Thought Leadership

The Hidden Treasure in Your Nonprofit: Why Frontline Voices Matter

August 26, 2024 by nextstage

Did you know there’s a wealth of untapped wisdom within your nonprofit? It’s your staff and team members — especially those most proximate to the work. Their perspective can offer meaningful insights to amplify your organization’s mission.

But boots-on-the-ground staff, the ones carrying out the mission daily, are often forgotten when an organization’s leadership comes together to refine its programming or engage in strategic planning. They’re often seen simply as the “doers” of the work — the ones who will implement the plans, designed by leadership, that will keep the organization structurally sound and afloat. But when directives come from the top, with a big-boss mindset, organizations lose out on a lot of value.

Without a way to bridge communications between frontline employees and management, nonprofits risk overlooking key insights that would strengthen their organizations’ effectiveness.

Tapping into Frontline Wisdom

When was the last time you invited your frontline employees to the planning table? And not just for a checklist or progress report, but a true engagement of ideas? When was the last time they were truly listened to, with the chance for their ideas to become a part of the organization’s broader plan?

Nonprofit employees actively seek this level of respect and internal goodwill. Your staff wants to contribute to your organization’s mission — and leveraging their wisdom can strengthen your nonprofit’s longevity and effectiveness.

That’s why we published Inside-Out: The Case for Community Voice, to reframe how organizations collect and consider input. For some nonprofit leaders, this requires a mindset shift — a traditional approach would see organizations gathering knowledge and insights at the top, allowing those to then trickle down into their agency’s programs, services and resources. For others, the desire to include and amplify their staff’s voices is there, but they find themselves falling short in executing an effective internal communications process. So, they default to the standard (and comfortable) top-down approach.

But a nonprofit’s internal feedback loop (or lack thereof) plays a key role in organizational strength because it directly relates to an organization’s values and guiding principles.

Building a Stronger Organization from Within

At Next Stage, we use an equation: Values + Processes = Internal Culture & External Brand. We believe living out your values while adhering to a set of protocols and processes is what defines both your workplace culture and public perception. A lack of clearly expressed, well-defined values negatively impacts trust and belonging internally, which then limits outbound engagement for your brand.

I’ve witnessed this misstep firsthand. A client mandated a set of changes to his staff, hoping it would get his team in alignment with his plans. But all this achieved was an increase in employee dissatisfaction and a breakdown in his staff’s trust in the organization’s leadership. As a result, many employees left, and those who remained didn’t feel connected to the company’s culture, mission or values.

For this particular client engagement, I began with a discovery phase. Although standard practice might dictate that a discovery phase should begin with mid-management and executive-level stakeholders, I talked first with the organization’s frontline employees. It might be logical to assume that executives know the most about their organization’s programming, marketing and operations, but I’ve found that’s often not the case. Additional voices must be included to get the whole picture to best support an institution’s strategy, direction, and vision. When you allow frontline workers to relay ideas and share their experiences, it only ever serves to better your organization. Also, starting discovery at the top can allow bias to creep in, so using this nontraditional approach can help mitigate this risk and allow for more robust, productive discussions.

Aligning Values, Culture and Brand

So how do you best listen to the people you entrust with advancing your nonprofit’s mission? How can you use their wisdom and experience to inform your institution’s future direction? Start with the following:

Empower your employees to use their voices.
Create a safe space for conversation, ideation and belonging.
Listen intently. In other words… stop talking so much!

To learn more on this topic, we invite you to join our free webinar, Human Resources & Community Voice: Listening to Your Employees, on August 29 at 11:00 a.m. ET. We’ll explore:

Why listening to employees is crucial for effective HR
The value of frontline insights and storytelling
How to implement a feedback process to foster a positive workplace culture

See you there!

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Next Stage Senior Director of Community Voice Helen Hope Kimbrough centers the perspective and lived experience of others to inform meaningful strategic planning and implementation efforts. Helen also champions diversity, equity and inclusion for societal and organizational change. She serves on the board of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Foundation and Parent Child+ and is the author of four multicultural children’s books. She’s the founder of an independent publishing company and cohost of the Behind The Throne podcast. A graduate of Hampton University, Helen holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing. She also has certifications in “Systems Thinking” and “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace” from Cornell University and the University of South Florida, respectively.

