ABOUT US

Scaling Up Social Sector is committed to empowering social sector organizations and non-profits with the best education, tools, and community, so they can have a greater impact and more freedom to serve more clients. We realize that there are very few educational institutions or consulting firms that serve the average nonprofit/social/ sector organization.

We have and continue to develop practical action based tools to increase the impact and effectiveness of the organizations. We are part of Scaling Up, a Gazelles Inc. company, a community that provides executive education, coaching, and technology services to help mid-market companies around the world build and execute a strategic plan. Scaling Up focuses on helping executive teams make the right decisions when it comes to four key areas: people, strategy, execution, and cash. We call this the Four Decisions® Methodology.

Over the past decade, social sector organizations have used these tools and realize they are universal applicability. We have recently modified and added tools for the nonprofit/social/ sector and created Scaling Up Social to provide it to the social sector community.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Why as a social sector/Non-Profit Organization, do I need to scale?
Don’t think of it as scaling. Think of it as expanding the impact you can have. The more effective your organization: the more people you can assist, the greater recognition you receive and energy around your cause, the more impassioned your board is, the more donations you receive, the more volunteers you have, the greater impact your cause makes.
How is Scale Up Social Sector different than the Gazelles that caters to for-profit companies?
Non-Profit and Non Governmental Organization leaders reach out to Scaling Up often when they feel orinadequate to keep the NGO financed, frustrated about leadership issues or stalled at expanding the reach of the mission. At Scaling Up, we have tools and support for leaders who facing incredible stress with grace.
1. We serve the 5% of the market economy that for-profits don’t want.

2. Much of the funding is government contracts with low reimbursement on overhead and no premium for risk or efficiency.

3. NonProfit Growth is challenged with few fixed assets as security for debt-based expansion.

4. NonProfit Growth is challenged without equity owners, Charitable gifts and small surpluses build reserves slowly for sustainability.

5. Nonprofit leaders perform a balancing act between client stakeholders and funders with different priorities.

6. The Board of Directors is required for even the smallest nonprofit. It has its own complexities that for-profit companies face only when revenues typically soar over $100 million.

7. Nonprofits devote more time to training and onboarding because for-profit companies continually drain away key staff with better compensation and benefits.

8. Nonprofits face more political pressure because government funding priorities often change with elections.

9. 55% of all nonprofits have small budgets for learning since their revenue is less than $50,000.

10. Nonprofits typically have complex revenue streams with government contracts, fee for service, charitable gifts, foundations and corporate grants, and donor advised funds.
What Non-Profits are best suited for Scale Up Social Sector?
There are four types of nonprofits –
1. Volunteer led – these are often community nonprofits with few paid employees and a one generation life span. We see the needs of these leaders for continuous learning and volunteer development and management and Scaling Up has tools which may be helpful. Many Volunteer led nonprofit leaders have expressed a need for learning but are frustrated by the time or money commitment of traditional consulting.

2. Professional led – These nonprofits are financed almost 100% by government grants. They are hemmed in by inefficiencies of contract bureaucracies (ex. only use blue ink, make 3 carbon copies). Leaders are desperate to be coached for flawless execution while avoiding arbitrary penalties for noncompliance from government.

3. Cause driven – These are member led organizations that spring from communities of need. Their entrepreneurial DNA made their nonprofit possible so they are ideal candidates to everything that Scaling Up can offer.

4. Entrepreneurial Commercial – As USA nonprofit funding changed in 1980 and 2008 from a pattern of funding agencies to giving vouchers to consumers, it has unleashed forces that were unknown to the nonprofit world. A new group of leaders have sprung up who demand financials that can be used to make decisions and recruit board members who see no conflict between due diligence and agility. This group is also ready for the complete Scaling Up toolset.
How have some non-profits scaled?
Nonprofits scale up when they understand where they are in the cycle of reaching clients. Nonprofits under $6 million are in the Valley of Death and scale by passion. Nonprofits over $10 million scale up through the power of government funding. Only 30 nonprofits in the USA have scaled past $50 million since 1980 so scaling converts to hiving and partnerships for agencies over $20 million in revenue.
Where are you located?
Many of the coaches have access to Social Sector tools from Scaling Up. 42,000 nonprofits are based in New York City and Ronald Dale Tompkins, Social Sector Leader, has an office there.
What are my next steps?
Typically, you are in stress and need a plan if you read this far. It’s good to read through several areas of the website and see if this approach might be useful for your agency. If no light has turned red, why not schedule a video conference with Ronald Dale Tompkins and people on your team or board? The hour long conference will give both you and Ron a chance to ask questions. The calendar link is https://calendly.com/ronalddaletompkins/60min There is no obligation in the call and we only offer coaching where we believe that we will add value. Our great desire is to deliver results to leadership teams that lift up the creative spirit or promote fairness.
What is the investment of this program?

