3 Lessons I’ve Learned from Leading Nonprofit Acceleration
First, what is nonprofit acceleration?
You’ve probably heard about acceleration before in the context of start-ups like Uber, AirBnB, etc. We’ve created a program custom-designed for the unique needs of nonprofits that pulls on the best of for-profit acceleration. Mission Forward is a practical and intentional process that strengthens an organization’s ability to make an impact and move its mission forward.
We create time and space for teams of board members and staff to come together in a facilitated process shaped by these four principles:
Team-Driven: A committed team of staff and board go through the experience together – the team experience ensures the nonprofit is able to put action into motion after the experience.
Mentor-Guided: Each team gets a dedicated mentor to guide, encourage, and gently challenge them through the process. The Spark Mill engages mentors who bring expertise from the nonprofit, for-profit, and higher education sectors and matches them with the organizations for the life of the experience.
Mission-Focused: All the work done in acceleration is rooted in the organization's mission, vision, and values – a key difference between start-up and nonprofit acceleration experiences.
Challenge-Specific: Teams use acceleration to address an identified challenge that, once addressed, helps them accelerate their impact. Teams are guided in landing a challenge that is unique to them or unique to the cohort, and all exercises are created to address and innovate around that challenge.
Here are 3 lessons I’ve learned from leading nonprofit acceleration:
You need to step out of it to work on it. NPOs are action-oriented by nature. The organization exists to make some change in the world, and so lots of effort and activity are directed towards making that change. However, nonprofits, due to their mission and desire to address a significant issue in the community, get so focused in doing, it becomes difficult to step back and look at the big picture. That clarity is so important in making sure the activity is driving change that is in line with the organization’s stated mission.
2. When you build a space for creative thought, people will fill it. Every.single.time. This is more than “build it and they will come.” It’s more like, “Set the table for an excellent experience and then get out of the way to let people enjoy beautiful conversations.” We’ve had cohorts as large as 15 teams, and as the facilitator I couldn’t be present in every conversation. And when I did engage, I would step into generative and thoughtful conversations about whether their decisions were living into their values or whether the conflict they had been having within the board was something to solve or a polarity to manage. One participant who serves in a board role put it this way: “We have done more in the first two hours of this experience than we did in the last two years.” And this was from a high-functioning national nonprofit.
3. Nonprofit leaders and teams thirst for community and collaboration. We see this in two ways. First, nonprofit work and leadership can feel lonely. As mentioned above, NPOs are focused on their mission and the work to implement it. As a result, they begin to feel like they are the only ones who have their challenges. It is somewhat cathartic to realize those challenges are not unique to them. And so, when given the chance for collaboration, people realize they are not alone in the work, and moreover, opportunities exist to collaborate with others that further both organizations’ missions. Every time we have run acceleration groups always want to hear more from their peers and get to share ideas and feedback together.
Part of our expertise in change management is creating processes and space for nonprofits to step out of the day-to-day to look at a bigger picture as a leadership team, to find ways to build community and impactful collaboration, and to create experiences and spaces to unleash the latent creativity and passion that all nonprofits have.
If you think your team might be interested in acceleration in Richmond, check out our next Mission Forward experience as part of THRIVE Cohort 4, offered in partnership with the Collaboratory of Virginia. Click here to learn more and apply!