Scaling Altruism

CHAPTER 6Execute

Good business planning is nine parts execution for every one part strategy.

—Tim Berry

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

• Build awareness and consensus among staff to encourage adoption of effective execution practices;
• Design, build, and improve dashboards to monitor and improve growth and enhance strategy along with the other targeted areas of organizational performance; and
• Understand how to nurture a culture of performance, trust, and effective teamwork.

While many nonprofits can describe their program or services, most struggle with delivering them as promised to funders, partners, and supporters. Many for‐profit organizations struggle with execution as well: it is obviously easier to promise something than to deliver on that promise. As elsewhere, there are very effective practices and tools used by high‐performing for‐profit organizations that, with some adaptation, are directly applicable to the social sector, and this chapter will describe what they are and how to apply them. First, it may be useful context to explore what happens when these execution practices go unused, as they do today by even very large and apparently successful, well‐funded nonprofits.

Case Study: Dysfunction Junction

Save the Animals (STA) is a multibillion‐dollar environmental conservation NGO launched in 1973 by the famous English ...