Investing in strategic expertise and fractional resources can not only free up your time as a leader to focus more on your mission—it can also lead to stronger outcomes.
Navigating the unpredictable landscape of the nonprofit sector, while balancing the pressures of daily operations, and focusing on your vital, mission-driven work, can cause even the most skilled and experienced nonprofit leader to seek help. The right consulting partner will work with you to identify what you need to outsource to free up your time, gain mental space and clarity, build confidence, and create a more impactful long-term strategy.
No matter the size of your organization, outsourcing operations can get you to the next level faster. It can also provide you with the opportunity to analyze and improve your systems and structures, so that as you grow and scale, your organization runs smoothly and allows you to focus on what you do best—advancing your mission.
Because as a nonprofit leader, although it may feel like it most days, you don’t actually need to be an expert in every aspect of your business.
Most mission-driven leaders know all too well the daily challenges of running a nonprofit organization. Between keeping an eye on the bottom line, managing your team, running programs, interpreting data, and reporting to funders and the board, it can be a struggle to carve out time for activities that focus on advancing your mission. As each day flies by, it’s common to find yourself wishing you had taken the time to meet with an important donor, connect face-to-face with a client, or share your organization’s impact at a community event.
It’s common to find yourself wondering:
- What am I not getting to do because I’m so focused on daily operations?
- What am I doing that might not be the best use of my time, or that may not be tied to our mission?
- What would I do if I had more time, and how would I use that time to advance the organization?
Often, questions like these go unanswered, as they are pushed to the next quarter and the next, because you simply don’t have the bandwidth. But as organizations grow, so do their operational demands, and keeping things status quo can lead to purpose drift. To prevent this, it’s critical to take the time to address operational inefficiencies now, not only to free yourself up to focus on your mission, but also to set your organization up for better outcomes and long-term impact.
FIRST, LET’S ADDRESS SOME COMMON OBJECTIONS:
Before we dive deeper into the benefits of outsourcing operations, let’s address some of the possible objections you might have—and don’t worry, we’ve heard them before, and we understand.
“Now isn’t the right time.”
There will always be a reason to wait, whether it’s until next quarter, next year, or two years from now. However, the longer you wait, the higher your opportunity costs will become. The best time to outsource is now, because the sooner you address your organization’s operational inefficiencies, the sooner the path to your next level will clear, and with the right partner, you’ll get there faster, with a tighter strategy that will pave the way to better long-term outcomes for your mission.
“I’m too busy to bring someone new up to speed.”
The reality is, you’re not going to get less busy. Waiting until things slow down will only widen the gap between where your organization is now and where you’d like to see it in a year. The only way to create space in your schedule is to reach out for help and begin outsourcing the operational demands that are tying up your time. Experienced consultants won’t need the time and energy you may think you need to use to bring them up to speed on your organization and its current challenges. For example, at Open Eye, we have a breadth of experience working with a variety of organizations in different sectors, and we learn quickly, using proven methodologies that allow us to begin working with you swiftly and efficiently.
“It will cost more than we can afford.”
Outsourcing one-time, fractional, or project-based operational expertise can provide you with the knowledge and investment of a seasoned professional without the cost or typical onboarding process of a full-time employee.
WE CAN MEET YOU WHERE YOU ARE
When meeting nonprofit clients who have identified the need to outsource their operations, we’ve noticed that they often fall into one of these two scenarios:
- Small or medium-sized organizations that have funding and ambition, and have made real progress, but when it comes to systems, processes, and people, they’ve reached a limit that is preventing them from getting to the next level. In this case, we would work with our client to help them discover what needs to change and where to begin to close that gap.
- Organizations that have a clear vision of the future and have identified the need to update their revenue model. They know they need to move away from unpredictable grants and toward more sustainable earned revenue, but they need help figuring out how to make that happen, both with respect to their operations and their long-term strategy.
Wherever your organization is along your path to long-term impact, strategic outsourcing offers a solution that can help guide your nonprofit organization to the next level, faster and more efficiently.
THE BENEFITS OF OUTSOURCING NON-PROFIT OPERATIONS:
When you decide to outsource nonprofit operations, not only will you regain the time you crave to continue your mission-driven work, but you’ll also feel lighter mentally, which is something our clients have often told us. This time and mental space, along with the operational expertise your organization will receive, will have you and your team feeling clearer, more confident, and ready to make more of an impact with your programs and services.
This increased level of clarity will help you understand and refine your revenue model, employ more efficient systems, and make better use of your resources, all of which will lead to a tighter strategy that will help you grow and scale your organization’s impact with confidence.
Let’s Go Deeper into the Benefits of Outsourcing Operations, with Examples:
BENEFIT #1: YOU’LL REGAIN TIME
Whether it’s through one-time engagements, ongoing project-based work, or fractional arrangements, nonprofit leaders who choose to outsource operations will regain the crucial time they need to focus on mission-driven work.
