The Sustainability Mindset: Using the Matrix Map to Make Strategic Decisions

Book description

The Matrix Map—a powerful tool for nonprofit strategic decision-making

Nonprofit sustainability lies at the intersection of exceptional impact and financial viability. The Sustainability Mindset offers nonprofit professionals and board members a step-by-step guide to move your organization towards this intersection. As outlined in the bestselling book Nonprofit Sustainability, "The Matrix Map" is an accessible framework that combines financial and programmatic goals into an integrated strategy. In this next-step resource, the authors detail a rigorous process to develop a meaningful Matrix Map and engage leadership in setting an organization's strategy.

Nonprofits that thrive in today's environment are adaptable with a clear understanding of their impact and business model. This book offers nonprofit boards and staff a framework to do so. Drawing on their in-depth experience, the authors provide an easy-to-follow process complete with tools and templates to help organizations visualize their business model and engage in strategic inquiry. The book provides a variety of illustrative examples to show how the Matrix Map works for all types of organizations. Nonprofit executives and board member are sure to benefit from The Matrix Map analysis.

  • Offers step-by-step guidance for creating a Matrix-Map, a visual representation of an organization's business model

  • Helps organizations assess how each of their programs contributes toward their desired impact and their financial bottom-line.

  • Filled with compelling examples of how The Matrix Map helps nonprofits with strategic decision-making

  • Written by the coauthors of the groundbreaking book Nonprofit Sustainability

  • This comprehensive resource will give any nonprofit the framework they need to make decisions for sustainability and the templates and tools to implement it and help leaders address the challenges inherent in balancing mission impact with financial viability.

    Table of contents

    1. Figures, Tables, Exhibits, and Templates
    2. Acknowledgments
    3. Chapter 1: Introduction
      1. Defining Nonprofit Sustainability
      2. The Context Today
      3. About This Book
      4. Notes
    4. Chapter 2: The Matrix Map
      1. The Nonprofit Business Model
      2. The Matrix Map
      3. When Is the Best Time to Put a Matrix Map Together?
      4. Updating the Matrix Map
      5. Who Should Be Involved in the Matrix Map Process?
      6. Steps in the Process
      7. Summary: Using this Field Guide
    5. Chapter 3: Getting Started
      1. Guiding the Process: Establishing a Task Force
      2. Choosing a Project Manager
      3. Introductory Meeting
      4. Identifying Strategic Issues
      5. Articulating Strategic Issues
      6. Templates
      7. Summary
    6. Chapter 4: Articulating Impact
      1. Understanding Impact
      2. Articulating Intended Impact
      3. Defining Programs to Map
      4. Impact and Revenue Strategies
      5. Templates
      6. Summary
      7. Note
    7. Chapter 5: Assessing Mission Impact
      1. Process Overview
      2. Designing the Impact Assessment
      3. Implementing the Assessment Process
      4. Templates
      5. Summary
      6. Notes
    8. Chapter 6: Determining Profitability
      1. Nonprofit Expenses
      2. Staffing Plan
      3. Administrative Allocation
      4. Allocating Revenue
      5. Challenges and Variations
      6. Leading the Process
      7. Templates
      8. Summary
    9. Chapter 7: Creating Your Map
      1. Creating Your Matrix Map
      2. Drawing Your Map Electronically
      3. Drawing Your Map with Pen and Paper
      4. Variations on the Matrix Map
      5. Introducing the Matrix Map
      6. Template
      7. Summary
    10. Chapter 8: Reading the Matrix Map: Developing the Key Messages
      1. Finding the Narrative: How Do Your Bubbles Cluster?
      2. Do You Have “Right Revenue”?
      3. Are the Dynamics of Our Market Landscape Changing in Critical Ways?
      4. Developing Your Messages
      5. Creating a Business Model Statement
      6. Templates
      7. Summary
      8. Note
    11. Chapter 9: Program-Level Strategic Inquiry
      1. The Heart Quadrant
      2. The Star Quadrant
      3. The Money Tree Quadrant
      4. The Stop Sign Quadrant
      5. Process
      6. Templates
      7. Summary
      8. Notes
    12. Chapter 10: Case Studies
      1. Community Institute
      2. St. Elizabeth Housing
      3. Columbus Community Services
      4. Summary
    13. Chapter 11: Bringing it All Together: The Tools and Processes of the Sustainability Mindset
      1. Strategic People, Not Strategic Plans
      2. Cultivating the Sustainability Mindset
      3. In the End: Leadership
      4. Notes
    14. The Authors
    15. Advertisement
    16. Index
    17. End User License Agreement

    Product information

    • Title: The Sustainability Mindset: Using the Matrix Map to Make Strategic Decisions
    • Author(s): Steve Zimmerman, Jeanne Bell
    • Release date: October 2014
    • Publisher(s): Jossey-Bass
    • ISBN: 9781118767351