How to Help a Non Profit Succeed at Its Goals Research Paper

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Strategy for a Non-Profit Trying to Establish Itself

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel (OLMC) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide seminary training in a learning environment where young men can gain some knowledge of the pre-Vatican II teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. Acting as an independent mission from the diocese in which it is situated, the leaders of OLMC depend on contributions from their own supporters, as they are provided no assistance from the local diocese because with it they have no affiliation. The leaders of OLMC are independent priests.

Stakeholders and Goals

The stakeholders of OLMC include the priests in the administration, the seminarians who are there to receive training, the supporters from within the community who come to the seminary chapel for sacraments, and the teachers/professors/cooks/grounds crew, and other professionals who assist in the running of the facilities.

Because the seminary of OLMC is relatively new, the short-term or immediate goal is to stabilize the infrastructure and get the working conditions and environment to a suitable/adequate level: this includes an overhaul of the plumbing, the eradication of mold/mildew in the seminary rooms, the solidification of an acceptable curriculum that provides the necessary ground-floor education that first and second year seminarians need, and the reinforcement of its financial support system, which of late has come under serious stress as a result of certain scandals being spread around the international traditional community (from which supporters are generally drawn) regarding inappropriate actions on the part of the staff at OLMC and of unorthodox representations by the leaders of OLMC themselves.

The mid-term goal is to fill a perceived gap in the supply-and-demand chain among the traditional community, which is continually looking for priests adequately trained in the pre-Vatican II catechism. This mid-term goal is focused on developing an entire seminary program complete with training grounds and establishing the proper connections to meet the social and economic needs of the facility.

The long-term goals are to establish a working order seminary that produces the next generation of traditional priests who can establish parishes around the world where education and sacraments can be given in schools and chapels and new communities of religious can be built up. Thus, it is the overall long-term objective of OLMC to be a seeding ground.

My Role and Why the Organization is Important to Me

My role as a stakeholder is to facilitate the process by which these goals may be achieved. As a part-time volunteer teacher at the seminary, I provide material support to the infrastructure and have access to the leaders of OLMC, who respect my opinion on setting goals for the seminary and how to achieve them. The staff at OLMC is also something with which I work closely so I have a good knowledge of how things operate at OLMC and what sort of strategy should be adopted in order to smooth out the wrinkles and calm the international community, which is concerned with the direction of OLMC and its prospects of becoming a viable alternative for seminarians looking for traditional training.

This organization is important to me both personally and professionally. On a personal level it is important to me because I have invested time and energy into the enterprise and I want to see it succeed. The leaders of the organization are personal friends of mine and I want to see them succeed and correct the flaws in the strategy that they are currently pursuing. The professional importance of the organization to me is that if the seminary succeeds in growing and establishing itself as authentic among the traditional community it could serve as a place where I secure long-term employment if I were willing to pursue that. Or it could serve as an opportunity to boost my resume with credentials such as consultant, professor, administrator, etc.

Identifying Strategic Goals and How They Would Help

In my role I would help to evaluate and revise the organization's strategic planning process by supporting a call to council in order for staff and OLMC leaders to identify and assess the current strategy. I would point out that the current strategy does not utilize any of the standards of successful strategy planning (Free Management Library, n.d.). While the leaders at OLMC are good at being transparent, they lack adequate organizational skills and fundamental goal setting. Therefore, their directional faculties are vague and unclear: it is only established that they want the seminary to succeed -- but by the way they demonstrate their capacity for success, they signal that they do not know how to go about making it work.

For example, instead of accepting only candidates for the seminary who fit a specific level of prior education, they accept everyone.

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This presents certain problems and conflicts, as the first-years are thus comprised of a difficult mix of some highly educated candidates and so virtually uneducated candidates. There is no unity or cohesion in the class, as some require a lot of training and others very little. The candidates who can are encouraged to help those who are behind, but his places an extra burden on all, as everyone already has assignments and tasks that they must carry out and the tension that results from the education mix, when in a basic year those present should at least command a certain degree of maturity and intellect. The problem with accepting all candidates instead of filtering some away is clear: it leads to a disorganized classroom setting. On the other hand, their aim is understandable: they want the seminary to feel full and flourishing and plus they want to give all a chance. But in order to be successful, one must be selective (Holmes, 2007). Thus, the first strategic goal would be to be more selective in terms of admission policy.

The second strategic goal would be to eliminate the causes and sources of potential scandal, which undermines the relationship with the traditional community that OLMC seeks to foster. The traditional community is highly sensitive to scandals and does not support for long any enterprise that is composed of less than stellar operations. Therefore, there are a few adjustments that OLMC could undertake to cut down on the bad impressions it is giving the community that it needs in order to build its support system. Bad behavior needs to be nipped in the bud, rooted out and discarded from the OLMC environment, as this "cleansing policy" allows an organization to right itself and develop a better ethical system (Bazerman, Tenbrunsel, 2011).

In pursuit of this second goal, OLMC needs to upgrade its online presence and offer a more professional presentation of itself rather than allowing an individual member of the local community to run his own unofficial OLMC website on which he can project whatever viewpoints he wishes (which are often received poorly by other significant and influential members of the community). OLMC should host its own website which should be administered over by its own staff team and no controversial or offensive viewpoints should be allowed on it. The goal is to cultivate relationships not to give offense or cause them to be severed.

OLMC should also take care to solidify its physical building structure. Many of its buildings are dilapidated and in need of repair. The mold issues should be taken care of immediately so as to prevent the spread of sickness among the candidates and staff. Also, the schedule that is established at the outset of the year should be kept and followed so as to avoid creating confusion and disturbances in the cultivation of the routine that the candidates are expected to learn. This means that if compline is to be sung at 8:45, it should be sung at 8:45: the importance of keeping this time is of the highest order when wishing to be taken seriously. Order is what gives the sense of legitimacy to an operation (Bryson, 2011).

The third strategic goal I would set would be to establish a better link between OLMC and the leading bishop of the traditional community. At the moment, this relationship is in tatters do to a number of personal attacks stemming from specific individuals within the OLMC hierarchy against this bishop. Even if it is viewed that these attacks are justified, they do nothing but discredit the seminary in several ways. First, they discourage the candidates who see such public attacks as being uncouth and beneath the dignity of a priest and leader. Second, they upset the international community, which supports the bishop. Third, it angers the bishop and compels him to dismiss the seminary. Without the support of the bishop, there can be no future for the seminary, as it is the bishop who confers on the candidates the validity of the priesthood which they seek. Relationship building is of the utmost importance in any organization, as the external has direct impact on the internal (Anand, Ashforth, Joshi, 2005).

My role in helping to evaluate and revise the….....

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