In summary it is through this investigation, of how it is that organizations operating within the field of Patient and Family Support determine levels of success, that I will now use this section to comment and critique on what it is that I have discovered. In addition to this I will use this foundational knowledge that I have gained, due to this assignment, to discuss the future of this industry and in particular the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

Summary:

            This investigation began with the question ‘How is it that organizations within the Patient and Family Support field of non-profit organizations determine their success when many of the traditional indicators and measures of success do not capture the full picture?’ It was from this initial question, that I began to realize was a question not so niche to the Patient and Family Support sector but rather one that the majority of nonprofits have to answer, that pushed me to investigate the inner machinations of many non-profit organizations. This investigation however was a process that’s steps materialized in the different subsections of this semesters larger E-portfolio assignment. Each of these smaller assignments played a crucial role in the constructing of this project and the answering of that question.

            The first of these smaller assignments was the literature review. It was in this literature review that we had to find between 10 and 15 sources that ranged from academic and peer reviewed papers, to journals and websites that we deemed credible enough to be a part of our investigation. In my collecting of sources, I was able to begin by looking at the way that many of the organizations working within this field of Patient and Family Support integrated the well-being, both physical and psychological, of their patients into their measures of successful operation. In collecting these sources, once I gained a general understanding of the industry, I began to look at the niche service of wish granting and found many articles that discussed in detail the Make-a-Wish Foundation. It were these sources that allowed me to focus more on the psychological impact of wish granting not only on those children that were granted wishes but also their families and the greater communities that they were in. This discovery of information gave me a better understanding of what the greater aim of the Make-a-Wish Foundation was in granting wishes to terminally ill children. Furthermore, it was this collection of studies and journals that helped me to realize the diverse nature of the outcomes trying to be achieved by organizations like the Make-a-Wish Foundation in their logic model and how these outcomes were greatly impacted by the organization’s theory of change. As I continued to collect more sources and delve more deeply into these organizations, I continued to see the importance of the goals present in non-profits mission and vision statements and the trickle-down effect that these had on the other objectives of the organization. Moreover, I began to identify how these smaller goals and objectives were tailored to each of these organizations or groups of organizations and served as a methods of tracking progress towards the change they were trying to instill within greater society. Now as my investigation has come to a conclusion, I am aware that the importance of these organization’s theory of change and goals that are set at their forefront, in mission and vision statements particularly, is not unique to the Patient and Family Support sector but is a practice that is seen all throughout the non-profit industry. This fact however does not take, I don’t believe, take away from the findings of this investigation but helps to illustrate the importance of this research question to not only the Patient and Family Support field but the greater non-profit industry. And in addition, this investigation helps to show in more detail how it is that this particular field within non-profits deals with this issue of redefining success, to a certain degree, within their organizations.

            The next of the smaller assignments that played an important role in aiding the progression of this investigation was the excel assignment. It was in this assignment that I took large data sets, containing the financial data released by the organizations in this field, and used different measures to analyze them. This analysis was done with the intention of trying to identify trends between organizations that could help to explain what quantitative measures helped to illustrate ‘success’ on an industry level. It was as a result of this analysis that I began to understand the value of benchmarking when looking and comparing non-profits. In addition to this I was able to identify, by looking at a sample of wish granting organizations, the niche’s reliance on philanthropy/contributed revenue. In turn this discovery helped me to realize the importance of reputation and fundraising abilities, within wish granting sector of this field, as a performance measure of how respective organizations’ logic models were being carried out.

            Thus, it was through the completion of these preliminary assignments that I gained an awareness of the way in which many of these non-profits use a combination of qualitative and quantitative data to track their progression through smaller objectives in the process of striving to achieve the change they outline in their organizations mission and vision statements.

Look into the future opportunities and threats of the wish granting industry:

After completing this investigation, it is interesting to think how this field and more particularly the niche of wish granting organizations may continue to evolve their processes involved in achieving ‘success’ due to opportunities and threats present within the general environment. My identification of these opportunities and threats present within the industry was aided greatly, in addition to all the research that I have completed, by the comparison of the two largest wish granting organizations in the United States (based on wishes granted), which were the Make-a-Wish Foundation and Dream Factory.  It was through my analyzing of the similarities and differences between these organizations that I was able to see how it is they perceive and react to these opportunities and threats that I have identified.

