Decision Making for Nonprofit Managers

Business investors and nonprofit managers may have more in common than you think, especially when they are making difficult choices. West Chester University professor Roberta Snow and consultant Paul Phillips note in their new book, Making Critical Decisions (Jossey-Bass) that both groups need to evaluate costs, benefits, risks, and other issues. The authors have taken the decision matrix tool and due diligence processes used by businesses and have adapted them for nonprofit managers.

Phillip and Snow provide sample matrices and grids that contain key assessment criteria, such as strategic alignment, expertise, personnel, practicality, impact, and other factors. Sections of the book focus on relevant questions at various stages of due diligence: feasibility, pilot, implementation, and cutback. A chapter explores how board members, executives, funders, and managers can use matrices in different ways.

For other articles and books on decision making, click here to search our Catalog of Nonprofit Literature.