Jani’s Journal Issue 37: Best of Jani's Journal
1/7/2025
Jani’s Journal 2024 Top Fifteen
Welcome to Jani's Journal 2024 Top 15 Articles—a collection of the most popular insights and strategies that inspired and empowered nonprofit leaders throughout 2024. This year’s lineup spans a diverse range of topics, from fostering innovation and mastering strategic business planning to advancing women in leadership and optimizing time management. Dive into practical guidance on communication, collaboration, and nonprofit operations, all designed to equip you with the tools and knowledge to thrive in your mission-driven work. May these articles spark new ideas and fuel meaningful impact in 2025 and beyond.
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#15
🔗 BHAG: Big Hairy Audacious Goals 🔗
(from Jani’s Journal Issue #25: Innovation & Moonshots)
This excerpt from Jim Collins’ and Jerry Porras’ business school primer Built to Last delves into the concept of BHAGs, which are audacious, clear, and compelling long-term goals. Jim Collins expanded on this in Good to Great and his accompanying monograph, Good to Great and the Social Sector. BHAGs are critical to long-term success for both for-profit and nonprofit industries as they foster:
Ambitious vision by setting challenging and inspiring goals,
Commitment by staying dedicated to the vision, and
Transformation by achieving significant, lasting impact,
Nonprofits setting BHAGs can galvanize their teams, attract supporters (both volunteers and donors), and create a roadmap for achieving innovative impact.
#14
🔗 Business Planning for Nonprofits: What It Is and Why It Matters 🔗
(from Jani’s Journal Issue #23: Father’s Day Wisdom for Nonprofits)
Dads in Connecticut, Georgia, Michigan, Oregon, and Utah are trying to tell us that “knowing the plan, Stan” helps us avoid taking the scenic route (a.k.a. being lost). This article by The Bridgespan Group explains why Dad was right about knowing the plan and actually implementing the plan.
Developing a business plan offers nonprofits more than just a document; it encourages strategic thinking and provides a chance to align mission and programs. This process helps decision-makers link mission with actionable programs and resources as well as set metrics to evaluate success and make informed decisions. Rigorous business planning leads to better decision-making and clearer focus, enabling effective expansion and enhanced program delivery. Nonprofits can significantly enhance their impact by investing in a thorough business-planning process that provides:
Strategic Clarity: Defines intended impact and theory of change.
Strategic Priorities: Assesses current programs, modify, add, or discontinue based on effectiveness.
Resource Implications: Aligns staff, infrastructure, and finances with strategic goals.
Performance Measures: Tracks progress with clear milestones.
Tied for #12
🔗 Race to Lead: Women of Color in the Nonprofit Sector 🔗
(from Jani’s Journal Issue #16: Women in Nonprofits & Leadership)
Explore the unique challenges faced by women of color in nonprofit leadership roles. The Building Movement Project released a study of nonprofits and found:
“…[W]omen of color face some barriers that are similar to those experienced by white women or men of color, [but] the overlapping discrimination on the basis of race and gender places particularly acute burdens on many women of color.”
Even education does not insulate women of color from these burdens. The study finds that, of employees with a Master’s degree or higher, women of color are most likely to be front line nonprofit workers and least likely to be executive level employees. Recommendations for intervention include:
Systems change through increased philanthropic investment in organizations led by and/or focused on the issues impacting women of color and enforcement of existing anti-discrimination laws.
Organizational changes focused on decreasing bias through robust and equitable anti-discrimination policies and enforcement practices as well as pay transparency to shed light on pay-related discrimination.
Individual support through the creation of employee resource and affinity groups to supplement mentorship and sponsorship programs.
🔗 Work Smart & Start Smart: Salary Negotiation 🔗
(from Jani’s Journal Issue #16: Women in Nonprofits & Leadership)
The American Association of University Women (AAUW) studied the gender pay gap and developed several recommendations to help close it, including women-focused salary negotiation training.
#11
🔗 Broken Ladders: Barriers to Women’s Representation in Nonprofit Leadership 🔗
(from Jani’s Journal Issue #16: Women in Nonprofits & Leadership)
Discover the stark realities of gender disparity in nonprofit leadership through the lens of the American Association of University Women (AAUW). Despite comprising 75% of frontline nonprofit workers, women hold only 22% of large nonprofit CEO roles. Further, at the smaller nonprofits the gender wage gap is “only” 6%-13%, but jumps to 18% in the larger nonprofits despite having greater resources. Thankfully, the AAUW outlines recommendations to repaint this bleak picture:
Improve data collection by requiring reporting on gender and race of top leadership and board roles to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Department of Labor, or Internal Revenue Service. The availability of widespread data would improve our understanding of the scope of the issues and better understand the effectiveness of targeted interventions. Better yet, nonprofits can voluntarily track and make this information available to the public.
