1. Choosing What to Outsource in Nonprofit Management

The Freelance Factor: Business Growth Strategies

What areas can and should you outsource? Here are some of the top areas that can be successfully delegated to freelancers.

You can find more resources and articles from Rachel at www.copperhiveconsulting.com.

Rachel and her team at Copper Hive Consulting offer coaching to churches and nonprofits with a focus on operational strategy and structure. She also has an expansive network of freelancers who specifically prefer serving nonprofits and with whom she shares contract position opportunities. Schedule a free discovery call with Rachel to find the right coach or to share your job opportunities with the freelance network.

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Constant Contact

If you are not already using a CRM system, you are probably seeing donors and community members slip out the back door. If you are using a database that doesn’t integrate with an email marketing platform, it’s time to catch up and start communicating with people more effectively. Constant Contact is one of my go-to CRMs with their versatile options in managing contacts and tiers of service that will fit any budget and any sized organization.

Today’s Topic

“But I need a face to face relationship with everyone on my team!”

Do you, though?

• Pre-covid work culture vs. during and now post-covid
• When you hire great people you don’t need them to be under your nose all the time, so start there
• Two lists:
  • Who do you already have on your team
  • What positions do you still need?
• Think like a business owner or manager for a minute and less like a pastor or friend.
• List #1 Who You Have
  • Write their name and what they do
  • Are they leaders of people(internal or external)?
  • Are they front-facing, meaning necessary for the frontlines?
  • (You might also want to make a note of how effective they are)
  • If people are interactive with your community you can’t outsource that
  • You’ll find that primarily support services are the positions that can be set up as project-based freelancers
• You will also need to think like a business owner or manager for a minute and less like a pastor or friend.
• List #2
  • You might differentiate between positions you NEED vs. positions you WANT
  • Use the same criteria as the first list - are they internal support position, highly relational front-facing, etc.
  • challenge yourself to view as many of these roles as possible as freelancers
• ***You will always need a very organized person to oversee freelancers, so create margin for a few of your high capacity leaders to manage this
• When you choose to outsource a position remember that you are going to choose someone who is an expert in that area. They will be quick, efficient, knowledgeable and probably move faster than you ever could in this area. (Contrast well-meaning generalists…)
• You can be creative as it pertains to your organization, but a few areas that can be handed off to a freelancer are
  • Administration
    • There are incredible people who can manage calendars, emails, simple tasks much faster than you or the person you dump this on otherwise
  • Finance/Accounting
    • Removing your in-house accounting provides better checks and balances, transparency for you and all involved
  • Communication Strategy
  • Creative Elements
  • Research
  • Writing/Editing
  • Coaching/Consulting/Training

• Are there patterns of tension? You may have had ongoing conflict with different departments, even through staff changes. These are great areas to consider outsourcing.
• What elements of your ministry need an expert? Perhaps you are proud of the generalists you hire who are jacks and jills of all trades and can handle anything. That’s great and I applaud your hiring ability. Sometimes, we need to choose someone with very targeted experience who can take your organization to the next level.
• If you get feedback from a few people outside your organization about weak areas in your systems, structure, or ministry, those are areas to consider outsourcing, too.
  • Do you know your website is a plug and play template when all your competitors have custom features and targeted branding alignment?
  • How clear is your budget and the latest quarter’s financials?
  • Don’t be murky in places you need to be sharp and clear.

Ultimately it’s up to you what to outsource, but you will have to challenge yourself to look through a new lens and shake things up a bit.

Sustainable impact is a core value for every church and nonprofit I’ve worked with. Make sure this is your legacy too. Shift your mindset and embrace a new staffing approach.

Resource Links

Nonprofit Management 101

Managing to Change the World

***Amazon products purchased may result in affiliate commissions for Rachel Stewart.