How Growing Corn is like Running a Nonprofit

I often talk about growing up on a farm.

I talk about the farm because it is where I learned so many life lessons. Lessons I didn’t really start to comprehend until the last few years. Lessons I keep coming back to.

Recently a nonprofit executive and I were talking about long-term organizational goals. As the conversation evolved, this gentleman was achieving ever-more profound discoveries about himself and his team.

As we were wrapping up, I likened running a nonprofit to how we grew corn back on our farm.

On our farm, growing corn was hard

It took a great effort to grow corn where I grew up (northwest Kansas).

In some places, growing corn is much easier. In north-central Iowa, for instance, the climate and topography is nearly perfect for the crop. There’s plenty of rain. The soil is rich.

So why would we even bother? Well, first of all that’s where we lived, and dad had to do something to support the family. Another reason is we had livestock, and fed the corn to the animals.

But more importantly, and the first lesson, is that there are trade-offs for whatever you do in life. Sure, you can grow more corn, more easily, in Iowa…BUT your biggest cost of production–land–is five times more expensive. That means you have to grow substantially more corn to make the math work.

Constraints, resource allocation, and making the best of things

In running a nonprofit, you have many constraints and many tradeoffs.

In our corn growing, the major constraint was lack of water. We received an average of 23 inches of precipitation per year. In the aforementioned Iowa, it’s closer to 40.

You can wish to have more rain, but you won’t get it. You make choices to figure out the best use of the moisture you have. You make due.

In running a nonprofit–actually any business, for that matter–you wish you had more resources. More money. More space. More staff. Sure, you can develop added revenue through fundraising or programming, but that is a long-term process.

For now, you do the best you can with what you’ve got.

Once the goal was set, we didn’t deviate

Growing corn in this environment took time. Three years to be exact.

The first year was devoted to letting the soil be “fallow.” This meant we did as little to it as possible, allowing nature to do the work. Residue from previous crops was allowed to decompose, returning precious nutrients back to the soil. When the rains came, they soaked the earth and recharged the soil moisture.

When you’re shooting for a goal at your nonprofit, there are many tasks to be done in the early stages. These are critical, but might appear to the outside observer as if nothing is happening.

In the second year, we planted wheat. Wheat doesn’t take as much water, so it could grow without depleting the moisture being “saved up” for the corn. It also provided a crop to sell in the interim. But the real value was the stubble it left behind: perfect for catching and retaining winter snow in preparation for corn planting.

At your nonprofit, you’ll likely have smaller, interim goals along the way to your bigger goal. These smaller goals might look like big goals. They might even be revenue-generating. But you only do them because they help move you toward the primary goal.

Everyone knew the goal

I was one of seven kids. We all worked on the farm.

Dad was fond of saying, “if you put your feet under my table, you’re going to help put food on top of it!”

Mom did her part in the house, cooking and laundry (lots of laundry). Add in Grandad, and we essentially had a small business with a workforce of nine.

We all knew what the goal was. It was crystal clear if we hit it.

Have you ever been in a meeting where your team debates whether or not a goal was reached? “This program didn’t hit the revenue target, but lots of people said they enjoyed it…so I’d say it was a huge success!” I’ve been there and I feel your pain.

Another benefit of having a clear goal was how it helped us make decisions during the process. This was before cell phones, so people would have to make decisions from time-to-time without the benefit of counsel. Fortunately, focusing on the goal made this easier.

It served as a North Star.

Occasionally we could deviate, but only for extraordinary reasons

One year, the price of wheat hit record highs. At the same time, corn prices were at record lows. Macro-level market conditions pointed to these prices persisting. We also had above-average rainfall.

With the extra money we could make from wheat, we could simply buy the corn we needed.

Dad decided to change the plan.

Instead of waiting to plant corn, we re-planted wheat in the same field for a second year in a row.

This decision wasn’t made lightly, but only with what was a near-perfect confluence of events.

In my coaching conversations with nonprofit executives, there is sometimes a hesitancy to commit to big goals because “we want to stay nimble.”

Committing to a few big, clear goals will focus your team and your resources. It doesn’t lock you in, however, should extraordinary opportunities come along. But they should be extraordinary.

Sometimes you do everything you can, and you still don’t hit your goal

Sometimes we didn’t raise the corn we hoped for.

Even when we followed the three-year-plan…even when we did everything we said we would…sometimes forces beyond our control kept us from making our goal. Droughts happened. Hailstorms happened. Grasshoppers happened.

Running your nonprofit is the same way. Sometimes things happen that are beyond our control.

When you miss a goal, you should take time to process it. Is there anything you can learn? Is there anything you could have done differently? Or was it just bad luck?

If it is bad luck, you should take time to really feel and process your disappointment. Let your team know you’re not a robot and share their feelings. But don’t dwell. Keep moving.

Sometimes you do everything you can, and you beat your goal by 50 or 100%

Sometimes forces beyond our control conspire to do us good, and we crush our goals.

Take time to celebrate! Soak in the accomplishment. Be liberal in giving credit to your team.

But don’t change how you go about your business.

Sometimes we’re tempted to attribute our good fortune to hard work or high competence. A word of warning: if you got lucky, acknowledge as much. Don’t assume this to be the new normal.

Save some of your windfall for a rainy day. Cautiously invest it in areas which build organizational capacity so you can score more big wins next year. But don’t go crazy.

What do you think?

I’d love to hear your thoughts about achieving long-term goals! Send me a message or hop over to the Nonprofit Wizards Facebook page!

Darren Macfee is the founder of the Nonprofit Wizards. His life purposes are to dispense homespun wisdom, grill a perfect meal for his family, and help nonprofit leaders create amazing results for and through their organizations. Follow him on Twitter @NPWizards or send him a note. Be sure to sign up for alerts so you never miss a post.