One key area where operational expertise can help you regain time is:
System Design
Most leaders have experienced the frustration that can come with needing to access data quickly in order to communicate it with stakeholders, donors, boards, or partners. If your organization doesn’t have the right systems in place, or you need to learn how to better leverage your digital tools (or adopt new ones), what should be an efficient process can end up taking more time than necessary.
In this case, outsourcing operational expertise could mean improving your digital marketing system, streamlining your financial reporting methods, creating useful dashboards, or coming up with easily repeatable processes to help you stay up to date quickly and efficiently on your organization’s data, in order to then report it clearly and effectively.
For ongoing projects, you might require additional manpower to take over daily operational tasks. Through our collaborative work with clients, we’ve helped leaders identify and delegate operations to existing team members. We’ve also helped our clients free up time by providing additional manpower who have the skills to seamlessly take on the operational tasks that are crowding leaders’ daily schedules.
Fractional resources are also highly beneficial to leaders who decide to outsource operations. Often hired on a part-time basis or for a contracted period of time, fractional experts are often executives who can have the knowledge and expertise to work across many aspects of your organization, which frees up a fraction of the time you would have spent on daily operations. Fractional resources bring all of the experience of a highly skilled leader, for a fraction of the cost. Investing in engaging a peer on your level who can get up to speed quickly and keep pace alongside you as you run not only helps you regain time but also provides peace and calm.
BENEFIT #2: YOU’LL FEEL LIGHTER
Simply put, one of the most common reflections we hear from clients who choose to outsource their operations is that they feel lighter. We’ve even heard about this “lightness” benefit as early as right after our first half-day strategy session.
To clear your mind of the details and logistics involved in operations does indeed create a feeling of calm. Even before the work begins, deciding to outsource what feels cumbersome can lighten your mental load, clearing the space you need for the creative, visionary, mission-driven work only you can do.
BENEFIT #3: EVERYTHING WILL BECOME CLEARER
Clarity is a key benefit of outsourcing nonprofit operations.
As a nonprofit leader, you know your organization best, but the right partner can help you make changes that will clarify and streamline your business processes. With clearer processes, everything becomes clearer: your mission, your values, your strategic goals, and how you and your team can work together to create greater impact.
Key areas where operational expertise can help you gain clarity are:
Financial Modeling: Every nonprofit knows how crucial it is to be clear about its bottom line to enable sound financial decision-making. However, not every organization may have the clearest visibility of its finances or a deep understanding of the true cost of its programs. In our work with clients, we’ve helped leaders uncover the true cost-effectiveness of their programs by looking at their profit margins against their activities. By taking the time to pause and look closer at their finances, our clients have been able to ensure that their time is being spent in the most productive way that advances both their organization’s bottom line and their mission. Finances also come into play when you’re hiring staff and expanding services. We’ve helped our clients understand which thresholds they need to meet before they can expand into a new market or begin scaling up to a new level.
As most leaders know, forecasting revenue in the nonprofit sector is difficult because of the variability of funding from grants or a mix of funding sources. Outsourcing expertise related to financial modeling can not only help you adopt a more reliable way to forecast revenue, but also give you the flexibility and safeguards you’ll need to adapt to the ever-changing nonprofit landscape.
The clarity you’ll gain by analyzing your revenue model, streamlining your financial tracking and reporting systems, and understanding your revenue thresholds will give you a deeper understanding of your organization’s finances and also the confidence to make wise business decisions that are tied to your strategy and mission.
Operational Structure & Staffing: The benefit of clarity can also present you with an opportunity to step back and analyze your operational structure. With the support and expertise of a consultant, you can take the time to analyze whether or not the right people are in the right roles. Getting clearer on the best organizational structure for your organization will prepare you for a smoother journey as your organization grows.
BENEFIT #4: CONFIDENCE
Now that you have more time, a lighter mental load, and a clearer vision of your organization, the natural next benefit is an increased sense of confidence. Clarity leads to confidence, and confidence is contagious. When you’re confident, your team will be confident in your ability to lead, and in your organization’s mission, systems, and strategic plan. With this new and improved energy, you and your team can work together much more effectively.
THE IMPACT OF OUTSOURCING OPERATIONS ON LONG-TERM SUCCESS
All of the benefits you and your organization will receive when you choose to outsource nonprofit operations will undoubtedly lead you to a better long-term strategy and help you achieve greater impact with your programs and services.
Whether you’re considering adopting an earned revenue model or you need help maximizing your existing one, Open Eye can help. With expert guidance, it will be easier for you to understand your current position, discover which programs are serving you best, and ensure that your programs and processes are fully aligned with your mission. Wherever you’re planning to lead your organization, outsourcing operational expertise can help you get there faster.
OPEN EYE CAN HELP
The most successful nonprofit leaders we’ve encountered are not experts in everything. One thing they all excel at, however, is surrounding themselves with the right people.
Outsourcing to skilled, experienced experts can bring many benefits not only to you as a nonprofit leader, but also to your team, the people you serve, and your organization at large.
So, if you’re open to change and ready to start freeing up your time, Open Eye is here to help.
