Nonprofits' missions may not keep pace with their programs over time, as the services, beneficiaries and public support changes. There are a number of reasons this is important, most notably for good governance and its legal obligations to stay tax-exempt. To the IRS, activities outside of the mission may suggest that board and staff are mixing private gain with tax-exempt status.
When a nonprofit adapts to changing circumstances, it is not necessarily abandoning mission. On the contrary, nonprofit leadership may need to periodically reflect upon whether they are best serving the population they intend to benefit.
A soup kitchen may evolve to provide a meal and employment counseling, just as a domestic violence program may enhance its services to include transitional living apartments. In either case, the organization grew and it may be time to revisit the mission. The mission may not allow for such additional services, however attractive. The board may be unwilling to consider changing the mission, even when it's obvious the mission is functionally either less recognizable or too restrictive to promote appropriate growth. One means to address this may be through a logic model, which is the means to examine the inputs, strategies, outputs, outcomes and impact.
Logic Model References
Among resources, nonprofits can turn to W.K. Kellogg Foundation's Logic Model Development Guide, a comprehensive workbook available at no cost to the user. It details how nonprofit leaders can examine the inputs (what they are doing), strategies (how they are going about it), outputs (what happens in the short run), outcomes (the short and long-term results on the population served and/or its perception) and impact ( the long-term overall effect of a program). Another resource is Innovations Networks Logic Model Workbook, which is free for noncommercial use. The Center for Disease Control also offers guidance through its Evaluation Working Group.
Why Logic Model?
The logic model was originally conceived by Joseph Wholey as a means for program evaluation. For nonprofits examining their programs and reflecting on their missions, it may be the most practical way to open board discussion. The logic model shows the links and often the disconnects between what a program does and what it actually accomplishes. Thus, it creates opportunities for change.
Advancing Change Amicably
Changing mission, however slightly, is often not a popular concept, particularly in nonprofits led by boards entrenched in founders' values. They may rail against change, even though it is for the good of those they serve, simply because it is unfamiliar and difficult to envision.
The logic model, when properly completed, provides more information than a white paper on why the organization needs to change its mission. The logic model intrinsically removes emotion from the equation. It provides a template for change by showing what the work is- and isn't. The lines from one box to another to show what happens from the input to output, limiting tangential arguments about how it can be this or that. The logic model is a persuasive tool, then, because it is what it is.
Keeping the Memory in the Mission
The need to recalibrate the mission to reflect a change in programs, services and outcomes doesn't mean throwing the baby out with the bath water. It is possible to keep the memory in mission by accurately articulating what the organization does and aspires to do while sustaining the spirit of its founders. It is, indeed, desirable to keep traditions in place to assure an organizations' founders (who may be its board and major contributors) of a sustained legacy.
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