Nonprofit Excellence: First Believe than Achieve

Every day I wake up to a poster plastered beside my bedroom wall that reads ‘EXCELLENCE: BELIEVE IN IT’. After reading the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits’ (MCN) Principles & Practices for Nonprofit Excellence, I could not help but wonder what it truly takes for a nonprofit to be excellent? Perhaps nonprofit leaders like board members and managers would have to first believe that their nonprofit can be excellent before pursuing new principles and practices suggested from a state association like MCN. For instance, one suggestion the MCN recommends nonprofit board members to serve “no more than 9 years consecutive years” to ensure broad public participation that is vital and diverse(7). For some existing nonprofits, this suggestion could be identified as unrealistic. For example, such nonprofit organizations can have board members for up to a lifetime. Also, sudden changes in principles and practices could upset supporters and providers of the nonprofit. Furthermore, it would depend on the leader(s) of that existing nonprofit’s belief in excellence and whether they believe the pursuit of excellence would be worth such costs.

Overall, striving for a nonprofit to be excellent requires a change in principles and practices. It all starts with the belief that the nonprofit can be excellent. Once this is achieved, then action can be taken place to pursue nonprofit excellence. Utilizing these basic steps could ensure an effective and/or impactful nonprofit.