MAKING CRITICAL DECISIONS: A PRACTICAL GUIDE FOR NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

Roberta Snow and Paul Phillips present a clear and structured way to manage the challenges of limited resources, competing demands, and the need for accountability while remaining true to a nonprofit’s mission. Making Critical Decisions offers nonprofit leaders a proven model for making hard choices that minimize risks while maintaining progress toward the organization’s goals as well as a practical framework for understanding and implementing the decision-making process. The book includes qualitative and quantitative tools and offers illustrative case examples throughout that clearly show how this method can be applied to different types of nonprofit organizations.

Roberta M. Snow is a professor of management at West Chester University and former director of Nonprofit Management and Leadership Programs at the University of Pennsylvania.
Paul H. Phillips is a consultant with nonprofit organizations and manufacturing companies and a former partner at KPMG. He works with organizations on enhancing the efficiency of their infrastructure and on developing methodologies to optimize their operating assets.

List of Tables and Exhibits.
Acknowledgments.
The Authors.
Introduction.
PART ONE: ABOUT DECISION MAKING.
1. The Art and Science of Decision Making: Putting Theory into Practice.
What Works.
What Doesn't Work.
Reacting Versus Responding.
Responding Versus Reacting.
2. Borrowing from Business: Due Diligence in Decision Making.
What Investors Do.
Defining Due Diligence.
Staging Implementation to Reduce Risk.
A Consistent Approach to Critical Decisions.
3. Managing Critical Decisions: The Who, What, and How.
Who Decides.
What Choices.
How Do You Put It All Together.
4. Enter the Matrix: Introducing an Effective Tool.
The Matrix: Framing the Decision.
The Rows: Weighting the Due Diligence Criteria.
The Columns: Scoring the Due Diligence Criteria.
Using the Matrix for Binary Decisions.
Using the Matrix for Choices Among Similar Options.
Using the Matrix for Choices Among Dissimilar Options.
PART TWO: MAKING CRITICAL DECISIONS.
5. Stage One: Feasibility.
The Seductive Nature of New Ideas.
Common Feasibility Decisions.
The Feasibility Matrix.
6. Stage Two: Pilot.
Piloting the Feasible Decision.
Designing the Pilot Project.
The Pilot Matrix.
7. Stage Three: Implementation.
From Pilot to Implementation.
A Good Implementation Plan.
The Implementation Matrix.
8. Stage Four: Cutback.
Dimensions of Cutting Back.
The Cutback Matrix.
9. Putting the Matrix to Work.
Boards of Directors.
Executive Directors.
Managers.
Funders.
Consultants.
10. The Decision-Making Guide.
Assessing the Decision.
Working Through the Matrix.
Appendix: Staff Renewal Decisions.
Notes.
Further Reading.
Index.