Require paid family and medical leave, which research has shown increases the likelihood of women returning to the same employer after maternity leave rather than forfeiting the seniority needed to climb leadership ladders.
Pass equal pay laws and restrict employers from using pay history to determine current pay. Given that nonprofits typically offer lower pay compared to for profits, women pivoting out of nonprofit sector to seek higher pay risk their prior salary history being used as a factor in their next job, carrying forward their lower wages that could have also been tainted by discrimination.
Implement mentorship and sponsorship programs, including partnerships outside the organization to support career growth.
Understand and work to dismantle bias against women in leadership.
#10
🔗 If We’re So Busy, Why Isn’t Anything Getting Done? 🔗
(from Jani’s Journal Issues #15: Time Management & Prioritization)
McKinsey & Company's article exposes the pitfalls of unproductive collaboration, a common time drain in both corporate and nonprofit settings.
“Interacting is easier than ever, but true, productive, value-creating collaboration is not. And what’s more, where engagement is occurring, its quality is deteriorating. This wastes valuable resources, because every minute spent on a low-value interaction eats into time that could be used for important, creative, and powerful activities.”
I find this to be even more common among nonprofits as many nonprofit leaders lack formal training on strategic communication, facilitation skills, and associated technology. McKinsey offers a quick guide to deciding the best collaboration method based on the type of interaction and what needs to be accomplished. Over the next month, try consulting this simple chart when scheduling meetings to streamline collaboration efforts and embrace effective communication strategies to reclaim your valuable time.
#9
🔗 Steven Covey's Time Management Matrix 🔗
(from Jani’s Journal Issues #15: Time Management & Prioritization)
This Jani’s Jackpot article by David Gousset is one of the better summaries of the single most impactful prioritization tool I’ve used for over fifteen years: Steven Covey’s Time Management Matrix. By categorizing tasks based on their importance and urgency, Covey's matrix empowers you to focus on Quadrant II activities—those that are important but not urgent—thereby maximizing your productivity and impact. Once you’ve set aside time for Quadrant II tasks, fill in with Quadrant I as they emerge throughout the week, delegate Quadrant III to the greatest extent possible, and minimize Quadrant IV. For nonprofits, ensuring that your specific role’s mission-critical tasks reside in Quadrant II is paramount.
Tied for #4
🔗 Understanding Nonprofit Communications: Definitions, Strategies, Comparisons and Best Practices 🔗
(from Jani’s Journal Issue #24: Communication & Collaboration)
Prosper Strategies delves into the power of storytelling in nonprofit marketing. Discover how compelling narratives can transform your organization’s outreach, engage donors, and inspire action. This article also incorporates some marketing and communications basics that nonprofits may find useful, particularly around the structure and collaborative relationship between a marketing professional or department and other parts of the organization. Positioning the communications department as an internal agency focused on brand development, reputation management, and marketing in support of other functions such as HR and Fundraising clarifies roles and responsibilities within the organization, ensuring that communication efforts are cohesive, consistent, and strategic.
🔗 Nonprofit Storytelling: The Quick and No-Nonsense Guide 🔗
(from Jani’s Journal Issue #24: Communication & Collaboration)
In the world of nonprofits, storytelling isn’t just a nice-to-have skill—it’s essential. Effective storytelling can ignite empathy, drive engagement, and inspire action. Check out this National Council of Nonprofits article if you still need convincing. For the busy nonprofit professional, finding the time to craft compelling narratives can feel daunting. Lucky for us, Bloomerang.com shares a streamlined, four-step approach to help you master nonprofit storytelling without the stress:
Identify the Core Message: Focus on the heart of your story. What’s the single most important message you want to convey? This central theme should resonate emotionally and clearly align with your organization’s mission.
Find the Hero: Every great story needs a hero. In the nonprofit sector, this could be a person receiving your services, a volunteer, or even a donor. Highlight their journey, challenges, and triumphs to create a relatable and engaging narrative.
Show, Don’t Tell: Use vivid details, quotes, and anecdotes to bring your story to life. Instead of stating facts, illustrate them with real-life examples. This makes your message more compelling and memorable.
