Note on the Nonprofit Coherence Framework

Allen S. Grossman; Stacey  Childress

Background Note | HBS Case Collection | August 2008 (Revised June 2013)

Note on the Nonprofit Coherence Framework

by Allen S. Grossman and Stacey Childress

Abstract

This note presents the Nonprofit Coherence Framework. It helps nonprofit leaders identify the key elements that support an organizational strategy focused on attaining high performance, bring those elements into a coherent relationship with the strategy and each other, and help guide the actions of people throughout an organization in the pursuit of high levels of individual and organizational achievement. This note proposes that to attain high performance, a nonprofit organization must have all of its organizational elements—culture, structure, systems, resources, stakeholders, and the operating environment—working together to drive strategy.

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Performance Improvement; Nonprofit Organizations; Corporate Strategy;

Language: English

Format: Print

16 pages

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Citation:

Grossman, Allen S., and Stacey Childress. "Note on the Nonprofit Coherence Framework." Harvard Business School Background Note 309-035, August 2008. (Revised June 2013.)

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In 2018, Lindsay Kaplan is preparing to meet with Carolyn Childers about the possibility of co-founding Chief, a New York-based peer network for women executives. Kaplan is currently the vice president of communications and brand engagement at a successful mattress company, and she is happy in her current role. However, she is excited by Childers’s vision for a community of women executives and believes she could bring valuable expertise as Chief builds its brand experience. Should Kaplan join Chief as a co-founder? What do they need to discuss before teaming up?

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Note on the Nonprofit Coherence Framework

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