Nonprofit Groups Must Go Lean to Make Best Use of Money

Take the case of the YWCA. Three years ago, the YW took a hard look at itself. It examined the service programs it was offering women and children, and then identified other providers in the community providing the same or similar services. The result: The YW discontinued about a dozen programs and reduced staff and administrative expense. Now leaner, the agency is stronger and more focused. The YW recognized that other agencies might not deliver the programs in the exactly the same way they had delivered them. But they also had the intellectual honesty to admit that those differences meant more to the staff then they meant to the consumer. Other nonprofits need to follow the YW's leadership example.