and they've got five programs that are all fully operational and it's dollars on dollars and dollars. And my job as a coach is to help you realize that those are great to shoot for, but those... are things that you're not going to have in year one or maybe even year three or four. It is at that point that if we work together, that I help you design what I call your MVP, your minimum viable program. Let me share a story. I've done coaching work with a nonprofit that works with the homeless in rural North Carolina. And it's a pretty decent sized nonprofit, probably five to $7 million annually in revenue. They've got a couple of facilities, several hundred clients in their programs. But it literally started, and I'm not making this up, it literally started with one college kid getting up on Saturday mornings, driving down to a neighborhood. that had a significant homeless community with a small camping stove and a skillet in the back of his car. And every Saturday morning he'd drive down, he'd pop up the camping stuff and make grilled cheese sandwiches for the homeless people until he ran out of bread and supplies. got this healthy, thriving nonprofit organization that's doing amazingly big things, but it didn't start that way. It started with one camping stove and one skillet and one packet of bread. It's in this phase of the nonprofit flight plan, that building consensus phase, where you figure out what your first version of making an impact is going to look like. And what actually moves you forward from phase two into the next phase, phase three, is clarity and support. It's in phase two, you really begin identifying potential board members and having real conversations about them joining you in the work. You start to put some basic systems in place so that your idea has some structure. You start to flesh out your fundraising messaging. That's the Fearless Fundraising mini course that's free on the website. You need to go grab that if you don't already. And you can stop trying to carry this entire vision alone. That's phase two. Building consensus is not about convincing people to believe in you. It is about confirming that your vision is real, it's viable, and it's worth stewarding well. And once that consensus starts to form, you are ready for the next phase. That's phase three, and that's what we'll get to. in the next episode. Now, if you recognized yourself in one of these first two phases, it's not a problem to fix. It's just information to be super clear on. Too many nonprofit leaders get stuck simply because they don't know where they are on the journey. They assume uncertainty means that somehow or other you're doing something wrong when in reality, this is exactly what these stages are designed to feel like. It's very normal. The dreaming phase is supposed to feel like it's hopeful and just dreadfully terrifying at the same time. The consensus phase is supposed to feel validating and really overwhelming at the same time. It's not a sign of weakness or that you're on the wrong path. These are really predictable points of pressure in the life of every healthy nonprofit. And the leaders, you included, who move forward are not the ones who feel the most confident. They're the ones who understand what the pressure is revealing and what it's asking of you next. And this is where experienced guidance can help. really matters. Not somebody to dream for you, but somebody who can understand the terrain and can help you avoid the traps that cause so many really good ideas to stall out. When you can name the phase that you're in, you can name the next step. And when the next step is clear, progress stops feeling random. So in the next episode, we're going to talk about what happens when consensus, phase two, turns into action, phase three, and what it really takes to move from intention to momentum without burning out. That's it for today's episode. Remember, if you're in the dreaming or the early phases of your nonprofit, you're looking for clarity on mission and vision and you're bored and doing some initial fundraising and figuring out your MVP, your minimum viable program. I'm personally inviting you to join me for the upcoming virtual Launchpad Workshop, Essentials for Moving from Nonprofit Idea to Impact. It's three hours over three days where we will dig deep into your mission statement, your vision statement, define who your board members should be, drill down into some fundraising tactics, and help you build out your beginning program and a whole lot more. We'll talk about all kinds of stuff that we don't get into on the podcast and a lot more. So if you're feeling overwhelmed, or you're stuck in your dream for a nonprofit and don't know where to go next, sign up for the workshop. It's designed specifically for you. And I want you to try your best to be there live. It's April 28th through 30th, one hour each day. And details are on the website. Try to be there live. That makes a huge difference because other people who are in the same position as you are will be in there as well. And there'll be plenty of time for Q &A. You'll learn just from hearing what other people are asking. But you will have access to the recordings if you can't make all the sessions. You can sign up today. Cost is $49 for the whole thing. Space is limited. Go to nonprofitlaunchplan.com and click Workshop to sign up. I'd love to have you on board. episode of the Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast for startups, small and growing nonprofits. you found this episode to be helpful at all, would you consider sharing it with other team members or maybe another nonprofit leader who you think might benefit? Thanks again for watching and listening and for being here and until next time, keep building wisely and keep making a difference. Have a great day.