The power yielded by a stakeholder is very important when analyzing the relationship between stakeholders and no profits. The extent to which a nonprofit needs or relies on a stakeholder determines the amount of power they exert over the organization. From this week’s lesson it was clear there is no equality in terms of the power, influence and control held by stakeholders in the nonprofit sector. It is very important to identify the most important elements in your immediate and external environments to involve in your efforts. The size of the organization plays a major role in determining the extent of influence exerted by a specific set of stakeholders .A smaller organization that rely heavily on dedicated volunteers and community corporations will rank these stake holders and its donors with higher importance than a large organization that can hire skilled staff to run their programs. A one person show like that of Oprah, where the major donor can afford the go it alone puts a lot of control and influence in the hand of that particular donor. In such situations you turn to see more of the donor’s vision in the works of the organization than the broader community vision of how the organization should be.

Having diverse pool stakeholders can help nonprofits to have an in-depth view of the challenges and opportunities associated with their mission. A diverse pool of stakeholder helps nonprofits to reach a broader cross section of its constituents and encourages greater community participation. The people you aim to serve see themselves as partners and can associate better with the programs and projects. Credibility and interest is established this way. This can later be leveraged to grow the organization. Multi stakeholder groups in nonprofits promotes accountability, transparency and ensure that a wide range of interest and expertise are brought to table which in turn leads to better decision making. On the other hand having too many stake holders can also affect decision making. Decision making becomes tedious and time consuming. With so many interest groups, not taking or prioritizing the input and interest of some stakeholders can lead to distrust and loss of interest in programs. A good example is Oprah’s project in South Africa where the community were not hundred percent on board because they felt their interest and concerns were ignored.