Any investment assumes a return. Scaling Up has various solutions from a one day workshop, an online short course, or an annual coaching agreement. The annual nonprofit coaching package promises planning and execution that results in a 2-4 % surplus annually on your income, 4 payrolls of cash in the bank, and 50% of the week freed up for leadership for the Executive Director. It typically requires about 75 hours during the year with the coach. An agency that engages a coach will spend an amount similar to the annual cost for an auditor. Your new power to control and lead your agency will support this investment with the returns mentioned above.

Start impact now

Grow your organization's reach with these proven steps:

Work with a coach to implement the Scaling Up system faster than you would on your own.
Coaching
Access resources used by thousands of scaling businesses worldwide, including online courses and CEO networks.
Learning
Get a demo of Scaling Up Scoreboard, the software that keeps your full team focused and aligned.
Software
Learn from award-winning authors and CEOs to build better leadership, strategy, marketing, sales, operations & finance.
Summits

COMPLIMENTARY RESOURCES

ONE-PAGE PERSONAL PLAN

ONE-PAGE STRATEGIC PLAN

IMPACT TOOLS

GROWTH TOOLS - SOCIAL SECTOR

Testimonials

“Our coach keeps us strategically focused on the future direction of the business, while equipping us with Gazelles best practices and new thinking. By clearly defining our customers and then focusing tremendous energy on understanding and meeting their needs, we increased deal sizes and overall revenues by 40%.”

Joshua Troderman, Executive Director of ShalomLearnning

“Our coach did his homework on our organization and came in and led our team through a very successful strategic planning process. He kept our group fully engaged throughout the two-day process and helped us achieve some substantial landmarks as we plan forward. He has become a valued friend in the process.”

Major Doug Binner, Corps Ministries Secretary of The Salvation Army of Hope Community Ministry

“Last year was nothing short of transformational. Our Gazelles coach uncovered our unquestioned assumptions and helped us consistently focus on execution and accountability amidst rapid growth. This revolutionized the way the organization communicated, works, and makes an impact in the world.”

Rod Brooks, CEO of Stop Hunger Now

Additional Resources

Who We Are

Verne Harnish

Founder and CEO of Gazelles,
Author of "Scaling Up"

Whether educating over 7,000 in Amsterdam or an intimate group of 300 customers for a major client, Verne Harnish connects with his global audience in an unforgettable way. Verne is the founder of the world-renowned Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), with over 14,000 members worldwide, and chaired for fifteen years EO’s premiere CEO program, the “Birthing of Giants” held at MIT, a program in which he still teaches today.

Verne Harnish is founder of the world-renowned Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), with over 16,000 members worldwide, and chaired for fifteen years EO’s premiere CEO program held at MIT, a program in which he still teaches today.

Founder and CEO of Scaling Up, a global executive education and coaching company with over 200 partners on six continents, Verne has spent the past four decades helping companies scaleup.

He’s the author of the bestseller Mastering the Rockefeller Habits; authored The Greatest Business Decisions of All Times, for which Jim Collins wrote the foreword; and wrote Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0) which has been translated into 22 languages and has won eight major international book awards including the prestigious International Book Award for Best General Business book. His latest book, Scaling Up Compensation, rocketed to the #1 HR book on Amazon.

Verne also chairs the annual ScaleUp Summits and serves on several boards including vice chair of The Riordan Clinic; co-founder and chair of Geoversity; and board member of the social venture Million Dollar Women. A private investor in many scaleups, Verne enjoys piano, tennis, and magic as a card-carrying member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.

Verne serves on several boards including chairman of The Riordan Clinic and the newly launched Geoversity. A private investor in many scaleups, Verne enjoys piano, tennis, and magic as a card-carrying member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.

Ronald Tompkins

Managing Partner and Principal Coach,
TurnAround NonProfit Coaching

Dr. Ronald Dale Tompkins is Managing Partner and Principal Coach of TurnAround NonProfit Coaching. His passion for empowering nonprofits comes from a career in the sector and leadership roles in five different agencies.

The thought leadership that Dr. Ron brings to clients for coaching includes:

  • Management Accountant associated with the Institute of Management Accountants
  • Certified Scaling Up Coach
  • Ph.D. in Higher Education Policy (Buffalo)
  • MBA in Finance (State University of New York)
  • Harvard University Strategy and Innovation Executive Leadership Program

Dr. Ron is married and has children and foster children in the USA and southeast Asia.  He has been a member of the Indo-Chinese Caucus and Cambodian Caucus of the United Methodist Church. He is now a long-term resident of New York City.

Contact him at tompkir1@gmail.com

His thought leader website is https://taconsulting.live/