December 2, 2012 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Not long ago, Share Our Strength, the Washington antihunger charity started in 1984, found itself in a rut. For more than 20 years, the group had been handing out hundreds of grants annually to food-assistance and food-emergency efforts nationwide and asking for little follow-up in return. Fundraising had stagnated, and the charity’s leaders began to fret that while the work they did was good, it wasn’t enough.
In response, Share Our Strength refined its mission, overhauled its operations, and stepped up the number of people who helped raise money and run new programs. Over the last five years, donations have more than tripled and the group reports progress toward its ambitious goal of ending childhood hunger in America by 2015.
Bill Shore, the charity’s co-founder and leader, shares some ingredients for success:
Go big or go home. Mr. Shore says the charity suffered from a “failure of imagination,” spending so many years focused on feeding people instead of ending hunger. Establishing a bold goal helped the charity set a new strategy, acquire new skills and supporters, and produce tangible results.
Be accountable. Establishing clearly defined goals and holding the charity accountable for specific results is an essential part of setting an ambitious goal. Careful and consistent measures provide needed internal controls and give supporters and potential supporters what Mr. Shore calls return-on-investment information. Demonstrating impact, he says, is a “powerful differentiator” in a crowded charity marketplace.
Invest in capacity. While it’s often very difficult to find the will and the resources to invest in new workers, technology, and other administrative activities, pumping up a charity’s capacity is crucial. “The challenge is: Are you willing to do less program and less service in the short term if that frees up money to allow you to make the investments you need to do even more program and service in the long term,” he says.
Form partnerships. Nonprofits can’t solve problems by themselves. Charities should collaborate with other charities, take advantage of relationships with businesses, and work with government agencies and politicians to better develop public policy and the use of public resources.
