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Strengthening Your Organization printer-friendly

By Jeremy White, RestoreHope Consulting

Faith-based organizations throughout the nation are frequently seeking to become more expansive and stronger. However, the majority of smaller faith-based organizations and ministries are often choosing to just survive and find ways to keep invaluable programs operating and essential staff employed.

Healthy organizations can weather the storms of diminishing financial support and possess a level of strong executive support. This communicates stability to their staff, board members and/or volunteers. These groups demonstrate success along with a diversity in their staff positions that includes the areas of administration, financial affairs, and program development.

Leaders, who find they are responsible for all areas of their organization and its daily operations, may easily burn out, crippling the ability of the organization to remain viable.  In order to avoid these challenges, organizations must first plan to provide for proper staff support. If financial constraints are an issue, ministries should consider obtaining effective volunteers to fulfill many of the administrative functions commonly provided by staff. This can also include programmatic roles. However organizations should be careful to obtain committed and skilled volunteers thus ensuring the organization’s success.

Finally, effective planning of proper support for an organization’s leaders and the diversification of reliable funding streams have become essential factors for successful and sustainable organizations. It is imperative to develop a plan and strategy to achieve these goals. This should include a healthy donor strategy. In times of increased economic challenges, the one sector that has been stable regarding resources has been American Philanthropy. Recognizing that people are usually generous, the focus should be on non-profits developing ways to identify potential donors and provide them with a compelling reason to donate to your organization. Consider developing specific formulas for how many donors would be needed at what giving levels
in order to achieve identified goals. Create impact cards that are easy to read explaining why giving to your organization would benefit the community

Achieving a level of sustainability from various sources and focusing on effective and dedicated leadership will enable your organization to remain strong through challenging economic times.

For questions or more information about strengthening your organization, please contact us at www.restorehopeconsulting.com

Jeremy White is the Founder and President of RestoreHope Consulting, which was established to address the on-going organizational needs of community helpers and healers and in so doing to restore some of the hope that been lost in communities around the country.

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