Perpetual Innovation

Author: PiAdmin

  • Tight Labor Market is Hitting Nonprofits Hard

    Tight Labor Market is Hitting Nonprofits Hard

    Nonprofits generally pay less than other options, government or private sector. With high costs of living and a super tight labor market, nonprofits are seeing a double whammy.
    See an article by Kohli from the Boston Globe, In a tight labor market, nonprofits are losing out.
    They need to raise wages rapidly to employees, but starting at a low level to begin which means that employees are pressured to go into the government or private sector — sometimes with a 2x or 3x salary increase.

    The great COVID disruption may have multiple other macroeconomic impacts on nonprofits; some may help or aggravate the issue of tight labor squeeze. As the article discusses, many nonprofits — say food pantries and youth services — may find the needs increasing dramatically.

    Two of the biggest questions for the nonprofit are related to increases/decrease in funding, and increases/decreases in volunteers. These are good topics for future blog posts.

  • Nonprofit Plan

    Nonprofit Plan

    Nonprofit Plan is about improving the philanthropic ecosystem, trying to make charities more efficient and successful while encouraging donors to become more impactful with their giving (time, talent & treasure).

    This concept and the upcoming blog (www.NonprofitPlan.org) is inspired by a book by Hall & Hinkelman of Strategic Business Planning Company.

    The Gift of Giving, the Art of Caring(tm)

    Hall, E. B. & Hinkelman, R. M. (2022). Perpetual Innovation™: Strategic planning for nonprofits and the art of impactful giving: the gift of giving, the art of caring. ISBN: ‎ 979-8842614615

    Retrieved from: Amazon.com/dp/B0BF8MB13X (Available on Kindle eBook as well.)

  • Nonprofits: Charity View

    Nonprofits: Charity View

    Nonprofit Plan is about improving the philanthropic ecosystem. The book by Hall & Hinkelman (2022) of Strategic Business Planning Company takes the holistic view: both from the charity’s point of view and from the donor’s. See Fig 17 from the book.

    The book starts with a charity Self-Assessment. A lower score would indicate a startup charity or one that is not well organized. Higher scores are representative of more mature and well organized charities that are in a good position to solicit donations (and grants) and to attract volunteers. Here’s a the summary diagram for a charity that is well into the green zone (score of 72.2).

    The self-assessment suggests areas for improvement. Improvement initiatives throughout the year would reflect in a higher score at the end of the year. The H&H book on Nonprofit Planning starts and ends with this self-assessment.

    Although the self-assessment is an internal management tool, the general format is useful for a donor or volunteer to consider in charity selection.

    The Gift of Giving, the Art of Caring(tm)

    Hall, E. B. & Hinkelman, R. M. (2022). Perpetual Innovation™: Strategic planning for nonprofits and the art of impactful giving: the gift of giving, the art of caring. ISBN: ‎ 979-8842614615

    Retrieved from: Amazon.com/dp/B0BF8MB13X (Available on Kindle eBook as well.)

  • Nonprofit: Donor/Volunteer View

    Nonprofit: Donor/Volunteer View

    Nonprofit Plan is about improving the philanthropic ecosystem. The book by Hall & Hinkelman (2022) of Strategic Business Planning Company takes the holistic view: both from the charity’s point of view and from the donor’s. See Fig 17 from the book.

    Chapter 3 and 5 are from a donor’s point of view, starting with larger charities (NGOs) and working into how to assess local/small charities.

    The Nonprofit Self-Assessment for the charity’s internal review is instructive for a donor review of a charity. Although the self-assessment is an internal management tool, the general format is useful for a donor or volunteer to consider in charity selection. For large(r) nonprofit organizations look at the information available from the large assessment organizations (fig 9).

    The results, if any, from the large assessment organizations is only a starting point. You, the donor or volunteer, still need to do additional due diligence and review how well the short list of charities matches with your own ideals/interests.