Why “Wait and See” Is a Failed Strategy

August 14, 2024 by joshjacobson

“I don’t know, Josh. I think we need to take a wait-and-see approach…”

It’s perhaps my least favorite phrase in social good — the dreaded “wait and see” that often rears its ugly head toward the end of an ambitious strategic planning activity.

The process of strategic planning is fascinating. Over the course of many months, the leadership of an organization invests time, energy and resources to move through phases of research and business plan development. Then, once the implementation plan has been finalized, the organization’s leaders are onboarded as the “owners” of following through with the well-defined, insight-informed next steps.

It’s the exciting part — when the rubber meets the road and theory prepares to transform into action. And yet…

When the time comes to roll up the proverbial sleeves and get motivated to advance the strategy, too often leaders get cold feet. Why?

When thoughts of risk creep into the room, concerns for public perception can overtake passion for impact.

“We’re still committed to it directionally, but we just want to slow down and wait and see what happens…”

Ugh.

What “Greatness” Really Looks Like

Unwillingness to commit to solutions and action contributes to the erosion of faith in social good organizations.

Much of Next Stage’s decade-long focus on trust-building is reinforced by ongoing research conducted by Gallup. As noted in our recent community report, trust is at an all-time low, with significant declines in public confidence in America’s systems. It continues a 40+ year trendline of eroding public trust.

But this isn’t the way it always was.

Once upon a time, people banded together around common causes. Those who work in social good often pine for “the good old days” of the Greatest Generation — the people who came of age during the Great Depression and World War II. It was a generation of great empathy and is widely considered the most generous generation in modern times. Much of fundraising methodology was created with the Greatest Generation as its muse.

The Greatest Generation “walked the walk” on sacrifice. During World War II, the federal government instituted a rationing system for basic materials like food, shoes, metal, paper and rubber. All citizens, rich and poor alike, were issued ration books with stamps that could be traded for goods many of us today take for granted.

Can you imagine that level of sacrifice today? During the recent pandemic, many of our neighbors demonstrated a marked inability to work cohesively or take the actions necessary to further the common good.

Leadership is galvanized not in what we are against, but in what we are for. And when it comes to meeting the needs of people directly impacted by social and economic inequity, we too often send a message that our commitment “depends.”

A Season for Reflection

As we sit here today, mid-August 2024, there are many factors contributing to fence-sitting by those we depend on most for leadership.

We are in the midst of a political season in the United States unlike any other in modern times, with shifting narratives sowing disruption and confusion. I’ve seen leaders’ confident predictions about the country’s future proven inaccurate, causing all their planned next steps to grind to an unexpected halt. That’s why election seasons in particular trigger too many leaders to adopt wait-and-see practices.

But it’s not just political uncertainty that invokes pause among social good leaders. The status of the economy is evoked almost as often as the reason ambitious — and much-needed — social good strategies get stalled. But the potential for an economic recession has been a bogeyman for years, with a belief that the 8% inflation in 2022 would eventually lead to a market correction.

Another factor that causes some leaders to stay flat-footed is public perception. With concern for how supposed “wokeness” can be interpreted by others, previous commitments to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging efforts are being quietly sidelined.

It’s against this backdrop that many institutions are considering how best to meet the needs of the people their missions call them to serve. Perhaps that includes you.

How will you lead at this critical inflection point?

Building a Culture of Leadership

I’ve never been more convinced of the importance of leadership. As someone who prides himself on strategy built from quantitative and qualitative research, I can say without any hint of irony that understanding a trendline is only as useful as the action it informs. And getting actionable is the only way to make progress.

Fostering a culture of leadership within your organization requires embracing practices that inspire proactive engagement and accountability.

