• Palmer Holck posted an update 2 years ago

    A social change agency can be a tremendous planning and strategic powerhouse. It can help nonprofits understand how to get where they need to go, from where they currently are. Plans can be developed, strategies implemented and resources sourced to achieve other goals. However, many organizations shy away from the many benefits that come along with working with a social change agency. Let’s look at a few of the top benefits:

    Strategic Planning – When working with a reputable and credible social change agency you’ll find that they provide strategic planning. The plan will deal with your organization’s short and long term goals as well as those that will be achieved during the time that they’re in existence. This is incredibly important because this type of planning ensures that you have a clear direction and that you are able to make the right choices. By laying out in black and white terms, goals and timelines you’ll be able to chart a course for your organization. You’ll also be able to develop plans to implement any of the strategies that you’ve developed.

    Thought Leadership Training – Effective social change agencies provide extensive leadership training for their clients. This includes providing information on nonprofit fundraising as well as various types of volunteer management. In addition to this, the training provided often deals with effective communication and networking skills. In this capacity, a professional nonprofit agency can facilitate communications and networking between its client and other nonprofits and groups in order to build influence. They can also assist in coordinating donor activity that benefits the client and allows them to benefit as well. This type of planning can enable nonprofits to obtain donations that will make a positive impact on the community and benefit the people who live there.

    Tolerance – Building relationships requires tolerance for diverse views. This is a valuable trait that every nonprofit leader must possess. One way to foster this is by hiring a trusted advisor or trusted planner to help lead the strategic planning process. The planner should understand and know the perspectives of many different cultures and perspectives. This allows a variety of voices to be heard and allows everyone to feel like they have a stake in the success of the nonprofit.

    Public Relations – A professional nonprofit organization will thrive if it has a strong public relations program in place. Good PR and marketing strategies will allow for social change agencies to gain supporters. Public relations professionals understand how to communicate effectively with the media and can play an important role in the successful development of a nonprofit’s mission, goals, and strategy.

    Strategic Planning – Creating and executing long-term strategies is crucial to the success of any nonprofit. This includes developing comprehensive and strategic plans for fundraising, staff development, programs, and projects. This is especially important for social change agencies because they do not have the capacity to build large campaigns on their own. However, there are many ways that these nonprofits can build influence and engage communities through strategic planning. A good strategic plan builds relationships and provides a template for nonprofit leaders to work from. Through strategic planning, nonprofits can build influence and learn how to implement long-term thinking and planning.

    Nonprofits need to address issues in community-based decision-making processes that impact their work. When nonprofits build influence and engage communities, they will be able to take on more meaningful projects, receive greater donations, and increase their membership. These nonprofits can also implement justice and social change through projects focused on issues that affect the most vulnerable members of our communities. For example, many urban organizations focus on issues such as economic development, violence against women and children, and civil rights. However, there are still isolated communities that face challenges that threaten their very existence, such as environmental degradation and lack of access to clean water. Other examples include prison communities and single parent homes.

    A social change organization must be creatively and productively engaged in the development of strategies for social justice. Through strategic thinking and creative problem solving, these nonprofits can gain advantage over powerful corporations that seek to manipulate and benefit from social change. In order for these nonprofits to advance their agenda of social justice, these organizations must develop effective and innovative strategy development plans. One of the best strategies that can effectively advance the interests of a social change agency is the development of “thought leadership”. Thought leadership occurs when an individual or group of individuals form the opinion that they have collectively formed due to a combination of collective experience and collective analysis of pertinent events and issues. This idea-formation process is highly effective at making change occur and can be instrumental in the development of comprehensive social justice agendas.