Call to Action: Every story should end with a clear and compelling call to action. Whether it’s a donation, volunteering, or sharing the story, guide your audience on how they can make a difference.
🔗 Nonprofit Storytelling: Six Reasons to Start Telling Great Stories🔗
(from Jani’s Journal Issue #24: Communication & Collaboration)
🔗 How Storytelling Can Advance Your Career: 5 Ways to Improve Communication Skills. 🔗
(from Jani’s Journal Issue #24: Communication & Collaboration)
In the nonprofit world, many think of storytelling as a skill for the fundraising team, grant writers, or “outreach” (nonprofit-speak for marketing) professionals, but in today's professional landscape, storytelling is more than a creative skill—it's a powerful tool for career advancement. For those looking to enhance their communication abilities, Forbes offers five ways to leverage storytelling effectively in your daily professional interactions:
Take on Hard Truths: Identify the one thing people need to know now, and the biggest promise you can keep. It might sound like, “Here’s the biggest challenge we’re facing…it won’t be easy, but I know this team can find an innovative path forward.
Take it One Step at a Time: The most important step is always the next one!
Identify the Hero of the Story: Hint: it’s not you! Demonstrating your greatness through action and service that makes others the hero builds trust and credibility.
Use Creative Language Instead of Descriptive Language: Save the descriptive language for white papers or news articles. Tap into creative language to invite others into your vision for partnership, new ideas, and possibilities you can build or deliver together.
Connect with Your Audience: Create an immersive experience beyond the numbers and facts. “Today’s hot! It’s 97 degrees outside” is clear and concise…and boring. “You know that feeling when you open the door on a 97-degree summer day? You emerge from the air conditioning. The heat hits your face, burns your lungs, and your shirt immediately starts sticking to your back. Today’s hot!” Same numbers and facts; different experience.
🔗 Improve Your Influence by Creating Context 🔗
(from Jani’s Journal Issue #24: Communication & Collaboration)
Gerry Sandusky (with a G, not a J!) shares strategies for crafting presentations that engage and persuade by providing relevant context. Context must go first for the content to be understood and remembered. Too many times speakers jump right to the content assuming our listeners will create the context we intended. Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle reiterates the need for context first.
Tied for #1
🔗 (Mis)Understood Overhead 🔗
(from Jani’s Journal Issue #28: The Forgotten Middle Children in Nonprofits)
Even the Statement of Income reinforces the idea that operations functions (i.e. “overhead,” “administrative costs,” or “indirect expenses”) detract from the mission-related activities and services. But the National Council of Nonprofits notes,
”The assumption that overhead is ‘bad’ reflects a mis-appreciation of the reality of what it costs to deliver a nonprofit’s mission.”
Jani’s Journal celebrates the often overlooked yet critical functions in a healthy nonprofit: Human Resources, Quality Assurance, Finance, Marketing & Communications, Information Technology, Project Management, Physical Plant, and so much more!
🔗 The Nonprofit Workforce Shortage Crisis 🔗
(from Jani’s Journal Issue #28: The Forgotten Middle Children in Nonprofits)
The Council of Nonprofits 2023 report on the Nonprofit Workforce found significant shortages, on average about 75% of respondents noted job vacancies, which negatively impact the organization’s ability to provide services and programs to their communities. Strengthening HR operations can help nonprofits attract and retain talent in a competitive labor market.
🔗 Operating Models: How Nonprofits Get from Strategy to Results 🔗
(from Jani’s Journal Issue #28: The Forgotten Middle Children in Nonprofits)
This Bridgespan article highlights the importance of a well-defined operating model that ensures the essential functions of operations departments supporting organizational success. Bridgespan presents a case study of a nonprofit who reinvented their strategy and realized their need to reinvent their operating model to achieve their mission’s results. The outline important steps to ensuring your operating model aligns with your strategy:
Ensure the organizational structure, as reflected in an organizational chart and well-defined roles & responsibilities, identifies key operational units required for your strategy’s implementation and allows for collaboration & expertise sharing across departments.
Establish governance practices aligned with your strategy that outline how the organization identifies & manages priorities, allocates resources, monitors its work, makes decisions, and deploys talent.
Align your leaders, talent, & culture with the organization’s strategy to alleviate key challenges around the way people work together (or fail to do so).
Build the organization’s strategy-critical capabilities to ensure long-term performance. Consider capabilities needed for successful strategy execution in areas such as recruiting & talent development, data & technology, learning & innovation, and partnership development.
From Jani’s Journal…
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