Latest / Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast for Startup, Small, and Growing Nonprofits / Nonprofit Programs: Why Good Ideas Struggle to Get Funded
Transcript
- Matt Stockman (00:00) You have a good idea. You care deeply about this problem. All your friends and your family all around you tell you that this problem is meaningful. It's important. And it's needed. Somebody needs to solve it. And yet when it comes time to raise the money for it, donors feel like they're hesitating. No foundation seemed to be all that interested in the support doesn't materialize the way that you expected. If you've ever found yourself thinking why won't anybody get behind this and fund it when the need is so obvious. This episode is for you because very often the issue is not actually your passion. It's that the passion hasn't yet been translated into a clear, fundable, actionable program. And I'm going to help you with that today. Welcome to the Nonprofit Launch Plan podcast for startup, small and growing nonprofits. This podcast is here to help you build your nonprofit from the ground up on a strong, sustainable foundation by providing clear frameworks, practical tools and the real world guidance that you can actually apply day to day. My name is Matt Stockman. I'm your host of the podcast and a nonprofit growth coach and right here at Nonprofit Launch Plan. We believe that every successful nonprofit has got to be operating at peak performance in six key areas, leadership, fundraising, marketing, programs and services, operations and finances. So on every episode of the podcast, we focus on a topic that is core to at least one of these six areas, helping you create lasting impact without unnecessary complexity. in the dreaming phase of launching a nonprofit, I've got a special freebie. It's a PDF resource that I built called From Dream to Action, Your Nonprofit Pre-Launch Checklist. It's 10 essential steps for moving from nonprofit idea to impact. This tool will take you through 10 easy first steps to move your dream for a nonprofit toward a launch plan that gets your dream off the ground. This checklist will walk you through your why, will help you consider your first teammates, honing in on who your beneficiary is, the name of your nonprofit, your IRS application, and a whole lot more. And there's an easy to do action of the 10 things to consider. that will bring your dream for a nonprofit into a much clearer focus once you've completed it. So if you want the free PDF from dream to action, your nonprofit prelaunch checklist, 10 essential steps for moving from nonprofit idea to impact, just email me mattt at nonprofitlaunchplan.com, mattt at nonprofitlaunchplan.com or look for the pop out on my website, nonprofitlaunchplan.com. So today I want to talk about something that comes up constantly in my work with startup and small and growing nonprofits. And that's this, it's the difference between passion and a program. More specifically, why a good idea, even a deeply meaningful one is often not a fundable program for a nonprofit. And hear me when I say this, let me say it clearly at the outset. This is not a questioning of your heart, your calling or your sincerity. exist because somebody saw a real problem and cared deeply enough to do something about it. The issue is not about passion. The issue is just simply about design. begin with a burden, a problem that you see that exists in the world. You notice a gap someplace. you experience a problem personally. You feel compelled to respond. That passion is not only good, but it's absolutely necessary. As a matter of fact, I did a discovery call last week with an individual launching a nonprofit geared towards providing recovery services. And as we dug into the background and history a little bit more, I discovered that this person had his own recovery story. and in fact lost a family member to addiction and felt compelled to do what he could to change the trajectory of others based on his personal experience. But here's where many organizations kind of get stuck. They take a deeply felt burden and assume it automatically qualifies as a program. You hear this in the language nonprofits use a lot of times when they just say, we just want to help people or we feel called to serve this community. or there's such a great need. Our hearts are really in this. Those are all true and great sentiments, but none of them actually describe a program for a nonprofit. What often happens next is that the early encouragement fills the gaps. Friends will say, this is such a great idea. Supporters say, I love what you're doing here. Board members not long because it seems to align with the mission and before long, the organization is moving forward with something that feels meaningful, but is not yet actually fully formed or structured. see this all the time in the business world. Often people who are passionate about something, let's say cake decorating. They're really gifted at it all their friends say, you know, you're so great at this You should go into business and deep down they think I mean I do love it I think I'll go into the cake decorating business and they quit their job and they go get a small business loan and then they realize that an affinity for cake decorating is not the same thing as being in the cake decorating business Then it comes to the funding challenge You think you have a great idea. You start to pitch it to other people, Introduce it into the fundraising space and then grant applications get declined major donors are hesitating a little bit foundations are saying no often with not a whole lot of explanation and As leaders were sort of left confused thinking but this is such a good idea Why doesn't anybody want to put funding behind it or get on board with it? And here is the critical shift that has to happen donors foundations business partners are not funding passion. They're funding outcomes. They're asking questions like, is this problem clearly defined? In other words, have they seen it firsthand? Is the population that's benefiting from it specific? Is the approach credible? Can your organization actually deliver on this idea? And ultimately, how will the community be different if this program succeeds? Notice what's missing from that list. Donors are not evaluating how deeply you care about this. That's actually an assumption. They assume you care because you're in the leadership position in this nonprofit, but they are evaluating risk and clarity and feasibility, things like that. From a donor's perspective, an unclear program is a risk. It's a risky program. And risk is the fastest way to get a declined application or somebody who has capacity just saying, hey, I'm gonna pass on this one. This is why so many nonprofits experience frustration around fundraising. They believe the issue is generosity or donor fatigue or competition, when in reality, very often, the issue is just programming clarity. So