Lesson Two: Shaping the Sector Reflections

• Think about the role of non-profit stakeholders in general – How do they exert influence?

A stakeholder is a person, group, or organization that has an interest that a non-profit fulfills its mission. Stakeholders have needs and expectations for the non-profit and can be anyone from employees, donors, board members, volunteers, community members, and other non-profit groups. Stakeholders play an important role in a non-profit organization, as they help an organization to achieve its objective. Having stakeholders provides an opportunity to come together for one purpose in making a difference, with common missions and purposes. Stakeholders support the overall movement of a non-profit and in some ways can support publicity and overall marketing.

A stakeholders’ interest in an organization can vary, including From time to time, board members or stakeholders may find themselves in a situation where the interests of the organization no longer coincide with their personal interests and this creates a conflict of interest. A conflict of interest within an organization can have a negative impact; which is not what an organization is looking for when partnering up initially with a stakeholder. Stakeholder analysis is a way of determining who among organizations stakeholders can have a positive or negative influence on an effort, which is likely to be affected by these efforts, and how an organization should work with stakeholders with different levels of interest and influence. The purpose of this is to understand the process and potential success of the effort being given by a stakeholder. A stakeholder’s influence can be broken down in four ways: high influence with low interest, high influence with high interest, low influence with low interest, and low influence with high interest.

Stakeholders can have a great interest in the effort and the power to help make it successful or the power to make a non-profit a failure. There can also be a vested interest, such as supporting a non-profit organization among a community, but little power to influence a mission in any way. Some stakeholders have no particular interest in the involvement of an organization, but have a large power to influence if they became interested. Others may have little interest and a small amount of power, but become financially invested for personal reasons. In order to gain stakeholder participation and positive support and effort, it is important to understand who your potential stakeholders are and the nature of their interest for your non-profit. This requires a long-term commitment and continuing attention.