2020: New Year, Bigger Nonprofit Impact

Will 2020 be a success for your agency?

With 2019 quickly coming to an end, most of us are tying up loose ends and putting the finishing touches on our 2020 plans, goals, and budgets for nonprofit impact. Maybe you’re even making a couple of last minute phone calls and visits with major donors or new board candidates before you close out the books for the year. 

It’s been a long year, with many surprises, both good and not so good, but you and your agency made it through! You delivered positive, much needed impact in your community. Congratulations!

Let’s Pause in the Middle of End-of-Year Chaos and Take a Moment to Reflect

Socrates is credited with saying, paraphrasing here, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” This time of year is a good time to do just that: examine. What went right? What went wrong? Where did you excel? As a leader, where did you feel you personally could have done better?

You don’t have much time for reflection right now as your team, your goals, and your budget are all in place and ready to be launched shortly. However, with your new plans ready to begin come January 1st, I have a couple of different questions you can ask yourself (or others) to ensure you are leading your agency and your team in the right direction while carefully avoiding the weeds along the way. Find a quiet place and reflect.  

1. Does everything we plan to do and every dollar we plan to spend tightly align with our mission? Are we on track or are we potentially facing mission creep?
2. What should we absolutely stop doing in 2020?
3. What should we absolutely start doing in 2020?
4. Which aspect of our agency must we absolutely protect at all costs as we go into the new year?
5. How will we overcome our single greatest challenge from 2019?

I could go on and on but you get the picture. Take some time, as Socrates suggested, and see what you discover. 2020 is yours for the taking! Are you ready to create a bigger nonprofit impact?