Integrating Mission and Strategy for Nonprofit Organizations

Today's nonprofit organizations face an environment characterized by higher levels of competition for funding, clients and audiences, talent, and recognition. In addition, they confront greater pressures from donors, government, and the public to demonstrate efficiency, effectiveness, sustainability, and accountability, while intense social needs and problems, as well as the desire for growth, drive them to expand their programs and activities. Collectively, these challenges go to the heart of fundamental issues of mission and strategy. Integrating Mission and Strategy for Nonprofit Organizations applies and adapts the core body of general management knowledge about mission, strategy, and execution to help nonprofit leaders deal with the special challenges they face. It strives to draw on this knowledge in a way that does not dilute or oversimplify, and at the same time recognizes the unique features of the nonprofit or voluntary sector. James A. Phills develops an action-oriented framework that combines rigorous analysis with the practical challenge of execution and change. In addition to helping nonprofit leaders think through important decisions and make concrete choices, the book also provides a shared language and a discipline that can serve as the basis for more productive discussions between the individuals who lead nonprofits, the business executives who serve on their boards, and the philanthropists who support their organizations and programs. This last objective is critical, because too often nonprofit leaders and board members complain that they can't reap the benefits of the expertise of their supporters, funders, and volunteers from the business sector. Phills suggests that this is often the result of an inability to speak the same language and draw on a common understanding of key concepts, such as competition, strategy, and vision.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: The Role of Mission and Strategy in Enhancing the Performance of Nonprofit Organizations 1: Mission: The Psychological and Emotional Logic 2: Strategy: The Economic Logic 3: Industry Analysis 4: Execution: Translating Mission and Strategy into Action 5: Corporate Strategy, Alliances, and Collective Action 6: The Role of Leadership in Mission, Strategy, and Execution 7: Strategic Change: Intelligent Adaptation 8: Avoiding the Pitfalls of Mission, Strategy, and Execution in the Real World Notes Index

About the Author :
James A. Phills, Jr., is on the faculty at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he is also Co-Director of the Center for Social Innovation and Faculty Director of the Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders. His research focuses on strategic change, organizational learning, and social innovation. He has previously taught at Harvard University and Yale University.

Review :
"My students heap praise on Jim Phills' Integrating Mission and Strategy for Nonprofit Organizations. They value [it] for its clear, thoughtful, and broadly useful exposition of core strategic management frameworks and excellent examples from the field, its powerful fusion of private sector and nonprofit sector perspectives, and its insights into the human dimensions of building great organizations. A wonderful, foundational text which is helping to unlock the potential of young nonprofit leaders and social entrepreneurs."--Prof. Gordon M. Bloom, Director, Social Entrepreneurship Collaboratory (SE Lab), Harvard Kennedy School and Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations