You know your nonprofit needs to be organized and strategic. But, what about alignment? Do you put much thought into how well your nonprofit’s processes and inner workings align with your strategy?
The most effective nonprofits have staff, leaders, and boards that work together with a shared purpose. They all have a firm understanding of the organization’s mission and how they can make an impact in the organization and community.
The Nonprofit Alignment Pyramid is part of the Civicus Alignment and Risk Assessment model that we use with our clients. The model is built upon sound research, which we have conducted ourselves, and nonprofit industry best practices. When evaluating a nonprofit, we look at the following elements:
- Clarity
- Governance
- Infrastructure
- Accountability
- Internal Communications
- Organizational Advancement
- Strategic Orientation
- Employee Environment
- Team Cohesiveness
- Outcomes
Using this model, we can determine whether a nonprofit is in alignment or not. You can learn more about how the pyramid works in this series of blog posts.
What Alignment Looks Like
Ideally, your organization could be illustrated with this pyramid. All the parts are perfectly aligned and well proportioned. Each of these elements are functioning properly, supporting each other and making the nonprofit successful.
This means staff are communicating with each other, strong leadership is in place, the board is functioning well and everyone is moving in the same direction to accomplish the same goals.
This organization is highly effective. It operates the way it needs to to fulfill its mission and improve its community.
Of course, this is the goal. Very few nonprofits naturally function this way. Achieving alignment takes time, persistence, and a clear strategy. However, when the leaders have a clear understanding of what is working well and what isn’t, they can guide their organization into alignment and make it much more effective.
What Misalignment Looks Like
On the other hand, a misaligned nonprofit might look something like this:
Here, internal communications and strategic orientation aren’t working toward the same goals as the rest of the organization. They may be functioning well, but they don’t have a shared understanding of the mission, so aren’t able to contribute to the nonprofit’s success. Or, they may not be functioning at all, which means they are holding the entire organization back and preventing it from reaching its fullest potential.
How to Reach and Maintain Alignment
Unfortunately, too many organizations aren’t aware that they look like the second, misaligned pyramid. They may realize things aren’t running well, feel disorganized, or know that changes need to be made, but they don’t know where to start.
That’s the beauty of the Civicus Alignment and Risk Assessment model. With it we can see, with incredible detail, exactly where an organization needs to be improved. We can tell you which areas are working well and which ones aren’t in alignment. We’ll even help you understand exactly what steps you can take to reach alignment so your nonprofit will be much more effective.
You can learn more about the Nonprofit Alignment Pyramid in our free ebook: Nonprofit Organizational Alignment: An Overview.