Ethics of Profit: How Coaching Helps Non-Profits Grow

June 18, 2009 - PRLog -- LAS VEGAS – Few sectors have been hit as hard in the current economic downturn as the non-profit category – a result of both the economic slowdown and proposed changes to how charitable donations are taxed.

While all sectors of the economy are looking to rebound, the current “economic winter” is the perfect time for non-profits to start acting and operating more like their for-profit counterparts – according to ActionCOACH founder and CEO Brad Sugars.

Sugars, who leads the world’s number one business coaching firm, counsels his network of coaches in 26 countries to reach out on a pro-bono basis to non-profits, but also counsels non-profits to be more business-like in their approach.

“Non-profits are really feeling this downturn, but that doesn’t mean they can’t survive and thrive,” he says. “They need to adopt a very bottom-line oriented and and pro-sales attitude – just like businesses who are trying to navigate rough economic waters.”

What are some strategies non-profits can borrow from the for-profit sector to boost performance this year?

Sugars suggests the following:

1)   Keep your best donors happy. “They are your greatest asset right now,” Sugars says. “It’s like the current customer base of a regular business. It’s always easier to get more from your current base than to go out and get new ‘customers.’ The same holds true for donors.”

2)   Know your numbers. “Most businesses don’t know their true numbers, from how much it costs to get a customer to how much margins they make on their product lines,” Sugars says. “Not knowing is a killer. You can’t change what you haven’t measured, or what you don’t know. Financial mastery is crucial to setting metrics and benchmarks the whole team can shoot for.”

3)   Create a common goal and work towards it. “There is no better way to create a culture of teamwork and achievement that having a common goal and working toward achieving,” Sugars says. “It doesn’t need to be a fundraising goal, but it should be something that is measurable, something that’s a stretch and something time specific.”

4)   Leverage the resources you already have. “A lot of non-profits are very ‘outwardly’ focused, thinking all they need is one big ‘whale’ of a donor or more computers or more donors and all of their challenges are solved,” Sugars says. “It just isn’t true. Focus on the resources you already have and how you can be more creative, effective and efficient with those resources. That’s how entrepreneurs do it – and many of them have start with less resources than you can imagine.”

While Sugars sees early signs of “economic spring” and indications of turnaround in some sectors, he cautions that the “economic winter” may be longer than other downturns have been in the past.

Nevertheless, this is the best time to set up a non-profit – or any company for that matter – for the recovery.

“Those companies and non-profits that can succeed now will absolutely take off when things turn around,” he says. “There’s no better time to set yourself up to win than right now.”

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ActionCOACH is the world’s number one business coaching and executive coaching firm, with more than 1,000 offices in 26 countries. To learn more, go to actioncoach.com.