Balanced Scorecards for Nonprofits

Wed, 13 May 2020 15:50:11 GMT

Who has expertise in creating balanced scorecards for nonprofits? I am creating one as a practice exercise with the strategic plan created with a current client. Material for nonprofit balanced scorecards is relatively scarce. I've reviewed a few articles from Harvard Business Review written by Kaplan and Norton, and have found one helpful McKinsey article specific to nonprofit measurements:

https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/social-sector/our-insights/measuring-what-matters-in-nonprofits

I have found one book specific to nonprofits and governmental organizations: Balanced Scorecard: Step-by-Step for Government and Nonprofit Agencies 2nd ed. Paul Niven. It's on Amazon, but I haven't yet ordered it because, after reading the review and the excerpt, it looks like overkill

I've attached my first draft. I summarized the goals and action steps created in the strategy/action plan and placed them in the appropriate categories in my balanced scorecard draft.

I would like to share my example and have a discussion about it. Thank you.

Sat, 15 Aug 2020 21:18:21 GMT

Thank you for sharing your experience. I think it is a good start and you need to have the complete sheet for managing your scorecards including information such as:
Objectives, KPIs, Targets, Source of Information, Strategic Initiatives, etc.

Mon, 16 Nov 2020 22:46:55 GMT

I agree with the previous comment that your draft could be improved by clearly stating the objectives for all 4 perspectives and the customer (or client) value proposition. KPIs do not provide a complete picture.

Niven's book (2nd Edition) is very helpful because it is based on practice and he provides examples from various organizations including a few nonprofits But if you find it to be overkill, then you might want to look at Ron Person's book titled Balanced Scorecards & Operational Dashboards (ISBN 978-1-118-51965-30). The Balanced Scorecard Institute is another source of examples - see https://balancedscorecard.org/bsc-basics/examples-success-stories/

Hope this helps!