2020 has impacted non-profit organizations in ways we couldn’t have predicted. Travel restrictions, economic uncertainty and civil unrest have left leadership navigating significant changes. Therefore, leaders have to adjust their staffing and hiring practices, sustainability of operations, and in some cases the core mission of their organizations. Looking ahead, what if COVID gets worse? Or, what if COVID is eliminated, and global travel opened up again in 2021? Would you be prepared to seize these opportunities?  

To come along side of non-profit leaders in addressing those questions, we invited Victor Thompson of Emergent Leadership Pathways to conduct a mini-strategic assessment.

In this workshop, Victor shared how to: 

1. Identify key areas for attention and improvement
2. Determine an action to take immediately to “clear space” for more strategic thinking
3. Self-assess on a regular basis

During the assessment, Victor asked each participant to rank seven key dimensions of their organizations that determine the health of their work. At the end, he walked us through the process of prioritizing and evaluating areas that are strengths. According to Victor, “it is more important to understand individual strengths than it is to keep trying to work on improving their deficiencies.” 

Our Founder, Lori Most, has worked with Victor on Executive Coaching , and has applied these principles into the work of BackpackEMR. At BackpackEMR, one of our strengths is innovative problem solving. After evaluating how 2020 has impacted the global health community, we have adjusted our business strategy and created a new tool for Virtual Care. We designed Virtual Care to help organizations who are committed to serve remote patients under the current travel restrictions. Lori announced the launching of BackpackEMR’s Virtual Care tool in the beginning of the webinar. Click on the link below to watch the full workshop!

It’s Twin Cities Startup Week! Well, “month”, this time around. With gathering restrictions, TCSW20 is 100% virtual with sessions scattered across September, and that included our panel Lessons Learned While Growing Your Social Enterprise hosted by Ecotone Analytics. 

We were joined by 2 other stand-out social entrepreneurs, Isaiah Goodman and Emily Hunt Turner, to talk about lessons learned as founders of social enterprises. Specifically, we highlighted times when we’ve had “bruised shins” and had to work our way back.

 A few key take-aways: 

1. Make sure your story is refined early. It will always make perfect sense to you – you are the founder! Make it hit home with others by getting professional story-telling help ASAP. One resource I’d suggest is Julie Kucinski at Pitchwell. She can take your complicated business plan and boil it down to a 5 second catch phrase that grabs attention and leaves people wanting to hear more.

2. Remember to build in a feedback loop. This applies to customers, beneficiaries, stakeholders, or anyone else that is touched by your project. At the same time, remember to filter the feedback, as well. In some cases, you have decide which feedback to listen to, and when to listen to your gut. It isn’t easy – but getting the feedback is the first step, then confirming who has the best insight is next.

 3. Get comfortable with debt. In our personal lives, we strive to stay out of debt. With a social venture, you are assured to take on debt in the early stages, just to stay afloat. Very few investors will invest early, so you’ll need to look to friends and family, banks, and other debt vehicles to keep both you and your company going. This is normal. Don’t feel like you’ve failed! Just keep moving, and once you get your break and start generating revenue, the investors will come.

We had a light-hearted discussion on how to handle struggles with humility while also harnessing the passion we all feel about our social enterprises to overcome the obstacles. It’s important to know you’re not alone, and we’ve all hit some lows in our journey. But use your passion to drive through it, and use your network of social entrepreneurs!

If any social startups are struggling with an obstacle right now, feel free to connect with me, and I’m happy to talk through any lessons I’ve learned that might be helpful!

Impact Measurement is becoming mainstream for non-profits and social enterprises to communicate their impact to donors, investors, and stakeholders. 

In this webinar, Tim Roman of Ecotone Analytics joins Lori Most from Binary Bridge to discuss how Impact Measurement can lead to:

1. An increase in funding through donor confidence in your outcomes
2. Aligning your organization around the same goals with formal KPIs (key performance indicators)
3. Redirecting your work to better execute your mission after examining ultimate goals
4. New strategic initiatives discovered through measuring true impact

They start by defining exactly what Impact Measurement is and described how to create a system within your organization to quantify the impact that your organization has on communities. They discuss details of building a Logic Model with your leadership team, and the power of a deeper analysis of your impact and how you measure ultimate outcomes.

A deep understanding of your impact will lead to significant increases in fundraising, program improvement, and ultimately better outcomes for the people that you serve. Click on the link below to hear more!