            In terms of those threats that I perceive could impact this group of organizations (wish granting businesses) moving into the future there are two, among many, worthy of discussion. The first of which is the threat that reputation has on these organizations. This threat brings with it a series of other detrimental factors that have the ability to become separate issues stemming from this larger problem. Issues with reputation is something that I have, in this investigation, not talked about in great detail but is of the upmost importance to these organizations in their efforts to achieve organizational goals. This importance of reputation was something that I noticed in the final stages of this assignment in my comparison of the Make-a-Wish-Foundation and Dream Factory. I became aware of the fact that many people praised Dream Factory for their considerably higher percentage of revenue that would go directly to program services. It was my recognition of this disparity between the organizations that prompted me to continue to look at how people perceived this, quite large, difference. Some of the information that I found were reviews on charity rating websites that pointed to this difference and used it as an argument for donating to Dream Factory rather than the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Although it is not a widely held perception, that the Make-a-Wish Foundation keeps too high a percentage of their revenue for internal expenses, I was able to see through this micro-level example the potentially harmful nature such societal perceptions would have on the organizations reputation and in turn their ability to operate. If hypothetically this was a belief held by greater society, we could see how it would directly impact the fundraising ability of the Make-a-Wish Foundation which in turn would clearly result in the lessening of their ability to grant wishes. The solution of this threat will be touched on later as I discuss the opportunities present within the industry.

            The next of the major threats that I have identified include the impact economic downturn can have on these organizations. As was pointed to in the financial analysis section of this investigation the dependency of this field on the philanthropic giving of others is something that cannot be understated or ignored. In almost an extreme fashion it is the contributions of others that make these organizations able to operate in any capacity. Thus, it is as a result of this dependency that we must recognize, as a threat, those factors that negatively impact upon societies habits of giving. Possibly the largest and with the most uniform effect of these factors is the role of the economy. An example of this threat in today’s world is the impact that COVID-19 has had on charitable giving to the non-profit sector. So far during this pandemic we have seen levels of ‘giving’ decrease by approximately 6%. (AFGlobal, Nonprofits Hit by 6% Decline in Giving Due to COVID-19) Such a decrease means that many organizations have had to downsize their operations or dip into those retained earnings that they have within the organization with the hope that the economy and in turn peoples giving begin to trend upwards again. It is in this example that when comparing the Make-a-Wish Foundation and Dream Factory and the diversity that these organizations have present in their avenues of revenue that we can see how the Make-a-Wish Foundation has much higher levels of income coming from investments. This diversity, although not something that the organization would be able to consistently rely upon, eases the threat that the economy not only imposes on this field of non-profits but the larger industry to.

            In looking to those opportunities present within this industry again I was able to identify two major factors that could impact several other aspects of these businesses if capitalized on correctly.

            The first of these opportunities, which could help ease the threat that reputation has on particularly the Make-a-Wish Foundation, is the further utilizing of volunteers within the organizations structure. The Dream Factory has realized this opportunity and implemented a system which I believe should be considered the industries best practice in this regard as the entire organization has only four paid employees. (Dream Factory, Inc. National Headquarters HQ) A system so dependent on volunteers obviously has its own weaknesses and threats but is an intelligent method used in achieving organization goals without the large wage expense that comes with paid workers. Volunteers are, as has been mentioned earlier in this report, a substantial part of the Make-a-Wish Foundations business model as well but I believe can be used to a larger degree to increase the percentage of revenue that goes directly to program services.

            The next of the opportunities that I believe organizations like the Make-a-Wish Foundation and Dream Factory can capitalize on moving into the future is collaboration within the industry. This is a simple change that can at times be made more difficult by clashes in the organizations methodologies or cultures but when the goals of the organizations are similar, like is the case with the Make-a-Wish Foundation and Dream Factory, collaboration has the ability to positively impact those that these organizations are trying to help. When I think of the idea of collaboration between the Make-a-Wish Foundation and Dream Factory I imagine an official channel between the two organizations where Dream Factory are able to send those children with wishes that need higher levels of funding to the Make-a-Wish Foundation; and the Make-a-Wish Foundation on the other hand puts those children that are not eligible for their services in contact with Dream Factory, who grant wishes to a wider range of children. Such a partnership will allow the two organizations to maximize the number of children they are able to help as the combining, to a certain extent, of their resources will expand their respective spheres of influence.

            In conclusion, this investigation has provided me with a strong foundation of understanding about not only the Patient and Family Support field but of the larger non-profit sector. Furthermore, it is this knowledge that I have gained through this series of assignments that has meant that I am now better able to comprehend the importance of the theory of change within the non-profit sector and additionally how essential these businesses logic models are in achieving their organizational goals.

References:

Nonprofits Hit by 6% Decline in Giving Due to COVID-19. (n.d.). Retrieved December 08, 2020, from https://afpglobal.org/nonprofits-hit-6-decline-giving-due-covid-19

Dream Factory, Inc. National Headquarters HQ. (n.d.). Retrieved December 08, 2020, from https://www.guidestar.org/profile/31-1009812