Andrew Urban presents on the concept of Return on Mission as an alternative metric to traditional Return on Investment for nonprofits. He outlines the key actors in a typical nonprofit purchasing story, including staff, board members, vendors, and donors. Urban then introduces the Nonprofit Buyer Model of Control, which defines an organization's Critical Business Issues, Organization Outline, Return on Mission calculation, and Doable Logistics. He provides a case study example and testimonial on how the model helped a nonprofit select a new donor database system. Urban concludes by recapping how the model enables nonprofits to take control of the buying process and communicate purchases in both financial and mission-oriented terms.

1. It’s Time For Return On Mission
Andrew Urban
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3. Today’s Speakers
Andrew Urban
The Nonprofit Buyer
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4. www.nonprofitbuyer.com
It’s Time for
Return on Mission
The Nonprofit Buyer
Presented by: Andrew Urban
January 26th, 2011
Return on Mission is a registered trademark of The Nonprofit Buyer

5. Let’s talk about a story….
The Nonprofit Buyer www.nonprofitbuyer.com
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6. A familiar story….
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7. The Nonprofit Buyer www.nonprofitbuyer.com
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8. The Nonprofit Buyer www.nonprofitbuyer.com
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9. Involves the standard story arc….
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The Nonprofit Buyer
CONFLICT!
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10. in our story?
Who are the main actors
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11. There are numerous parts that
are played…..
test
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The Nonprofit Buyer
Your
Staff
Board Members
and other influencers
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Multiple Vendors

12. www.nonprofitbuyer.com
Finance Accountability
Vendor Timing
The Nonprofit Buyer
Vendor Financials Pressures
Staff Needs
Board Member Expectations
Sales Rep Quota Donor Recognition and Information
Membership Requirements Donor Expectations 12

13. CONFLICT!
Story Typically Goes….
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14. CONFLICT!
Story Typically Goes….
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15. CONFLICT!
Story Typically Goes….
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16. The story can take dramatic and
out of control turns quickly
First conference calls with team members tasked to research options
Possible initial demo or more in-depth call with the research team
Big meeting with multiple stakeholders representing all departments
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Smaller meeting with exec team
Large meeting again because we're a finalist
Smaller meeting with exec and/or implementation team
Information Technology Department review
Executive board meeting
Follow-up meeting with implementation team to review scope
Full Board Meeting
The Nonprofit Buyer
Negotiation meeting
Contract written
Lawyers involved - usually two to three rounds.
Scope concerns
Legal concerns again - another conference call
"Trust your decision" conversation if the exec sponsor is wavering
Identification of final issues 16
Contract re-do one more time
Final push over the line
Sign a contract!

17. CONFLICT!
Story Typically Goes….
The Nonprofit Buyer www.nonprofitbuyer.com
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18. The Nonprofit Buyer Model of Control
Think CORD!
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Critical
Organization Return on Doable
Business
Outline Mission Logistics
Issues
The high level Definition of Explanations of An explanation
reasons your your how you expect for the vendor
The Nonprofit Buyer
your purchase to as to your
organization organization's
timeframe,
needs to make mission, users impact the
budget, and
a particular of all sorts who mission of the communication
purchase. might need organization. process during
access to the A move beyond the sale along
system you are traditional with other
good 18
researching, Return on
and the like. Investment (ROI) relationship
expectations.

19. Case Study
Critical
Organization Return on Doable
Business
www.nonprofitbuyer.com
Outline Mission Logistics
Issues
Project Goal:
Replace outdated and broken
donor database system
The Nonprofit Buyer
“After reading the book, it was much easier for us to determine…the clear vision and
goal set that we were trying to achieve….allowed us to not only meet but actually
exceed all of our goals and expectations of our database solution.” 19
Kelly Snyder, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Texas

20. Critical Return Doable
Org
Business on Logistics
Outline
Issues Mission
Critical Business Issues
Technology Budget Personnel
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• Very old donor • Temporary fixes on • Managing day-to-day
database that was not current database tasks was extremely
being maintained any utilized almost all of difficult and prone to
longer by the budgeted database data entry errors
manufacturer monies for the year • Took hours to do
• System was crashing • Board was resistant basic tasks of gift
The Nonprofit Buyer
often. Serious risk of to spending any more entry, fund
data loss on a new database management, etc.
• Began managing most and wasn’t • Morale was suffering
data tasks outside of understanding the due to the difficulties
the database staff’s case for one. • Was hurting abilities
• Managed funds, lists • New database would to target and manage
and events in need new relationships
appropriations from 20
separate
spreadsheets board