A few methods to building and sustaining a culture of leadership that don’t succumb to the temptation of “wait and see” include the following:

Adopt a commitment to Community Voice. One of the most powerful ways to ensure your organization is moving in the right direction is to prioritize the voices of those most affected by your decisions. Data and financial forecasts are crucial, but they often fail to capture the lived experiences of the communities you serve. By integrating community feedback into your decision-making process, you can create effective strategies that resonate with the needs and aspirations of those you aim to support. This approach not only fosters trust but also empowers the community, including your frontline employees, to become active participants in your mission. To learn more about how to implement a feedback process in your organization, register for our free community voice webinar on August 29.
Embrace measured risk-taking. Leadership is often about stepping into the unknown and making bold decisions in the face of uncertainty. That doesn’t suggest moving with reckless abandon but rather calls for a calculated approach. Measured risk-taking is about understanding the balance between caution and courage, risk and reward, and moving forward with confidence when the benefits outweigh the risks. By encouraging a culture where thoughtful risks are valued, you empower your team to innovate and drive your mission forward, even in the face of uncertain times.
Create accountability for inaction. Inaction can be as consequential as action, yet it often goes unexamined. Establishing a system of accountability that revisits decisions not to act is crucial for future improvement. By regularly assessing the outcomes of inaction, whether they’re missed opportunities or successfully avoided pitfalls, your organization can learn and adapt. This practice not only prevents complacency but also ensures that every decision, including the choice to wait, is made with full awareness of its potential consequences. Leaders who hold themselves and their teams accountable for inaction demonstrate a commitment to progress and a refusal to let fear dictate their strategy.

In leading your organization or department forward, it’s important to remember that leadership is not just about making decisions — it’s about making the right decisions at the right time with the right people in mind. By adopting these principles, your organization can move beyond the paralyzing effects of “wait and see” toward a future of intentional, impactful action.

My colleague Helen Hope Kimbrough reminded me recently of a seminal quote from one of America’s great leaders, Martin Luther King Jr.:

“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”

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Is your organization at an inflection point? Need help figuring out your next steps? Reach out today to set up a consultation, and check out our website for more information.

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Next Stage CEO Josh Jacobson launched Next Stage as a social enterprise in 2014, bridging his professional experiences as a nonprofit practitioner with his consulting expertise. He has led Next Stage’s work with 200+ clients, including nonprofits, private-sector companies, municipalities, faith institutions, philanthropies and community-based organizations. Josh’s skills in strategic positioning and tactical design help clients achieve their goals. He guides Next Stage’s work in strategic planning and collaboration management and is a major contributor to the company’s thought leadership efforts.

Bridging the Health Divide: The Power of Radical Collaboration

August 13, 2024 by nextstage

While our nation’s health systems continue to make strides in the transition to value-based care, the glaring disparity between dollars spent on health care and the continued impact of social drivers on health outcomes persists.

Health care stretches far beyond the walls of clinics and hospitals, into people’s homes, neighborhoods, workplaces and communities. It encompasses the availability and access to housing, transportation, safety, education and employment. These factors are central to our health and well-being.

At Next Stage, we see the opportunity to redefine our understanding of health by recognizing the importance of these nonclinical factors. Around 80% of health outcomes are influenced by factors outside of traditional clinical care, so our concept of health must become broader.

A Tale of Two Zip Codes

As we expand our view of health, we must build consensus on the essential resources needed to create a more equitable and effective health system for all.

Let’s examine the health outcomes of two adjacent zip codes in North Carolina to explore how social drivers can influence health outcomes. The data visualization for neighboring areas in Durham County below marks a stark contrast in life expectancy.

Census Tract 6 has a life expectancy of 82.4 years while neighboring Census Tract 5 has a life expectancy of only 71.3 years.
Similarly, Census Tract 17.08 has a life expectancy of 80.4 years while nearby Census Tract 17.09 has a life expectancy of only 70.7 years.

For a closer look at these disparities, the Congressional District Health Dashboard offers a comprehensive comparison by district, highlighting the differences between adjacent census tracts.

Where you live significantly impacts your access to essential needs like fresh food, transportation, clean water, quality education, jobs and safe housing — all of which are shaped by public and private investment decisions. The consequences of these policy choices are evident in the dramatic life expectancy differences between neighboring zip codes. This reality underscores the critical need for thoughtful, well-coordinated efforts across county, city, and even state levels, supported by the private sector, to promote equitable community well-being.

We’ve been inspired by recent conversations around what’s happening in Mecklenburg County and the updated Chetty study, which saw Charlotte’s economic mobility ranking improve from 50th out of 50 for metro areas to 38th out of 50. This groundbreaking research further underscores geography’s critical role in shaping health and economic opportunities.

