NMG assignments that are likely to generate high returns are situations where:

• The executive director and key board members have been in place for many years and they recognize that they need a succession plan that could quickly be enacted upon their retirement or withdrawal from the organization.  There must be a process in place where key staff and other board members would be introduced to key stakeholders, rotated to other positions and/or trained adequately to be prepared to step in without risk to the organization.
• Board members historically have relied upon the executive director for analyzing information and making decisions with little involvement by the board.  This has caused the executive director to be overloaded with work, not have the benefit of the board’s perspectives and input, and has slowed down the decision-making process to a crawl.  The board realizes that it is at risk unless it is informed and aware of key issues and wants to participate in identifying and developing key strategies and prudent procedures.
• The organization is operating at a deficit, staff members have not had a raise in their salaries and continual across-the-board cost cutting is not solving underlying problems.  There should be a well-justified plan for success in the future so that the organization is no longer relying on an unlikely windfall in revenue.
• Fundraising has been lower than projected because former large donors have not been replaced and new donors are not convinced they should be associated with a problematic organization.  Donors would rather contribute to stronger nonprofits that are prominent in the community.
• There have been marketing, financial, board and/or fundraising consultants but little has changed because there must be an integrated solution to make the process feasible and practical.
• Some board members have been losing interest in attending meetings and others have resigned from the board.  A process must be established so that it will become possible to attract and retain board members who have the capability/financial means/contacts to help improve the organization.
• Resources are spread so thinly that there is no cash or management time to maintain or improve core programming quality, train staff properly, maintain or update facilities or develop new programming concepts.  Programming must be prioritized and quantifiable measures of success must be determined so that the board and the staff can track improvements.
• Teamwork and morale on the part of staff and volunteers must be improved in order to enable more efficient operations.
• Collaborations and consolidations should be considered.  This could enable the organization to achieve a quantum leap improvement in its capabilities by taking advantage of economies of scale in administrative services (finance, marketing, development, purchasing, information technology, human resources, etc.), donor and vendor relationships, staff training, grant-writing, facilities, career paths for staff, and many other potential benefits.
• The financial/accounting staff has not produced reports yet that can be used easily for management decision-making.
• High-quality competitive analyses have not yet been prepared to indicate favorable product/service niches, appropriate pricing strategies, optimal locations, likely changes in the competitive environment in the future, etc.
• Analyses have not yet been done to identify and determine the potential cash proceeds from the sale or refinancing of underutilized assets (land, buildings, equipment, proprietary processes, licenses, etc.).  A cash crisis may be averted if this is completed quickly.
• The credit line is at its maximum and additional borrowings are likely to be necessary.  The bank and/or umbrella/national organizations want a better understanding of what is going on.
• The executive director has left and an experienced, capable interim leader must fill in and manage the organization until a new person is found, interviewed and brought onto the payroll.

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