21. Critical Return Doable
Org
Business on Logistics
Outline
Issues Mission
Organization Outline
BBBS of Central Texas Organizational Profile (2009 stats)-
Assets: $967,477 Income: $2,377,844 Year Founded: 1971
Expenses: $2,444,924 Liabilities: $96,332
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Areas Served: Serves Travis, Williamson, McLennan, Burnet, Brazos and Hays counties.
Impact on Central Texas Littles in 2009
- Over 74,000 mentoring hours for 1,519 children in 2009.
- $51,500 in higher education scholarship money via BBBS' Foundation to Littles.
- The cost of supporting a match for one year is about $1,250, or $104/month.
The Nonprofit Buyer
- 99% avoided early parenting
- 99% remained in school
- 94% improved or maintained academic performance
- 93% avoided substance abuse
- 90% avoided delinquent behavior
Project Goal: Replace outdated and broken donor database system
Project Number of system users: 3 main and 5 secondary users 21
Other “nice-to-haves” to share – Any business process mapping done, 990s, funding
sources, etc

22. Critical Return Doable
Org
Business on Logistics
Outline
Issues Mission
Traditional Metric for Success
Return on Investment (ROI)
www.nonprofitbuyer.com
The Nonprofit Buyer
Doesn’t properly measure the success
of the tug-of-war interests
Is a financial-only metric in a
mission-focused, people-oriented sector 22

23. Critical Return Doable
Org
Business on Logistics
Outline
Issues Mission
What is Return on Mission®
Return on Mission (ROM)
www.nonprofitbuyer.com
/ Impact on Mission
Properly measures the success
The Nonprofit Buyer
for all tug-of-war interests
Measures both the financial and
mission-based aspects of a decision
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24. Critical Return Doable
Org
Business on Logistics
Outline
Issues Mission
Return on Mission
Calculation
/ Impact on Mission
www.nonprofitbuyer.com
Assume:
• Print 10,000 pages per month on a current printer/copier
• Current printer/copier costs $0.02 per printed page
• New printer copier costs $800.00
If new printer copier cost $0.01 per printed page:
• New copier/printer has half the cost per printed page
• Monthly printing costs from $200 to $100
The Nonprofit Buyer
• Gain $200.00 in trade-in on old printer/copier
Then:
• ($100 printing savings x 12) – ($1000 for new copier/printer - $200 for trade-in) = $400
savings for year one
• The initial investment of $600 ($800 for the new printer/copier minus trade-in)
produced a return of $400 in the first year of production
• Standard ROI of 33%
Return on Mission Calculation for this scenario: 24
• $400 savings in first year of production / $400 (a sample amount of one month
electricity cost at a children’s shelter building) = 100% return on identified mission costs

25. Critical Return Doable
Org
Business on Logistics
Outline
Issues Mission
Return on Mission
Calculation
/ Impact on Mission
www.nonprofitbuyer.com
Tangibles Intangibles
The Nonprofit Buyer
Hard costs are items such as: Soft costs are items such as:
• Software costs • Staff productivity
• Software Maintenance costs • Donor goodwill
• Support costs • Staff morale
• Implementation services • Lost donations due to data
process inefficiency
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Impact on Mission is its own calculation of tangible and intangible
benefits apart from the basic ROI calculation.

26. Critical Return Doable
Org
Business on Logistics
Outline
Issues Mission
Doable Logistics
www.nonprofitbuyer.com
Timeframe Budget Communication Demonstrations
• Not just “When • You are buying • Establish clear • Demo to your
you want to buy.” based upon your schedules CBIs
• Walk backwards needs first • Elect a champion • Demo to your
The Nonprofit Buyer
to a date • Search for • Keep all processes
• Provide time for vendors through communications • Demo to the
implementation multiple venues above board unique points of
and the • Most vendors will • Brevity in their product
inevitable issues proactively proposal
disqualify you on responses
budget early
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27. Testimony
“…we had little knowledge on how to pick the right
solution for a new database for the agency. All of the
www.nonprofitbuyer.com
sale pitches we had heard sounded great, but left us
wondering which one should we believe. His book,
The Non-Profit Buyer, gave us the much needed
tools to take control of the buying
The Nonprofit Buyer
process. Ultimately, we have great confidence in the
solution we purchased and have already seen a
major difference in the functioning power of the
agency overall.”
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Kelly Snyder, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Texas

28. Testimony
“Before reading the Non-Profit Buyer, we were
www.nonprofitbuyer.com
struggling with how to effectively communication to
our Board of Directors, why the large investment
needed to be made on a donor database. After
reading, we were able to establish clear and concise
Critical Business Issues and a Return on Mission,
The Nonprofit Buyer
that enabled us to get the approval from the board
for the project.”
Kelly Snyder, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Texas 28

29. Recap
The Nonprofit Model of Control enables –
• Your organization to take control of the buying process
www.nonprofitbuyer.com
• You to find harmony instead of the usual unfortunate chaos
of a buying process
• Your vendors, staff, board, and others to always have the
same goals in mind with a buying process
Return on Mission gives you -
The Nonprofit Buyer
• The right metric of success
• A way to measure both the financial and mission success of
your project
• The ability to communicate about a project in both financial
and mission-oriented terms 29

30. Contact
• www.nonprofitbuyer.com
• Andrew Urban
www.nonprofitbuyer.com
• andrew@nonprofitbuyer.com
• andrew@firstgiving.com
• Voice - 512-751-2241
• Twitter -
The Nonprofit Buyer
@NPBuyer
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http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Nonprofit-
Buyer/198021632072
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