here's a simple but very important distinction. do we care? A program answers the question, What exactly are we doing for whom and to what end? You need both. become mechanical and lifeless. And without programs, passion becomes vague and hard to fund. A fundable program channels passion into structure. It takes something that's heartfelt and makes it actionable, measurable, super important, and credible. So let's break this down a little bit more into five core elements. A solid fundable program clearly articulates first, the problem. Not a broad issue, but a very specific one. Not poverty in general, for example, but what aspect of poverty, where, and how it shows up. Second is the population. Who exactly is being served? Not the community or the whole county or people, but which people? In what context? with what defining characteristics. Then third is the intervention. What are you actually doing? Is it classes? Is it counseling? Is it meals, mentoring, advocacy, training, something concrete and something specific? Then fourth is the outcome. What is going to be different because this program exists? improves, decreases or stabilizes? Then fifth, the capacity, why your organization is positioned to do this work right now. You have the staff, you have the volunteers, you have the partnerships, you have the relationships, you have the experience, you have the systems and processes in place. None of these eliminate passion, they actually give feet and a foundation and a backbone to your passion. So I wanna give you a simple pressure test that you can use on any program idea. You're dreaming of an idea, some division of your nonprofit or some direction you'd like to take your nonprofit in. Before you take any steps in that direction, try to put it through this pressure test. You can write these down or just listen and reflect. It'll all be in the show notes as well. Here are the five questions. Question number one, what specific problem are we solving? Now, once you answer that question, if the answer feels a little broad or fuzzy, That's a red flag, bit of a signal that you need to hone that in a little bit more. Question number two, who exactly are we serving? If the answer starts with anybody who or the whole county or the community, it needs refinement. Question number three then is what are we doing that directly addresses the problem? And if you cannot describe the activity clearly, somebody who might be open to donating won't see the connection between their gift and the impact. So question number four then, what will be different because we did this? If we can't describe what success looks like very clearly and in just a few words, it can't be evaluated. And things that measurable for people, whether it's on the foundation side or major donor side, they're very interested in things that are measurable. And then question number five, Why are we the right organization to do this right now? If the answer is only passion, then you may actually be missing on the capacity side. You may not have the staff or the volunteers or the experience or the expertise or the systems and foundation in place to be able to do it right away. Here's the key insight. You don't have to actually have perfect answers to this, but you got to be honest about the five questions and whether or not you can answer these five questions. specifically. The places where you struggle to answer, they're not failures, they're just areas that you need to hone in a little bit more. And these are actually design opportunities, I think. So let me reframe some of this, offer this to you, especially if you're a founder or you're an executive director at a nonprofit, refining a program is not actually a Betrayal or some sort of bad thing or goes against your calling. It's actually just being good stewards. It's stewardship Clarity doesn't sort of weaken or cheapen compassion. It actually strengthens it so taking the time to define and focus and sometimes even redesign a program is actually a sign of maturity not weakness So don't shy away from it. And yes, sometimes it means acknowledging that a good idea needs a little bit more work before it's ready to start funding it or asking donors to get behind and support it. That's not rejecting anything. It's just that's how you grow. So if you take nothing else from this episode, I want you to walk away with this. Good program ideas deserve good design. Passion is a starting point and you have to have it but programs are the vehicle. And this week, I just would encourage you to take one program idea and walk it through those five questions that we talked about before the questions are in the show notes. Don't rush, don't defend. And that's a big one, especially if this is a passion project for you in particular, you want to see it impact the world. You want to see it get to the place where it's changing people's lives and helping people and doing what it's supposed to be doing. But in the process of it, you have to be honest about whether or not it's ready to quote, go to market or not, whether or not it's ready to ask other people to start supporting it financially. So don't defend anything, just observe, let the answers come and be open and honest about it. because what this will do is bring more clarity about this idea for you. And if clarity increases, then guess what the funding for it is going to be a whole lot easier. If your clarity improves, your communication improves. People understand more. If clarity strengthens, then your sustainability follows. That is the work of strong nonprofit leadership. Hopefully that helps you. Thank you so much for being here. Before we wrap up the episode, if you or somebody you know is still... thinking about launching a nonprofit, don't forget about that special freebie. It's called dream to action your nonprofit prelaunch checklist. It's a PDF resource that I put together 10 essential steps for moving from nonprofit idea to impact with an easy to do action step for each of the 10 things to consider that brings your dream for a nonprofit into a whole lot clearer focus. once you've completed it. If you want it, it's free. It's a PDF. I'll just drop it to you in the email. Again, it's called From Dream to Action, your nonprofit pre-launch 10 essential steps for moving from nonprofit idea to impact. You can email me at mattt at nonprofitlaunchplan.com or just go to the website and get it right there, nonprofitlaunchplan.com. That's it for today's episode of the nonprofit launch plan podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in and listening and watching. Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss out on future episodes and like and do all the podcasty things. And if you found this helpful in any way, please consider sharing it with another nonprofit leader who you think might benefit from it. Until next time, again, thank you so much for watching and listening and keep making a difference.