CEO Forum: What are the key similarities, and the key differences, in managing a non-profit compared to more conventional organisations?
Simon Rountree: There are lots of similarities: resource allocation decisions, managing people, strategic planning, governance and communication with stakeholders. People from outside the sector tend not to think of charities as a business, but the reality is that if we don’t operate effectively as a business, then we simply can’t deliver effectively the heart and soul of what we are passionate about.
The level of financial accountability we have as a not-for-profit is very similar to a business, but we have the added demand in that we are very much custodians of other people’s money. Basically, when people donate money to us, they want to feel that as large a percentage of that money as possible actually goes to help kids with cancer, and that our organisational/administrative costs are kept to an absolute minimum. In this regard we run a very tight ship with our administration costs kept at 12 cents per dollar. However, ironically, to put procedures and processes in place to show this can actually add administrative costs to the organisation, yet it is very important we are able to give our donors that confidence.
The big difference in our business is the emotional connection people, particularly the staff and our volunteers, have with what we are doing. We have over 10,000 very passionate volunteers involved with our organisation. All have different levels of professional and personal skills, physical abilities, available time and, in some cases, first-hand experiences of living with cancer, but often with very strong views about how things should be done! In some cases when these views differ from the organisation you need to allow people to have their say but get an agreement that we both want the same result, which is to support children with cancer. Then we need to show them that we can get to the agreed result in many different ways, and show them how they can contribute in those ways.
ceoforum.com.au: Do you think there is danger that, where people are very conscious of acting in a good cause, they can come to almost resent mundane work realities like being held accountable for performance and behaviour?
SR: This can be an issue for a few people volunteering. A good example is the records check we need to undertake for everyone working with kids to ensure we are maintaining the safest environment we can. The attitude can be ’I’m donating my time, how dare you question my integrity in any way’. We try to explain that it is nothing personal at all – we are simply trying to protect the best interests of the children and their families, our organisation and to also protect them.
ceoforum.com.au: That passion your staff feel must be a powerful management lever. How does it change the way you approach the task of attracting, developing and retaining your staff?
SR: The culture of our organization is a very powerful attraction. People want to work in an environment that is fun, colourful, happy, passionate, empowered and vibrant. This is one area we work very hard at from the way we answer the phones to how we produce an annual report and we never stop working at it. We provide fantastic working conditions and really do believe that our staff are our number one resource. We also ensure that a couple of times a year all staff participate ‘in the field’ – that is, with the kids on the camps around Australia. That’s a really important part of their training and development, and helps them appreciate that the task they are doing (whether it’s administration or IT-based) is just as important in delivering our services as any other role in the organisation.
We are fortunate that our staff are passionate and have an unrelenting optimism to take on tasks that would seem highly improbable in other organisations! At the moment, for instance, we are working on getting some television commercials filmed that would have cost around $400,000 – money we simply don’t wish to divert from our core programs. We’ve been able to go out and source all the expertise we need to do that free of charge – you only attempt those tasks if you have that passion and optimism that you will succeed.
ceoforum.com.au: The ‘working for a good cause’ aspect of your organisation is one advantage you have in attracting staff over conventional companies, but presumably a disadvantage is that you can’t pay staff as well as private companies can. How does this affect the people management task?
SR: Everyone enjoys working here to make a real difference for our kids, but, depending where people are in their lives, money can become an issue. With younger people straight out of university, for instance, we may find that we take them on in professional roles in say marketing or finance, and they will stay for a few years then some will move into the private sector. Older employees tend to stay longer, as they may have already established themselves and/or resolved those issues in their own lives.
We also have people who come to us from the corporate sector, precisely because they want to work in an organisation that really does make a positive difference to so many lives and, while they still want some financial security, they are prepared to forego some income to have that greater meaning in what they do.
ceoforum.com.au: What personal skills and attributes for a CEO have you found more (or less) important in a non-profit environment?
SR: You definitely need to do a lot more listening and consulting than you might do in a more conventional corporate environment. This is because you do many things differently – a good example is how we develop our business plan. What I definitely do not do is approach it in a ’this is what I think, the board agrees with me, so this is what’s going to happen’ way. Instead, we develop the plan from the bottom up; we survey all our staff, all the families we work with and all our stakeholders – and then try to distil that into a workable plan for the organisation.
ceoforum.com.au: What do you like best, and what are the most challenging things, about working in the non-profit sector?
SR: I like that we make a real difference to people’s lives. In any given year, there are 15,000 children living with cancer in Australia, so that’s a great opportunity to make a very positive contribution to those children’s lives and those of their families.
On a personal level, I also enjoy the variety of my role, and in particular the different people I interact with. I may be working one day, for instance, with a CEO of a large company on how we can add value to their company and brands. The next day I will be talking with the mother of a child about the issues their child is facing, such as falling behind in their schoolwork due to all the medical treatment they require, and how we can help solve that problem. That type of variety is very stimulating.
The most challenging thing is changing the notion in some quarters of the business sector that the not-for-profit sector is not professional, i.e. the belief that we are well-intentioned, but ineffectual, amateurs. In some ways, we run our businesses as well as, or better, than many other businesses that I have seen.
ceoforum.com.au: What would you most want CEOs to know in order to work effectively with your organisation, and not-for-profits generally?
SR: Perhaps the biggest thing would be for them to understand how we can work with them to positively impact their own bottom line by lifting staff morale and staff commitment, raise their corporate profile and help them with branding. If they partner with us, and invest in the relationship, we can offer both companies and their individual staff some great opportunities for personal and professional growth.
