Stop Doing Everything: How Small NGOs Can Prioritise What to Focus On

How do you decide which programmes to continue, which to rethink, and which to let go of? For small NGOs, limited resources mean that trying to do everything can often spread teams and funding too thin.

In this session, held in collaboration with Minerva Impact, we’ll explore how NGOs can take a strategic look at their programme portfolio and assess what is viable, relevant, and creating value. You’ll learn how to identify capacity bottlenecks, make informed trade-offs, and distinguish between programmes that are genuinely valuable and those sustained mainly because of historical funding or habit. We’ll also explore how NGOs can identify models that have the potential to scale through government systems, partnerships, and existing infrastructure rather than relying only on direct implementation.

Key Takeaways

• Learn how to assess your programme portfolio and decide what to continue, redesign, pause, or transfer.

• Identify internal and external capacity bottlenecks that may be limiting your organisation’s impact.

• Make strategic trade-offs based on your mission, capabilities, and available resources.

• Explore how to build models that can scale through government policy, systems, and partnerships.

Who is this session for

This session is ideal for senior leadership and programme teams in small and growing NGOs who want to make more strategic choices about where to focus their time, resources, and organisational capacity.

Additional Resources

Here are some additional resources you can go through if you would like to learn more about the topic.

1. Strategy Planning for Non-profits

2. Why Strategic Planning Fails: Pitfalls Every NGO Leader Should Anticipate