    Chapter 3 of H&H’s Nonprofits book focuses on the assessment organizations and how they rank a large(r) charity. They look at how money is spent. Since nonprofits are (generally) required to report informational 990 tax forms to the IRS, it is easy to look at the amount of money spent on executive salaries (and board compensation, if any) and on fundraising. The remainder is spent on “programs”, whatever those may be for the specific charity. Too much spent on salaries and/or fundraising leaves less for the actual programs which can be a red flag. Financial strength and best practices for a nonprofit organization (like governance) are also considered.

    Chapter 5 of H&H works through the budgeting process and how best to support a charitable cause (and various charities within that cause). You should consider contributions to charities as an investment and exercise the same due diligence. Fig 21 (H&H, 2022) outlines the ways to help out a charity (charitable cause).

    The Gift of Giving, the Art of Caring(tm)

    Hall, E. B. & Hinkelman, R. M. (2022). Perpetual Innovation™: Strategic planning for nonprofits and the art of impactful giving: the gift of giving, the art of caring. ISBN: ‎ 979-8842614615

    Retrieved from: Amazon.com/dp/B0BF8MB13X (Available on Kindle eBook as well.)

  • Intel and Mobile Computing: An Eye on BIG Computing on the Move

    We are rapidly moving to one of the most disruptive innovations in modern computing. Truly mobile computing. The Driver-less car. These cars are going to have a lot of computing power on-board. They will need to be self contained, after all, if going through a tunnel or parking lot. But they will be amassing massive amounts of data as well, 4 terabytes of data per day for the average self-driving car. Wow. And current mobile data plans start to charge you or throttle you after about 10MB of data usage per month.

    Read about this in a great WSJ article by Greenwald on March 13. It focuses on the companies in play and the new bid by Intel to buy MobilEye for $15.3B, the look-around and self driving technology going into GM, VW & Honda cars. The 34% premium shows how important this tech is to the slumbering Tel Giant.

    What’s all the fuss about driver-less cars? How does going Driver-Less impact the future: what are potential interruptions, problems and/or discontinuities? How could this technology alter the strategic plans for many market leaders?

    It seems likely that the majority of Americans will reject using/supporting driver-less vehicles… for a while.  It removes individual control, emasculates the sense of manly power while removing decision making.  One cannot demonstrate a charged-up ego to a potential partner when a computer and sensors are driving the speed limit behind a school bus.  A driver can suddenly opt for a shortcut or a scenic route that he knows by heart.  Not so the driver-less vehicle. However, Tesla drivers have already been reprimanded, for letting the car do too much of the driving, under too many unusual circumstances.

    Just a few things to think further about: Long-Haul Trucking and Enabling Technologies.

    Long-haul trucking. There is a major shortage of truck drivers. Labor rules don’t let drivers do long hauls without breaks or rest. So long haul driving often uses two drivers for the same truck that is going coast to coast. If the truck needs to stop and drop along the way, however, then a person on-board, might still be necessary. However drops and pickups usually have someone there at the warehouse who can assist. How will the truck fuel itself up at the Flying-J truck stops? If we can fuel up fighter jets in mid air, we can figure out how to fuel up a driver-less truck. One obvious solutions – or not so obvious, if you’re not in the habit of longer-term and sustainable thinking – is to move to electric trucks and a charging pad. Simply drive the electric truck over a rapid-charging pad. Rapid-charge technology is already generally available using current technologies (especially with minor improvements in batteries and charging).

    Enabling Technology Units (ETUs).  The MobilEye-types of technology apply to lots and lots of other situations, such as trucks, farm tractors, forklifts, etc. Much of the technology being developed for the driver-less car is what Hall & Hinkelman (2013) refer to as Enabling Technology Units (ETUs) in their Guide book to Patent Commercialization. The base technologies have many and broad based applications beyond the obvious direct market application. It is the Internet of things, when the “things” are mobile, or when the “things” around it are mobile, or both. This is an interesting future of mobile computing.

    References

    Hall, E. B. & Hinkelman, R. M. (2013). Perpetual Innovation™: A guide to strategic planning, patent commercialization and enduring competitive advantage, Version 2.0. Morrisville, NC: LuLu Press. ISBN: 978-1-304-11687-1  Retrieved from: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/SBPlan