Articles

Trend 2: Self regulation
Not for Profit organisations are expected by society, their members and various government entities to develop and enforce self regulation. This concept and practice of self regulation is taking on much more emphasis, and will be the make or break of a large number of Not for Profit organisations. (ref The Role of Associations in Self-Regulation, S. Bowman, 1996). There is a growing list of examples where Not for Profit organisations are working with government, which takes on a complementary role of oversight and/or compliance, adding teeth to the self regulatory regime. If your Not for Profit organisation is not investigating self regulation, it should be.

Trend 3: Provision of Information
There is an increasing emphasis on Not for Profit organisations as providers of information. Not for Profit organisations are in the privileged role of being able to collect information that no other entity would be able to collect. This is due in part to the trust that Not for Profit organisations members have towards "their" Not for Profit organisation, and thus they will provide sensitive information they would provide to no-one else. The other main reason is that Not for Profit organisations find themselves the hub of a lot of information, through meetings, member contact, "gossip" etc, and thus are able to quickly pick trends from their market that would not be obvious to others. Those Not for Profit organisations that do not pick up the challenge of becoming information providers will soon cease to exist.

Trend 4: Strategic Alliances
The trend is away from sponsorship as a concept, more towards strategic alliances

The philosophy behind successful strategic alliances is that they are a. business relationships; long term; and mutually beneficial.

There needs to be a change of mindset from "handout" to "let me make you a lot of money", and a change of focus (particularly of staff) from managing an expense budget, to one of developing income streams.

When selecting strategic alliances, there are four major triggers:
1. Need; of the Not for Profit organisation, of your strategic partner
2. Fit; of image, of availability, and whether you like them.
3. Leverage; other potential long term alliances, media, value added from partner
4. Spinoffs; journal, conference, books, PD, Database, Membership categories

Trend 5: User pays/non-dues income/strategic positioning
With the increasing call on Not for Profit organisation resources, and the increasing sophistication of Not for Profit organisation members and their perception of value, there is an increasing need for strategic positioning of the Not for Profit organisation to not only be seen to be providing services deemed necessary by members, but that these services are positioned to be valued by the members (by strategic pricing and image management), and that they are marketed to individuals or segments of the membership, not the whole of membership. The user pays philosophy allows the image of the service to be enhanced, and the income stream to be developed.

The latest survey, based on 716 Not for Profit organisations in U.S showed the following percentages of income derived from membership dues versus other sources:

less than $500,000: 39% dues; (61%) non-dues
$500,001-$1 mill.: 33.2% dues;(66.8%) non-dues
$1 mill-$2 mill: 35.6% dues;(64.4%) non-dues
$2 mill.-$5 mill.: 30.2% dues;(69.8%) non-dues
$5 mill.-$10 mill.: 28.2% dues;(71.8%) non-dues
Greater than $10 mill.: 19.2% dues;( 80.8%) non-dues

The larger a Not for Profit organisations, the greater reliance there is on non-dues income. Non-dues revenue in itself is neither good nor bad. It is the way in which this source of income fits with the mission of the organisation that is either a good fit, and therefore assists the organisation fulfil its mission, or it is a bad fit and may therefore detract from the organisation fulfilling its mission.

Survey on major issues:

A recent Peer review survey (3-day visits, 30 Not for Profit organisations, 20 national,7 state, 3 local; $1-5 million turnover) showed the following major issues were formost in the CEO's mind:

Strategic planning problems; 75%
Conflicting volunteer-staff and leadership challenges, 75%
Deficient member needs assessments, 70%
Insufficient crisis management plans, 75%
The future of volunteer Not for Profit organisations

There are three main factors emerging.

• The first is that there will be more amalgamations of Not for Profit organisations, as self regulation takes effect, more pressures are placed on them to provide services once provided by government, and as they become irrelevant due to lack of strategic positioning.
  
  
• The second is that members of Not for Profit organisations are becoming more sophisticated. They are expecting more, at a more sophisticated level, with a greater emphasis on value for money. They are more likely to switch allegiances if their association fails to deliver their expectations.
  
  
• The third is the increasing professionalism of Not for Profit organisation staff. There are now a number of tertiary courses and professional development programs that specialise in Not for Profit management.