These Times, They Are A-Changing!

By: Kevin Bingham - President, Diversified Nonprofit Services

Well, in most places across this great nation, people are sitting at the edge of their seats, waiting on the latest word from Washington and Wall Street. All of us can agree that these are most definitely challenging times. This raises the question, "How do we survive all of this?" I firmly believe that for-profit businesses and nonprofit organizations that focus on their core existence and provide needed products and services to their clients and prospective clients will come out more viable than ever when the smoke clears.

In our line of work, consulting with nonprofits, we have identified a need in the nonprofit sector for what I call "prescriptive consulting." What I mean by this is that, in these challenging times, nonprofits that focus on what is important often need consultation in a specific area of their overall operations.

As I learned in Marketing 101, organizations are either product or market driven. At Diversified Nonprofit Services, we are working diligently to be market driven. In other words, we are working to meet the needs of the marketplace and we are developing tools and services that meet the needs of the nonprofit market. If we were product driven, we'd be developing products that fit our strengths and pushing those products to prospective clients. Now, do not get me wrong, we do have products and services that are available, off the shelf, but we are not trying to sell them to clients for whom they might not be a good fit.

We have determined by looking at the nonprofit landscape, as it exists today, that many organizations and their leadership may just need a few hours of consultation on a specific issue. Or they may be in need of a process or strategy to help them meet the needs they face daily. In an effort to be market driven, we have developed a website that will meet these needs.

I encourage you to visit our new site: http://www.theperfectnonprofit.com/cms/. It is chock full of ideas, best practices, sample tools and other information developed by the professionals of Diversified Nonprofit Services who have been involved in the nonprofit sector for the majority of their careers.

Inside the site is a plethora of information that is based on what we call The Perfect Nonprofit Model.  Hopefully, this will grab your attention. The Perfect Nonprofit Model is at the core of our philosophy about nonprofit management.  David Condon and I are putting the finishing touches on our book which is titled The Perfect Nonprofit. This book and its philosophy provide a holistic and balanced approach to nonprofit management. We believe that it has the potential to move nonprofits to excellence in their services to their clients and in the governance of their organizations.  Keep your eye out for this book; it will be published in early summer 2009.

While the times are most definitely changing, it is our belief that nonprofits are needed now more than ever, and it is our charge to provide nonprofits that chose to be proactive, the tools and prescribed consultation that will carry them beyond this time and into good times. Let's hope those good times come sooner than later. Hang in there and stay focused!