MPS CEO Assists the National Grange

M Powered Strategies’ nonprofit consulting program recently had an opportunity to assist our neighbor and landlord, the National Grange, which has been serving families and communities across the country since 1867. Today, as with so many nonprofits, budget constraints are probably the number one issue. Getting maximum value out of minimal funds requires a super tight ship.

The staff at the Grange needed help in defining their annual objectives, which in turn would allow them to prioritize workloads. MPS CEO, Kendall Lott started by conducting an environmental scan for the headquarters staff, with interviews and an online organizational diagnostic, to determine the current state of projects, workload, and the viability of the planning process.  Kendall recognized a common dilemma that many nonprofits face. “Like so many associations, they are tight on budgets and staff, with more and more mission-oriented activities they want to do and that members want.  With so many ideas, and so much operational activity, it was clear to me (and clear to the overworked staff!) that they needed to narrow their focus on objectives they could accomplish, by looking at their inventory of needs from a value and impact perspective. “

Based on the results of the environmental scan, Kendall facilitated a collaborative working session to help the Grange staff refine their strategic goals and performance measures, and eliminate objectives that that were not destined to achieve successful outcomes or that could not be provided sufficient resources.

They were able to reduce the annual plan to 27 key objectives for achieving success in 2018, and identified a risk profile for objectives with the most impact.  This empowered the team to allocate work to ensure that the main objectives would be met.

The staff at the Grange was very appreciative of MPS’ efforts. “MPS Assists’ service to us was invaluable in making us prioritize all the projects we have on our plate and uniting our staff members into a team to work toward the same priorities.  The staff was extremely pleased with the session and felt it was ‘priceless’ to help us focus on the big picture goals and how we can work together to improve our programs.”