Introduction
A nonprofit is an organization that seeks to achieve significant goals while prioritizing the well-being of its leaders and staff over financial profit. For a company to be successful, it needs to motivate its employees, set clear and achievable goals, choose effective strategies, and establish appropriate KPIs. This paper aims to explain Bigger Hearts Smaller Hearts’ strategic approach and discuss how it will measure its success.
Selecting the Strategic Approach
To motivate staff members to work in Bigger Hearts Smaller Hearts for free, be determined, and achieve high performance, the organization has chosen differentiation as its strategic approach. According to researchers, the latter “aims at offering something difficult to copy and is strongly associated with an organization’s brand” (Saylor Academy, 2023, para. 2). All people who will join the nonprofit will do so out of their sincere sympathy and love for animals, so this approach should be efficient.
Therefore, Bigger Hearts Smaller Hearts will motivate its human resources by highlighting their unique and significant contributions to addressing the growing problem of stray animals. The staff members will know that their voluntary efforts improve the health of homeless animals, allow them to feel safe and loved, and support credible shelters that also seek to help animals found on the streets. Only this work can bring this sense of satisfaction and happiness. The nonprofit’s employees will help cats and dogs who have been deprived of warmth, food, and love find loving, caring owners who are ready to provide them with all this and more.
Defining the Tactics and Strategies
There are three primary goals that Bigger Hearts Smaller Hearts will seek to achieve, including reducing the number of stray animals, increasing the community’s awareness and responsibility, and securing more financial support for credible shelters. To achieve these long-term objectives, the nonprofit will take smaller steps, guided by Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory. According to McLeod (2023), the five levels of one’s needs are physiological, safety, belonging and love, esteem, and self-actualization. The tactics will address these needs in animals, communities, shelter owners, and the nonprofit’s workers.
Firstly, Bigger Hearts Smaller Hearts will find homeless animals and take them to trustworthy shelters, ensuring they have access to food, water, and medical support. This will address not only the physiological needs of animals but also their safety needs, as well as those of people. The fewer stray dogs and cats there are on the streets, the lower the spread of infections and attacks on persons (Abdulkarim et al., 2021).
Furthermore, certain shelters that the nonprofit will partner with will also have their safety needs addressed, as they will receive the required resources, which is another tactic of the organization, and ensure their workers are employed securely. Regarding love and belonging, animals will receive these feelings from employees of shelters and the nonprofit’s staff, as well as their future owners, who will also love and care for them. Bigger Hearts Smaller Hearts will create profiles for animal adoption, interview potential owners, and share success stories.
Another important tactic for the nonprofit will be to host online and offline events to discuss its achievements, find new supporters, and educate the community about its responsibilities. The organization will create informative brochures about pets’ health, needs, body language, habits, and other relevant topics to engage and inform the audience, thereby strengthening the connection between owners and their pets (Grigg & Kogan, 2019).
When sharing success stories, the nonprofit will highlight the best shelters and workers who have contributed to achieving its mission and long-term objectives. These tactics will address esteem and self-actualization. Employees of shelters and Bigger Hearts Smaller Hearts will feel confident and respected, and they will experience a sense of belonging and the ability to contribute to making the world a better place.
Identifying KPIs and Metrics
Ultimately, it is crucial to identify the key performance indicators (KPIs) that the organization will focus on each month.
- Number of rescued stray animals – 20.
Since the primary purpose is to decrease the rates of homeless animals, the organization must be proactive in finding and rescuing them.
- The mortality rate of found animals – 0%.
Unfortunately, some rescued animals might have dangerous or severe diseases. The key objective of the nonprofit is to care for such animals and fund shelters, enabling them to afford veterinary services and vaccinations.
- Number of found animals given to one of the credible shelters or adopted – 20.
All animals found on the streets should be taken to one of the funded shelters or adopted by trustworthy people.
- Number of returned animals – 0.
It will be essential to interview and inform potential owners, ensuring they have a connection with the animals they wish to adopt, to minimize return cases.
- The portion of the fundraised finances given to shelters – 50%.
The organization will allocate this portion of its finances to the shelters with which it collaborates.
- Number of online and offline events – 15.
This will include educational meetings, social media campaigns, and online publications.
If these KPIs are not met, the organization will evaluate the failure rates and adjust the numbers and percentages accordingly. For example, suppose the number of adopted animals remains at 10-12 for several months. In that case, the KPI will be adjusted to 15, and the methods used to achieve this indicator will be reviewed and modified as needed.
Conclusion
To conclude, Bigger Hearts Smaller Hearts will apply a differentiation strategic approach. It will motivate its workers by highlighting that they are improving the world, and the tactics selected by the nonprofit will address the five levels of needs of animals, people, shelters, and the organization’s employees. Eventually, if a KPI is not met, the metric and the tools used to achieve it will be re-evaluated.
References
Abdulkarim, A., Khan, M. A. K. B. G., & Aklilu, E. (2021). Stray animal population control: Methods, public health concern, ethics, and animal welfare issues. World’s Veterinary Journal, 11(3), 319-326.
Grigg, E. K., & Kogan, L. R. (2019). Owners’ attitudes, knowledge, and care practices: Exploring the implications for domestic cat behavior and welfare in the home. Animals, 9(11), 978.
Mcleod, S. (2023). Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Simply Psychology.
Saylor Academy. (2023). Porter’s competitive strategies.