(Washington,
DC—5 June 2014) During the three years immediately following the onset of the Great
Recession from 2009 to 2011 thirty-nine nonprofit organizations that were
already growing strongly increased their annual growth rates by an average of
4% after using the management consulting services of Washington, DC-based
Plexus Consulting Group, LLC (Plexus). Eleven
other nonprofit organizations that had been shrinking in size, managed to
reverse or reduce their losses and performed on an average 22% better than
before they used the firm’s management consulting services.
The organizations
included in this analysis are trade associations, professional societies and
philanthropies in areas covering education, community development, financial,
professional, manufacturing, and various aspects of healthcare. Every nonprofit organization that used
Plexus’s services during this three year timeframe experienced higher annual
revenue growth rates than their respective sectors overall.
In order of
frequency of use, the services were:
strategic planning; surveys and market research; marketing;
international business services; organizational restructuring; and government
and public relations. The organizations
using strategic marketing and strategic planning services registered the
greatest growth increases of 45% and 26% respectively.
“This is the
first time we have done such a comprehensive analysis of the bottom line
results of our work,” said Plexus President Steven Worth, “but we thought this
would be important to know during these financially uncertain times when making
a decision to spend badly needed cash on management consulting services can be
controversial. These figures show our firm’s
services more than pay for themselves—even during a recession.”
More complete results of this study
can be obtained by contacting: dean.furst@plexusconsulting.com; or Lindsay@plexusconsulting.com . The financial results used in this report
come from publicly listed sources as is required by all tax exempt
organizations.
1 comment:
When times are difficult and the working day is spent just trying to keep your organization's head above water, it seems counterintuitive that the solution may be to stop and methodically explore new markets as well as to determine whether you are where you need to be strategically. But I think of the parable of the woodcutter who has a quota to meet and thinks it unwise to stop to sharpen his ax--when in fact if he did take that time he would be able to finish his job that much sooner with a sharpened ax. I think these findings prove that point.
Consultants should bring an outside perspective and with that, the assurance that either you are doing things right or that there are things you could be doing better or which you have overlooked. They should also bring special expertise and capacities that you may not need on an on-going basis but which might be pretty handy to have over the next few weeks or months until your course corrections have been made.
It is no coincidence that organizations and markets that use consultants the most frequently tend to outperform those that do not--even during recessions.
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