Examples like these challenge us to reconsider our approach to public health and social policy, prompting the question: How can we effectively address the social drivers of health to bridge these gaps and create more equitable communities?

Collaboration Should Be the Rule, Not the Exception

While everyone needs good health and well-being, not everyone has equal access to the resources and conditions that make them possible.

This “have and have nots” construct isn’t unfamiliar — it’s been a key characteristic of society since the beginning of time. It’s a hard truth — one we’re likely to face when we venture through neighborhoods not too far from our own.

So what will it take to create a pathway for more of our neighbors, community members and loved ones to maximize their health outcomes? Authentic, radical collaboration.

People and entities who don’t typically engage with one another must collaborate in ways that challenge the status quo. By focusing on the human experience first, we can dismantle hierarchy and power dynamics. By slowing down to take the time to build authentic new partnerships, we can ultimately “go fast” when the time is right.

Meeting at the Intersection

Across the country, we’re beginning to witness some of these innovative partnerships among clinical providers, community-based organizations, local municipalities, civic organizations and residents. These individuals and organizations represent an unwavering commitment to the places where they live and the people they live with and around.

To increase health equity, Next Stage believes cross-organization collaboration and innovation are key parts of the playbook. That’s why we’ve partnered with organizations that deliver health solutions in creative and impactful ways to neighborhoods in need:

Next Stage served as a third-party assessment partner to ensure the quality of service deployment for Care Ring’s The Bridge project — a mobile health unit that removes a common health care barrier: transportation.
In 2024, we’re partnering with the Office of Violence Prevention to facilitate community-driven action planning to help create a safer environment in the Sugar Creek I-85 Corridor.
Other partners in the health ecosystem include Constellation Quality Health in Raleigh, NC, and Piedmont Health Services, a multi-location community health organization headquartered in Carrboro, NC.

Next Stage, with its unique position at the intersection of various community stakeholders, is poised to help facilitate positive change by fostering collaborative solutions that can lead to better health outcomes for all.

That’s why, this fall, we’re launching our Impact for Health webinar series. This free five-part series will delve into innovative collaboration examples and the evolving health care landscape both locally and nationwide.

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Nimisha Patel joined Next Stage in 2024, having previously led The New Guard, a consultancy working with clients in health care, hospitality, real estate, nonprofits and technology. She previously served as National Director of Innovation & Design for Health Leads, a national leader in addressing the systemic causes of racial health inequalities. She also served as Associate Vice President at Duke Health where she led innovation design and implementation.

Jalah Blackmon is a public health educator who uses a social justice and health equity lens to empower underrepresented communities and challenge systemic barriers to wellness. She previously served as the Director of Innovation and Capacity Building at Care Share Health Alliance and as a Program Director at Charlotte Mecklenburg Food Policy Council. She’s the cofounder of The Black Light Foundation, a 501(c)3, family-led nonprofit focused on bringing light to dark places for individuals suffering from suicidal thoughts and mental health issues.

Who is the “Hero” of Your Nonprofit’s Story?

August 6, 2024 by joshjacobson

Your organization is doing important work to advance positive outcomes for the people you serve. You have a differentiated approach that makes your nonprofit uniquely qualified, and those who know your work best are true believers.

So why is it so difficult to get others to see what you, your staff and current volunteers see? Why does it feel like you’re continually fighting uphill to attract the constituency you need to make a bigger impact?

It likely has nothing to do with your competition or a need to demonstrate additional effort.

In fact, it likely isn’t about you at all…

Defining Movement-Building Brand Marketing

We know focusing on recruitment (when you’d prefer to focus on advancing your programming) is frustrating.

But we have a solution.

We’ve developed a strategy, informed by our work with 200+ social good institutions, called “movement-building brand marketing.” An adaptation of Donald Miller’s Storybrand, our approach focuses on the unique ways nonprofits can build belonging with their constituents.

The premise is simple — brands do best when they position the person they’re communicating with as the “hero” in their messaging. Why?

Because when people see themselves in your narrative, they’re more likely to engage with your brand.

However, we’ve seen that this communication strategy is counter to how nonprofits and other social good institutions typically present themselves. Organizations often place themselves as the hero of the story they’re telling — with their approach, their programming and their staff positioned front and center. While that may seem logical, it’s far less effective than the alternative and does little to foster the “belonging” necessary to achieve constituent buy-in.

