Value Based Business Planning: Practical strategies for non-profit sustainability

We live in a value based society where money is the measure of success. However, money is just one way of assessing a business and there are other ways to be successful which are possibly more important. This book helps non-profit leaders to explore their organizations impact and financial sustainability from a different perspective. It is based on personal experience of creating and nurturing social businesses across five continents. This book looks at businesses in terms of the value they create and trade rather than focusing solely on money. Our economies are based on exchanges of money which is a proxy that represents value in terms of a commonly traded item. We will explore how value is created and exchanged which cannot or should not be converted to money and offers ways in which social businesses can operate more comfortably in line with their core beliefs and ethics. The value of what you do has a lot more relevance in many social businesses than hard cash, so the focus is on getting the value exchanges right. Of course money is important; it is what drives the world we live in. We cover the cash aspects of the business later on in our journey, after all it is one of the pieces of value we need to trade as a business. This book provides simple, step-by-step guides to building a sustainable organization and offers over 90 ideas for your business. While many of the case studies and examples are from the social sector, the principles and exercises apply equally to any small or large business.