FOCUS & OUTSOURCE

Outsourcing is a well-established concept in for-profit organizations. The benefits can be great: focused expertise, value added in specific areas that need it, not having to hire on full-time staff, pay benefits, etc. Nonprofits are just beginning to learn what outsourcing and consultants have to offer them. Often positions in nonprofits are broader rather than specialized, and therefore leaders and boards will think it’s not worth the money to bring specialists in to add value in an area or carry out a specific task that can be done more efficiently by someone from the outside. Even though it’s more efficient and will add value, it still costs money . . . or can it actually save money?

Nonprofits seem to be much more wary to bring outsiders in and might be more sensitive to criticism than for-profit companies. For-profit is all about making the bottom line work, so if an outsider can increase profits, they are welcome. But for nonprofits, there is often an uncertainty about what exactly their bottom line is and how it can be measured, therefore it’s difficult to measure how much value is added when a consultant is brought in . . . other than professional fundraisers. As far as outsourcing certain tasks, there’s an attitude that if someone is willing to do it internally, let them do it because it’s safer and less expensive than outsourcing.

Last year I talked with the president of a private school. This school saw huge value in taking students internationally to expose them to and work with nationally based development and ministry projects. According to the president of the school, the problem was the time the principal and teachers were spending on fundraising and all of the administration involved in taking a group of students internationally every year. The president wanted to outsource it because it was taking away from what the staff was hired to do . . . but there was resistance because the staff liked to do it. That said . . . it was still taking away from the bottom line and a huge inefficiency. By spending some of the funds raised on outsourcing the administration of these trips, the school would actually stay focused on what they are there to do and everyone would benefit.

Nonprofits need to focus on their bottom line and what they want to do and then outsource what they’re not specialized in. It will result in increased staff productivity, better efficiencies and expand their growth potential.