Reframing the Narrative

Social good leaders often grasp this concept quickly but often struggle to apply it in their communication efforts. Here are some indicators your organization should consider reframing its narrative:

Your communications focus on the institution rather than the audience. One of my favorite social-good thought leaders Penelope Burke suggests counting the number of times your messages use the word you instead of we or us. It’s a great way to build a metric around shifting to human-centered communication. Your audience wants to connect with your messaging, so speaking directly to them is a simple way to accomplish this. (Check out the opening paragraphs of this blog for an example of how to “make it about them.”)
Your organization outlines funding as a need — with the stakes being your nonprofit’s survival. Fundraising is always tricky. It requires a deeply nuanced approach to build human-centered narratives that motivate people to give. But we’d argue there’s no more nonprofit-centric narrative than this: If we don’t exist, people suffer. Making the nonprofit the “hero” and challenging people to donate to support your work is a classic misstep (and one that raises far fewer dollars than one that positions the donor as the change agent).
Your organization continually reiterates the story of how the nonprofit came to be. This is one of the hardest tropes to disrupt because the founder-centric story is often a powerful strategy for awareness-building in an organization’s early days. But over time, constituents become less interested in a nonprofit’s past and instead want to see how they can be a part of its future. This will require your organization to reposition the spotlight onto each new person who discovers your organization. To do so, share messaging that elevates the constituent as an important part of how your nonprofit can advance its mission. It takes a great degree of humility to move on from an oft-told founding story, but it so often holds the key to future growth.

Using Community Voice in Your Market Research

Determining what “you-centric” messages will resonate with the people you aim to reach can be best determined with community voice research. Why guess when you can directly ask representatives of the people you want to attract?

We shared methods for conducting such market research earlier this year as part of our free Community Voice webinar series. We believe community voice is essential to a strong movement-building brand marketing strategy because it creates a strong sense of shared values and belonging with your constituents.

Catch the encore of our free Marketing & Community Voice webinar this Thursday at 11 am.

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Interested in elevating your organization’s messaging to connect with new audiences?

Reach out and let’s set up a time to chat.

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Next Stage CEO Josh Jacobson launched Next Stage as a social enterprise in 2014, bridging his professional experiences as a nonprofit practitioner with his consulting expertise. He has led Next Stage’s work with 200+ clients, including nonprofits, private-sector companies, municipalities, faith institutions, philanthropies and community-based organizations. Josh’s skills in strategic positioning and tactical design help clients achieve their goals. He guides Next Stage’s work in strategic planning and collaboration management and is a major contributor to the company’s thought leadership efforts.

Navigating the New Realities of Corporate Social Responsibility

July 18, 2024 by joshjacobson

On August 22, I will present a session at the AFP NC Philanthropy Conference on one of my favorite topics: corporate social responsibility. The session will continue a decade-long series of talks I’ve given at this annual conference.

Our company has done a significant amount of research on this topic, which informed the launch of our corporate impact services line. Now, Next Stage works with multiple private-sector companies to realize compelling public-private partnerships. It’s some of the most innovative and game-changing work our company has done.

Helping nonprofit organizations understand what has changed about corporate social responsibility requires near-constant updating because so much has changed — and continues to change — so quickly, which is why we’ve found it important to share our latest findings regularly.

Alignment to Materiality

As we previously shared in our 2023 report, Profit & Purpose: The ESG Addendum, the speed with which corporate social responsibility has been evolving has accelerated in recent years. A more sophisticated methodology for social impact efforts has replaced the shotgun approach of previous decades. “Spreading it around” has given way to something more strategic.

That approach is part of what I’ll unpack in greater depth at the conference next month. Companies are focusing their impact efforts on areas of greater alignment to their work, often to mitigate unintended negative consequences of their operations. This concept, for companies to choose social issues aligned to their business processes, is called materiality. For example, a residential home builder is likely to focus on social impact efforts related to affordable housing, while a lending institution may work to create more racially equitable access to capital.

If you’re curious about what a company considers its materiality, take a look at its ESG report. Delta Airlines’ report, for example, suggests that climate change is an area of particular focus — not surprising given that the aviation industry is responsible for 2–3% of total carbon emissions annually. A deeper dive into the report reveals that education and equity are also key areas of focus, with the need for a future STEM-based workforce critical to the company’s future success.

