Nonprofit Organizations Paper

The nonprofit sector is ever evolving and in an attempt to withstand, perhaps, the most important role as being a gap filler. Although there are roughly 1.5 million nonprofit organizations dispersed throughout the country (National Center for Charitable Statistics, 2016), very few can be categorized as great organizations capable of making a distinctive impact over a long period of time while delivering superior performance (Collins, 2005). Reason being, many organizations have limited their ability to be effective and efficient nonprofit organizations, capable of transforming the system around them to achieve greater good. As the need for highly effective and, if you will, overall great nonprofit organizations increase, organizations should undergo a series of improvements to become high impact organizations. Throughout this paper, I will discuss the six principles of highly impactful organizations and how they are

sustained. Furthermore, I will show how these practices have proven fruitful for nonprofit organizations who have undergone a series of challenges, but have overcome those challenges while bridging boundaries to make a social impact on the nation. As stated by Crutchfield and Grant (2012), “it is important to have effective and efficient nonprofits, not as ends in themselves, but as means to achieving social impact; and it’s important to meet short-term needs, even as we aspire to long-term social change”.
The nonprofit sector has grown to embody its role in supporting democratic traditions and fulfilling functions in relation to the government. However, more times than not, nonprofit organizations serve as gap fillers, filling the void left by market and government failures. As a gap filler, nonprofits provide the goods and services that the other two sectors cannot provide (Worth, 2017). Furthermore, nonprofits seek to accommodate diversity, undertake experimentation, provide freedom from bureaucracy, and give attention to minority needs. In these roles, nonprofits are in place to serve; nevertheless, nonprofits cannot achieve systematic change through service delivery alone.
For this reason, Crutchfield and Grant (2012) put forward the principle that nonprofits must both serve and advocate. For nonprofits seeking to become high impact organizations, they have to access the power and resources of the government and advocate for policy reform to achieve maximum results. By doing so, they bridge the gap between advocacy and provision of services to create a cyclical progression for their organization’s impact. Through the combination of advocacy and service, nonprofits have played an integral role in identifying and giving visibility to emerging issues and problems that have ultimately become the focus of national attention and action (Worth, 2017).
One example of an organization that advocates and serves is Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation that is committed to “providing comprehensive reproductive and complementary health care services in settings which preserve and protect the essential privacy and rights of each individual (Planned Parenthood, 2016)”. In addition, the organization seeks to advocate public policies which guarantee these rights and ensure access to such (Planned Parenthood, 2016). Planned Parenthood is the leading provider of high-quality, affordable health care for women, men, and young people, and the nation's largest provider of sex education (Planned Parenthood, 2016); therefore, the organization has to lobby government officials to ensure that their clients can continue to take advantage of services such as abortion, and that they as an organization continue to receive government funding for the services they provide. Essentially, nonprofits, much like Planned Parenthood, provide services on the ground to gain a first hand view of the problems facing their constituents and propose informed policy solutions in an attempt to influence legislation, identify new opportunities for programming and achieve sustained, large-scale change (Crutchfield & Grant, 2012; Leroux & Goerdel, 2009).

With the rather recent growth in the number of nonprofits, there has been an increased emphasis on collaboration among nonprofits as well as other sectors, in order to reduce ineffectiveness and increase the capacity and impact of the sector overall (Worth, 2017). Crutchfield and Grant (2012) have concluded that nonprofits work with and through other organizations to have much more of an impact than if they acted alone; this principle is known as making the market work. Nonprofits that collaborate with for-profit businesses are able to harness the best of the social sector and the private sector to substantially increase their social impact and become a more powerful force for good (Crutchfield & Grant, 2012).
Typically, a nonprofit approaches a corporation to support its work through a donation of money, volunteer time, and in-kind products. Once established, these partnerships allow nonprofits to access a wide range of resources to help them achieve broader distribution of their ideas and services. For example, BridgesUSA a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in Memphis, TN utilizes local corporations such as FedEx, Auto Zone, Inc., and First Horizon National Corporation to advance its mission of uniting and inspiring diverse young people to become confident and courageous leaders committed to community transformation (BridgesUSA, 2016). Over the years, BridgesUSA’s partnership with these corporations has led to a substantial amount of monetary donations, volunteers, and in-kind contributions, which have gone directly to the organization’s direct provision of programs and services (BridgesUSA, 2016).
Partnerships such as the one BridgesUSA has with local Memphis corporations, have proven beneficial to both partners from a marketing perspective. The nonprofit often gains increased visibility for its cause and greater brand awareness (Crutchfield & Grant, 2012). Furthermore, the business improves its corporate image; builds a stronger brand; generates greater loyalty among consumers, staff, retailers, and other high stakeholders; and ultimately can generate more sales and higher profits (Crutchfield & Grant, 2012). Though social alliances may be fraught with problems, they can be designed, structured, nurtured, and maintained in a manner that will enable both partners to contribute to solving pressing social problems and to fulfilling important strategic objectives for themselves as well as their partner (Berger, Cunnigham, & Drumwright, 2004). Overall, high impact organizations recognize that the private sector has substantial resources and wields of enormous power that when combined with their provision of services can increase public awareness, which results in a collective social impact capable of solving social problems (Crutchfield & Grant, 2012).

The mission of most nonprofit organizations involve people, and people are the most important input in programs that serve the mission. Unlike the corporations nonprofits partner with, most nonprofit organizations provide services and are not capital intensive; that is, the costs of personnel are likely to be a major portion of their expenses (Worth, 2017). Given the fact that roughly 62.6 million people volunteered through or for a nonprofit organization in-between September of 2014 and September of 2015 (United States Department of Labor, 2016), it is important that nonprofits make use of such an established base of supporters.
As previously discussed, high impact nonprofits mobilize other sectors of society, such as the government and for-profit businesses, to magnify their impact.

Nonprofits are similarly adept at engaging and mobilizing individuals and the larger public to magnify their impact in providing a voice for public concerns, a vehicle for civic engagement, and the bedrock of participatory democracy. Highly impactful organizations are able to create meaningful ways to engage individuals in emotional experiences that help them connect to the group’s mission and core values. Moreover, they see volunteers, donors, and advisers not only for what they can contribute to the organization, but also what they can do as evangelists for their cause (Crutchfield & Grant, 2012). Evangelists, are people identified as potential good allies or ambassadors for the nonprofit’s cause (Crutchfield & Grant, 2012). While some evangelists have been celebrities, most of them have been common people who are deeply involved in the work of the institution and make it a high

priority.
Motivated by altruism and concern for others, former president, Jimmy Carter served as an evangelist for Habitat for Humanity. During his time with the organization, Jimmy Carter served three years on the board. In his role, Jimmy Carter quickened the pace at which people learned of the organization. Much like other evangelists, Carter was able to take the organization to the next level by virtue of his political, social, and economic power. He was able to attract attention, create legitimacy, and serve as a powerful role model to others (Crutchfield & Grant, 2012; Herrero & Dominguez, 2013). In addition, he was able to tap into his own social networks, which opened doors for the organization. Habitat for Humanity was able to do what other nonprofits seeking to become high impact nonprofits should do, they were able to turn outsiders into evangelists as well as build and mobilize larger communities as a powerful force for change (Crutchfield & Grant, 2012). Moving beyond individual engagement high impact organizations are able to cultivate a community of resources inclusive of organizational figure heads and communities of supporters; they’re able to get the right people on the “bus” (Crutchfield & Grant, 2012; Collins, 2005; Wheeler, 2009).