Most organizations are built around a simple equation: Build a business, generate revenue, grow. I spent much of my career working within that equation, where success is often measured by familiar numbers: customers, dollars, CAGR.
Nonprofits start from a different premise. Their purpose is to advance a mission. And I have long argued that the clearest missions rarely have a true endpoint. An organization can work toward its goal for decades without ever being able to say, “We’re done.”
Measuring success can be more complex for nonprofits than for for-profit organizations. But in my work with the iF Design Foundation, a German nonprofit, I have found the opposite can also be true. When there is no ultimate finish line, you must be more intentional about why you do the work and how progress and success get measured.
A CLEAR PURPOSE MAKES DECISIONS SIMPLER
When growth is the primary objective, almost any decision can be justified so long as it pushes profits in an upward trajectory. Aaron Sorkin’s recent film depiction of Meta, The Social Reckoning, offers one take on what happens when that logic goes unchecked. But when the mission is the destination, a different question comes into focus: Does this decision support what we are ultimately here to achieve?
That question does not make difficult decisions easier, but it gives a clearer framework for making them.
I saw this firsthand when iF Design updated one of its annual iF DESIGN AWARD criteria three years back. We replaced the previous “Impact” criterion, which also included commercial considerations, with “Sustainability,” a framework tailored to the most relevant social and environmental factors in each of the award’s design categories. The criterion accounts for one-fifth of the total entry score, making iF the only international design award known to fully integrate these factors into its primary jurying criteria.
Changing an established system required rethinking the underlying jurying premise of “what makes great design?” and bringing sustainability experts from across disciplines and around the world into the process. There were logistical challenges and questions about implementation. Keeping the existing system would have been simpler. But our mission gave us a clear reason to move forward.
iF exists to advance design excellence and impact. If we believe design has a role to play in creating a better future for all, then sustainability invariably is part of how we evaluate it. The decision was not necessarily the easiest one. It was simply the decision most consistent with pursuing our purpose at this moment in time.
WITH NO ENDPOINT, DEFINE PROGRESS YOURSELF
In most for-profit companies, the scoreboard is largely handed to you. There may be debate over which numbers matter most, and differences based on ownership structures, industry, geography, etc., but the broad measures of success are usually understood.
A mission without a finish line comes with no such scoreboard. You have to decide what progress looks like.
I have found that more useful than disorienting. At iF, I think about growth less in terms of the organization’s size and more in terms of how many people engage with and are positively affected by its mission. Each year, tens of thousands of designers from around the world submit work to iF Design’s various award programs. But the number of entries matters less than what that participation makes possible: new ideas, objective feedback, and talent recognition, for starters.
This is a more strategic way to think about growth. The question is not simply whether the numbers are going up, but who is benefiting from our work.
WHAT FOR-PROFITS AND NONPROFITS CAN LEARN FROM EACH OTHER
Having spent years on both sides, I do not believe one model is inherently better. They serve different purposes and bring different offerings to the world. But after years as a senior marketer and operator focused on values-based brand building across the two, I would like to see the for-profit world start learning from the nonprofit world.
It all starts with purpose. A buzzword, yes, but fundamentally it is the question of “Why do we exist, and to what end?”
Purpose should not be an idea articulated after the business case has already been made. It should help determine whether the business case makes sense in the first place. For brand builders, that means treating mission and values as a starting point for decision-making, not simply as marketing messages. Done well, this approach can also strengthen brand loyalty and customer advocacy.
That is perhaps the biggest shift in perspective the nonprofit model has given me. Because in the for-profit world, nearly every problem depends on the answer to the question, “Will this grow the business?”
This is not to imply that revenue, profit, and growth are unimportant. Every organization needs to create enough value to sustain itself, and nonprofits are no exception. But when purpose is clear, money becomes a means rather than the primary destination.
When you understand what growth makes possible for the people you serve and the wider world, it becomes much easier to know whether you are moving in the right direction.
Lisa Gralnek is U.S. managing director and global head of sustainability at iF DESIGN, and host of the award-winning podcast FUTURE OF XYZ.
