Welcome to the Social Enterprise Success Series: A Non-Profit Leader’s Guide. Let's walk together through what it takes to turn an idea into a thriving social enterprise—from choosing the right model and testing your concept to writing a business plan, marketing with impact, and avoiding common pitfalls. Each article is designed to give non-profit leaders practical tools, fresh insights, and the confidence to build a sustainable enterprise that grows both revenue and comm

Money is tight in non-profits. We get that! Starting a social enterprise is an exciting way for non-profits to generate sustainable revenue while creating community impact. But where do you start, and how do you avoid costly mistakes? Follow this practical roadmap and steps for non-profit leaders.

Choosing to start a social enterprise can feel like a daunting task at first, one filled with uncertainty and risk. A thriving and successful social enterprise is built on passion – and a solid business plan. The questions included in this checklist help non-profit leaders reflect on and consider the many aspects of what launching a social enterprise involves and how to set it up for long-term success.

Many non-profits don’t have (or need) a business plan. However, once you venture into social enterprises, it becomes essential for success, whether self-funding or seeking outside investment in your enterprise. A comprehensive non-profit social enterprise business plan assesses all aspects of the business idea. It explores and examines where your social enterprise is headed, how it will get there, and how/why it will succeed. Every business plan is as unique as the social

Three people with their thumbs up around having chosen the best social enterprise idea. If you’re like most non-profits, once you’ve set your social enterprise evaluation criteria, the first thing you want to do is jump into brainstorming ideas. And why not? This is the fun part! When doing “green-light thinking” brainstorming every idea and every voice is important. Mix and match your techniques to ensure everyone has a chance to contribute. Generally, a mix of individual

When non-profits start exploring social enterprise, they often get hyper-focused on THE big idea. This is the idea that when they think about it, their gut says, “this is it!” The problem with this approach is that to make an evidence-based decision (objective, not subjective), you need to back the idea with solid data. That’s where market research comes in. Market research answers the simple but critical question: Will this work, and why?

This blog post is part of five articles on organizational sustainability. Related articles are noted at the end of the post. Stage Two: Risk Assessment The Risk Assessment component of improving sustainability builds on what was learned during the Organizational Audits and requires that the Board determine what is “acceptable” risk in several areas. As noted above, how you break out the areas that you assess or the concerns you examine depends on your current Board, what ha

When it comes to creating a sustainable organization, it is vital that your organization be confident in what it does well, know what opportunities exist to explore, and constantly scan the marketplace for trends that can impact the sustainability of the agency.

This blog post is part of five articles on organizational sustainability. Related articles are noted at the end of the post. Stage One: Organizational Audits An organizational audit evaluates areas of your organization that are considered vital to its functioning. It compares an element's performance to the desired performance to meet your business needs or goals. The focus of your audit may vary depending on your specific key issues or concerns. The three most common organi

Stakeholder Engagement planning is easy. Getting people to show up and share ideas is more challenging.

Planning is required to run successful campaigns. Learn how to craft a community engagement plan to discover stakeholder needs.

Choose who to invite to stakeholder conversations, by defining the purpose (WHY) of the conversation and what it is you want to learn.

Before recruiting new Board of Director members, doing an internal Board Evaluation to assess your Board's strengths and areas of improvement is helpful. Knowing how effective your board is, what strengths it brings, and the areas of improvement to focus on in the coming months, provides potential recruits and existing members with confidence that the board is self-aware and committed to ongoing learning and improvement.

In some cases, this transition from a working board to a governance board is natural and smooth; in other cases, tensions arise, and there is a push and pull as individuals struggle to understand the new parameters under which they must now work and the restrictions that may now be placed on them. Does your organization have the capacity to transition from a working board to a governance board?

When choosing KPIs and performance metrics for your non-profit strategic plan, start by asking your management team what they already track. Use existing data wherever possible, then add a few simple, measurable indicators that help your Board and Executive Director track progress, measure results, and strengthen accountability.

A good non-profit strategic plan needs goals people can actually understand and use. By getting clear on what’s behind each goal, Boards can turn big ideas into SMART goals, measurable objectives and KPIs that support accountability, guide implementation, and keep the plan moving forward—even when leadership changes.

When a non-profit Board has limited time for strategic planning, choosing the right priorities matters. Three or four clear strategic goals can create more focus, accountability and impact than a long list no one can realistically achieve. Clustering and prioritization help Boards connect goals to their vision, mission and values. The question is: Are you choosing the goals that matter most—or simply the ones that are easiest to agree on?