In the quote we used last week about the responsibility of a Board of Directors, there was this interesting part, “When corporations hit bumps in the road, all fingers typically point back to the board of directors.”
Indeed.
But whose fingers are doing the pointing?
In the for-profit world, the finger pointers are primarily those who have the most at stake in the organization in question – the owners (the stockholders).
What about non-profit Pregnancy Help Centers (PHCs)?
Currently, as I pointed out in my article last Friday, there are varying opinions about who has the most at stake when it comes to a PHC.
I think that confusion has led to PHCs being “all over the map” when it comes to the question of strategic direction and priorities.
Lack of clarity leads to lack of focus.
And lack of focus leads to sub-optimal performance.
Model What Works
In terms of achieving optimal performance, I propose that Pregnancy Help Centers would do well to model for-profit organizations by designating those who provide philanthropic capital as their top-priority stakeholders.
I would go so far as to call those philanthropic benefactors the “owners” of the PHC, even though technically no one can legally own a non-profit.
Technicalities aside, I propose this “mental move,” if you will, in order to bring a central focus to a Board of Director’s priorities.
As I have written in many other articles, if you ask a typical pro-life benefactor who gives money to a PHC, what she wants the PHC to achieve with that money, she will tend to answer something to the effect of, “I want the PHC to save as many lives from abortion as possible.”
That statement of what a typical benefactor wants from the PHC, the ONE THING she wants from the PHC more than anything else, provides the Board of Directors of a PHC with both strategic focus and operational accountability for measurable results.
If a journey of success is like climbing a ladder, this focus helps the Board make sure that the PHC’s ladder is leaning against the correct wall.
At the top of that wall is measurable results: a consistent increase in market share, as measured by the number of lives saved from abortion, relative to the number of abortions performed at Planned Parenthood.
The Wrong Wall
In general, in the Pro-Life Business Industry, there are many PHCs that are furiously climbing a ladder that is not leaning against a wall that reflects the desires of the PHC’s benefactors.
Those PHCs may stand at the top of that wall and claim “success.”
However, they may find that very few of their benefactors are congratulating them.
Instead, many benefactors will be pointing at a different wall – the wall of measurable increase in market share versus Planned Parenthood – and shouting to the PHC’s Board of Directors, “This wall here!”
More to come…
Regards,
Brett