We're doing part 2 of our impact finesse or social impact approach series, if you didn't catch part 1 Click here to watch or read part 1.
This is geared mostly towards nonprofits but nonprofits aren't the only ones who are responsible for issuing social good. Oftentimes nonprofits are the poster child of those efforts but any faith-based organization, social enterprise, and advocate can benefit from these tidbits, these pieces of information.
Can your organization/ social impact effort adapt and endure?
The very first thing to making sure that that is fuel is crafting your why statement. You want to craft the out your why, your why is some emotional experience that you or somebody very close to you has had as it relates to your mission and your vision. And it's important to spend time with this because this is going to keep you focused this is going to keep your desire to adapt and endure strengthened or fueled up. So you want to spend time crafting your why statement out and everyone associated with this effort, with your organization must do this. Every board member must have some relevance you know they can't just bring a skill set to the table, they also have to bring back heart string that relevance to your mission and vision. Every volunteer, every staff member, every supporter, anyone who is acting on behalf of the organization who is out in the community doing any work or behind the scenes must have that why they must be fueled by something.
The second concept
Deals with what we spoke about in part one, we spoke about framing, we talked about surveying the land and building a solid foundation having those things in place being able to appropriately engage in those things are gonna allow your organization and what you build on top of that to whether to withstand. Have you seen those houses that are built on poor foundations? They have cracks, they're leaning, they are more susceptible to natural disasters or any type of freak accident. So, building that solid foundation is going to be key to your ability to endure but also to adapt.
And when I'm saying solid foundation I'm talking about surveying the land, knowing where your building, performing that surveying audience analysis, which means I know my audience beyond just the demographic information that they are categorized, so I know what influences their decision-making, I know what threatens their livelihood, I know what policies, which laws threaten their livelihood and in the same sentence I know which policies or laws are gonna be advantageous to them, I know who have their attention.
The second step
Is building the skeleton, building that foundation. So, that looks like completing the issue statement meaning you have properly identified the issue, you can speak to the issue in the public and social sector, it's backed by some merited resource, there some statistic that's associated with it and you properly identified the cause of the issue and the outcome of the issue. All of this is key because it's going to determine how you build the rest of your efforts.
Doing the audience analysis, the serving audience analysis, surveying the land, building the skeleton, doing the issue statement, and then crafting the vision and the mission are the first step to being resilient.
Now that we have that skeleton in place the second step is making sure that our culture is together because your culture determines your capacity. It doesn't make sense for you to have this very sound skeleton to have a culture that is jacked up. the foundation is your skeleton this next part is more like your vein, this is what fuels and keeps things running throughout your organization. And this concept looks like having the right job descriptions in the organizational flow chart in place, having roles that are clearly defined, having responsibilities that are clearly defined, and having something that is conceptualized with an organizational flow chart. Additionally, having your policies and procedures, your S.O.P.s, or your standard operating procedures these things are non-negotiable. It doesn't make sense for us to have this super fortified skeleton and to have jacked-up veins. And in the essence and in the nature of veins, if you have these things that aren't in the order it's like having high blood pressure or having high cholesterol something that's prohibiting or tampering with the flow of communication and of roles and responsibilities.
Click here to download the Social Impact Approach Worksheet.
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