Why do projects in the non-profit sector run into difficulties?

Projects in the non-profit sector, often heavily volunteer-based, suffer from somewhat different problems than corporate projects. Let's dive into these problems and their root causes.

Projects start with enthusiasm and the people involved commit to their objectives. However, over time, decisions slow down, responsibilities become blurred, workload increases, and schedules begin to stretch.

This is usually not due to a lack of effort, but rather to structural issues related to management.

Delayed decisions

An inclusive culture is a good thing in the non-profit sector. However, without proper management responsibilities and structures, it can easily lead to unclear priorities, repeated delays, and further slowdowns.

Dependence on individuals

Operations and development rely often on experienced key individuals who, in addition to bearing overall responsibility, also perform a significant portion of the tasks.

This is not, however, professional project management. That's why key personnel are constantly pushed to the limits of their endurance. Projects run smoothly until the most important people burn out. The damage has happened already earlier.

Generic objectives

The purposes of non-profit projects—such as improving the status of the elderly, the disadvantaged, and children—are undoubtedly considered good by everyone, but stated in this way, they do not sufficiently guide action. Clear, actionable, and measurable objectives are needed.

The purpose of the Yhdessä Kotikulmilla® model, which received the TerveSos award, was to improve the inclusion and community of elderly residents. Furthermore, the activity had to be suitable for low-income pensioners and those whose functional capacity has weakened and social networks have narrowed. The volunteers who guide the activity are mainly elderly residents themselves.

The activities in the cooperation areas were:

• dissemination and instillation of the operating model
• strengthening cooperation with local actors
• increasing awareness of the activity
• training local professionals to become trainers for volunteers and to start volunteer groups
• training volunteers to guide groups and walks

When measurable - preferably quantitative - objectives are attached to these activities, we have already moved on to professional project management.

On the website (in Finnish) you can read more about the prerequisites for the success of the operating model as well as the achieved results and impacts.

Hidden problems

The downside of the participative atmosphere and culture is the occasional difficulty in raising problems - or softening them to avoid confrontation, which results in delayed identification of risks.

Part-time projects

Coordination becomes more difficult when activities are largely based on volunteering, part-time work and intermittent participation of individuals.

Concluding remarks

Most problems in organizational projects are not caused by people, but by the fact that the objectives and decision-making are unclear, there is not enough time for management and the projects lack common operating methods. 

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• what the root causes are,
• what you should do next, and
• what factors the project’s success particularly depends on.

You can take the results directly to your project team for discussion—without complex analyses or excessive consulting.

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