Is your nonprofit organization using the right project management resources to enhance your impact? In any climate, a crucial step toward organizational excellence is maintaining sight of the mission and the vision. Project management tools, resources, and information can help nonprofit leaders streamline processes, enhance collaboration, and support the nonprofit’s mission. Project management tools can include dashboarding platforms, reporting software, and templates for timelines. These are five factors to consider when deciding which project management resources and tools can help coordinate efficiency and effectiveness within your daily operations.
- Ease of Use: Less time spent learning new processes, systems, and/or software means less overhead for project management. The easier the application, the more enhanced productivity can become. A project management resource, such as a dashboarding platform, can serve as a tool of support rather than a barrier to productivity.
- Integration Capabilities: Which systems does your nonprofit organization already use? Knowing a prospective project management tool can integrate with systems already in place can help streamline workflows, assist with data quality, and maintain consistency throughout the organization. Neglecting to take integration capabilities into account can negatively impact the consistency of information across the organization.
- Scalability: There is an abundant range of tools and resources available for reporting, dashboarding, and measurement. The scale of those tools must adhere to the organization’s current and future needs. A nonprofit’s growing number of users, projects, and stakeholders can directly impact a project management tool’s usefulness. Current and future programming and funding must be considered to determine what will be needed for a useful project management tool. Dynamic dashboarding may not be necessary for those with minimal programming overlay.
- Visibility: Adopting the functionality of a tool that limits licenses or users can disrupt the consistency of communication within the organization. Without data transparency available to all stakeholders involved in programming, issues may not be identified and addressed as quickly. A project management tool can help with visibility as it clearly communicates reporting, dashboarding, and project metrics throughout the organization.
- Budget: Project management resources do not have to take over the budget. There are resources available to customize and project management tools that may already be within your organization’s systems. To enhance impact, research what your nonprofit needs and what tools are readily available.
Conclusion
Project management in the nonprofit space is crucial for aligning the organization’s values with its desired outcomes. Much like a nonprofit, project management is geared toward constant change and adaptability. The five considerations noted above can help you find the best fit for your organization to streamline efficiency and effectiveness.
For more information surrounding project management, see our FORsights™ article, “How a PMO Can Help You Tackle Project Challenges.”
If you have any questions or need assistance, please reach out to a professional at Forvis Mazars.