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Home » Non-Profit Resources » Organisational Tools

Organisational Tools

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SVA’s organisational tools, which draw on international best practice and our experience in the Australian social sector, help non-profit ventures to measure, maximise and succinctly communicate the impact and social returns they generate.

Creating a social impact is the central mission of any non-profit organisation. Creating an impact requires clarity of purpose, a focus on performance and an ability to communicate results succinctly. SVA’s organisational tools have been designed to support non-profit organisations to be able to maximise the social returns they generate and to be able to measure and communicate these returns.

The tools have been developed over five years and road tested with around 500 non-profit organisations. They contribute to proven results and increased performance.

An explanation of each of the organisational tools is presented along with the benefits and the circumstances in which they can be helpfully applied. Since a tool is best understood when it is used, we have developed ‘taste test’ versions of the tools where possible. The taste tests give you an opportunity to experiment with at least one component or aspect of the tool and to apply it to your own organisation.

The SVA Organisational Tools are not a comprehensive or exhaustive set of requirements for creating a successful non-profit organisation. For further support SVA offers practical workshops to help organisations implement these tools and other tools and approaches, and can provide tailored support for tackling specific issues via SVA consulting.

Why

SVA's organisational tools help you to position your organisation so that it:
• Is strategically focused
• Can plan for, measure and learn from performance
• Has a culture of continuous learning and exploration
• Understands how well it's doing relative to its peers
• Can clearly articulate its results to any stakeholder in any context

What

The seven SVA organisational tools are listed below. They have been designed to use again and again within your organisations, helping you to develop a way of thinking, a process and even a common language for your organisation’s development.

Click on each tool for more information

	Strategic Planning Framework - Provides a consistent and easy to follow framework for constructing a strategic plan and helps to ensure that an organisation considers all the critical issues.
	Capacity Diagnostics
	a)	Strategic Capacity Diagnostic (SCD) – Helps an organisation to assess where it needs to develop its strategy and pinpoints strengths and obstacles to performance and growth.
	b)	Operational Capacity Diagnostic (OCD) – Enables a diagnosis of an organisation’s operational strengths and challenges.
	Program Logic and Performance Assessment (PLPA) Framework – Assists with the generation of a succinct statement of how the organisation delivers social impact at the program level and helps with program performance assessment.
	Social Return on Investment (SROI) Tool - Provides an estimate of the total financial value, including social impact, created by a non-profit organisation and compares this to the investment required to generate these benefits.
	Strategic Funding Framework - Provides a framework for building and maintaining a high return funding strategy.
	Financial Management Tools – Provide non-profit leaders with the resources they need to understand and prudently manage the financial operations of their organisations.

The deliverables resulting from a comprehensive application of the organisational tools include:

• Clarity of mission and goals
• Program alignment with organisational strategy
• Accurate diagnosis of organisational capacity – strategic and operational
• A robust and realistic funding strategy
• A realistic and focused approach to evaluating program performance
• An estimate of the total financial value generated by the organisation
• Clear communication with stakeholders

To see which tool might be most helpful for your organisation, some of the most common non-profit challenges have been listed below.

Click on each objective below to see which tool would be most appropriate for you to use and why.
(scroll down to view answers)

Who

The tools are designed to be used by non-profit organisations for internal development. They are appropriate for organisations of all sizes and social issue areas, and for non-profit executives regardless of their level of management expertise.

For further support on using the tools SVA offers practical workshops as well as more hands-on consulting assistance.

Funders can also use the organisational tools to assess the effectiveness of their investment or in some instances to develop their own plans. Read more about how funders can use these tools.

When

For non-profit organisations the tools are helpful:
• At start-up, or in the early stage of development
• To support a growth or review phase
• At a point in which the organisation is seeking direction and guidance on:
- Clarifying organisational purpose
- Building organisational capacity
- Improving planning and performance measurement
- Leveraging and marketing performance results
• If stronger measures of value and outcomes are required

To find out more about SVA Organisational Tools contact Lisa Hagan on (02) 8004 6722.

Click here to learn more about SVA Workshops or SVA Consulting.

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SVA's online organisational tools are proudly supported by the Macquarie Group Foundation.

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