Product Description
A Practical Guide to Business Planning for Enduring Social Impact Business Planning for Enduring Social Impact applies the strategic rigor and financial savvy of traditional private-sector business planning to social problem solving. This practical guide provides an introduction to business planning for enduring social impact and leads readers through a four-step process for creating an actionable business plan. The guide is an essential tool for organizati… More >>
#1 by redkitebluesky on March 29, 2010 - 4:06 pm
Business Planning for Enduring Social Impact sounded like a great “How-to Guide” for helping non-profits improve planning. It does have a fairly good overview of the planning process, and I gleaned a few good ideas for non-profits: business plans can be turned into fundraising tools, be sure to include root causes of the social problem and barriers to solving it in your needs analysis, and look at recent research on the social problem you’re trying to solve to find indicators you can measure as these will also be helpful to you in determining the impact your program is having on its target audience.
I was disappointed that this book introduces topics you’ll need to discuss but didn’t pose questions which would be effective during a planning session. Andrew Wolk’s thinking may be “the gold standard in business planning for organizations addressing social problems,” but Kelley Kreitz needs to help him expand their written offering. Perhaps with Wolk in your book club this would be an “essential tool” but it its current form, it reads more like an over-sized business card. They’ve written enough to convince me they’d be good consultants, but not enough for me to confidently figure out a plan on my own.
For a “step-by-step guide” I found the second edition of this book: Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations: A Practical Guide and Workbook and (the surprisingly refined!) Strategic Planning For Dummies (For Dummies (Business & Personal Finance)) to be more practical.
Rating: 3 / 5
#2 by Jean Tully on March 29, 2010 - 5:43 pm
What a wonderfully thorough, step-by-step guide to business planning in the social entrepreneurship environment. I was particularly impressed with the Social Impact Model, and the interdependent nature of it, showing how feedback works in the system; and specifically typing the impact indicators to the impact strategies & the performance indicators to the operating model (rather than relying on traditional business metrics that likely don’t work here). It was an invaluable learning experience to go through this document, which can easily be applied to for-profit business planning as well. Thank you for taking the time to make it so complete, esp. with the examples in the appendices. I was directed to this book by one of the contributors, Jean Horstman, as I was responding to a RFP to help a social venture with creating a business strategy for the next 5 years. It told me everything I needed to be concerned with in the non-profit sector business planning process.
Rating: 5 / 5
#3 by mostar on March 29, 2010 - 8:13 pm
This manual is great for developing a social business plan. What I really like is the section on the social impact model. It really forces you to focus on identifying a root problem and developing a solution to solve it. The model also spells out how to measure your impact to see if you are indeed solving the problem. I would argue that almost all nonprofits or social ventures need to evaluate their missions against the Social Impact Model.
Rating: 5 / 5
#4 by Y. CHU on March 29, 2010 - 9:00 pm
it’s my landlord who gave me this book and asked me to read it, after she knows that I am setting up a social investment fund. I read the book and found it a really good one. Authors at Rootcause as you can tell, have much first-hand experience therefore making the book really practical and easy to follow. I especially like the business plan sample, it’s really valuable.
Rating: 5 / 5
#5 by V. Peck on March 29, 2010 - 9:52 pm
Business Planning for Enduring Social Impact is a fine resource for social entrepreneurs, or those who are just exploring the world of social enterprise. The authors educate without talking down to the reader. Clear examples and helpful outlines, coupled with solid definitions of the lingo are quite useful. It also works well for organizing one’s thoughts about creative ways to grow a non-profit or for-profit business. The most important aspect, however, is the strong focus on supporting social entrepreneurs to ground their good works on a solid business foundation. I highly recommend this book and Root Causes’ companion website.
Rating: 5 / 5