We Want to Be Efficient, but We Want to Matter: How Big Picture Learning Leadership Designed an Individual Donor Management System Utilizing Tenets of the Organization’s Culture.

Abstract

“We want to be efficient, but we want to matter.” Elliot Washor, Cofounder, Big Picture Learning. The Revenue Act of 1954 established our current tax codes including section 501(c) for exempt organizations. As of 2015, there were 1.56 million tax exempt nonprofit organizations in the United States. Many of these organizations must rely on fundraising to deliver on their core mission. The stress endured by nonprofit leaders has a direct correlation to their organization’s operating reserves, making fundraising one of the most taxing elements of a nonprofit leader’s role. Building a collective approach to fundraising and designing systems and resources that support an organization’s fundraising efforts can amplify progress and reduce leader burnout, but these solutions must be reflective of the organization’s culture to take hold. Organization Lifecycle theorists contend that as an organization matures, building the systems required to keep pace with the demands of fundraising can strain existing resources and structures and precipitate fears associated with organizational change. This capstone will examine how Big Picture Learning utilized stage-based organization lifecycle theory and reflective practice to develop fundraising processes, workflows, and structures that emanate from the organization's values-driven culture.