Metric-Based Goal-Setting

One way the private sector and nonprofits have come closer together in recent years is how they are evaluated. Like the nonprofits they have granted funding to for years, companies are now compiling their impact data and making it available to third-party reviewers for assessment. Why? Because future backing from socially conscious investors hinges on how those outcomes stack up against others in their industry.

The Lowe’s Foundation Gable Grant program is a $50 million, 5-year program to train 50,000 job-ready skilled tradespeople. Beyond the stated financial commitment and multiyear design, the effort is also carving out a specific and measurable goal of 50,000 people served. The grantmaking strategy includes investing in national-level nonprofits, technical and community colleges, and community-based organizations nationwide, recognizing the importance of working at macro and micro levels to affect change. It’s an advanced approach to grantmaking that was not very common in the past. (Disclosure: Next Stage is helping the Lowe’s Foundation to implement this innovative initiative).

Commitment to Research

The history of corporate social responsibility is one without much grounding in research. Companies often decided to support issue areas based on internal decision-making, and organizations were selected as much on their social capital (e.g., board connections to corporate executives) as on the merits of their programming. That framework has largely disappeared, with far more evidence-based approaches to grantmaking becoming more of the norm.

The PNC Foundation was ahead of the curve when it launched its Grow Up Great initiative — an effort to prepare children from birth through age 5 for success in school and life — in 2004. As the PNC Foundation celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, it’s positioning its grantmaking against the backdrop of research that indicates an area where its impact can be particularly effective. PNC-funded research, in partnership with the National Institute for Early Education Research, is helping to reframe the need for more nature-based play and learning environments.

Leveraging Grantee Connectivity

One area where Next Stage has been pioneering new social impact efforts is in the development of digital communities of practice for corporate foundations seeking to better harness their portfolios of investees. Companies have changed how they treat the nonprofits and agencies they support, from seeing them as charitable investments to vendors of corporate-aligned social impact. As such, realizing stronger outcomes collectively is a top priority.

Next Stage has developed an approach to building social cohesion among grantee organizations that increases the potential for collaboration. Working together, grantees convened by a single corporate grantmaker may be able to realize more impact than when working in isolation.

Next Stage uses a digital collaboration management platform called Cultivate Impact ® to unite grantee organizations, often through the lens of professional development and organizational strengthening. We have built a curriculum to support grantee learning communities that leads to stronger relationships, deeper trust and increased impact.

Want to learn more? Feel free to get in touch! We’d welcome the opportunity to discuss our approach further.

The Next Stage Team Welcomes Wendy Orrego

June 4, 2024 by nextstage

Introducing Wendy

The Next Stage team is thrilled to introduce Wendy Orrego – our newest member of the team serving as a Visual Design Manager.

Wendy is a skilled art director, graphic designer and project manager who uses visual design to communicate big ideas. From Guatemala City, Wendy most recently managed a team of designers at Tigo Guatemala, a Latin American telecommunications company. She has produced high-quality branding and digital design for nonprofit and private-sector organizations in both English and Spanish.

A graduate of Universidad Panamericana de Guatemala, Wendy holds a degree in Audiovisual Production and is passionate about using design to communicate clearly. An art lover, she uses shapes, colors and typography to visually communicate complex messages in a way that is simple, beautiful and easy to understand.

Wendy was born and raised in Guatemala City where she lives with her husband. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her extended family, live music concerts and traveling the world (Amsterdam has been her favorite destination so far!)

In Her Own Words

I am very excited to join the Next Stage team and begin this new chapter in my journey. Having collaborated on visual and graphic design projects for nonprofits in the past I’ve learned firsthand the value of supporting social good organizations to amplify the reach of their impact. I believe Next Stage is the ideal place to continue growing and learning from a dedicated and passionate team on how to use my skills to better serve those organizations, the community, and the world.

I’m also excited to collaborate with a team across borders. I’m grateful for Next Stage’s trusting and expanding opportunities for Guatemalan talent. I look forward to building relationships with the team and learning from each other’s unique cultures and experiences.

¡Muy feliz de estar aquí!

Join us in welcoming Wendy to the team!