Know Your Place: Prioritizing Stakeholders

In Rawlins' article, the idea of stakeholder management is discussed. He states that “sacrificing the needs of on one stakeholder for the needs of the other is a dilemma with which many organizations struggle”. In the corporate world this might be easier to manage because the stakeholders are interested solely in the profit margin. However, in the nonprofit sector often the stakeholders have become involved in an organization because of an ideal or interest that has no relation to the bottom line of the corporate world.

Most nonprofits are focused on fundraising to provide funds pertaining to operating costs so that they can accomplish their main objective – whether it be preserving the arts, helping those in need, education initiatives, etc. Yet when it comes to nonprofit organizations how is balance achieved between the differing ideas and interests of stakeholders that provide them with the capital to continue operating?

I think this idea of prioritization is interesting because it emphasizes the issue of the haves and the have-nots. I worked at a historical society as the PR Coordinator for three years and this idea of prioritization was rampant. Those who had the money and influence possessed the power; while those whose family had lived in the town for generations wanted to preserve the history had the legitimacy. There were even those stakeholders who were members of the governing board who possessed the urgency to meet deadlines to receive grants and donations.

Most of the time those with the power and the urgency overruled those stakeholders with a legitimate claim to the organization’s time and effort which caused a lot of tension within the organization. So, how can a nonprofit organization utilize the idea of stake holder management and prioritization in order to create a fair distribution of resources? Is it even possible or will there always be someone whose needs are unfulfilled? And if a balance was achieved would it benefit or be detrimental to the organization?