By Phil Noble /

Over the last year SPP has undertaken the second iteration of its operational effectiveness benchmarking study, with a greater focus on understanding effectiveness as well as efficiency.

The SPP Operational Effectiveness Study 2017 has been developed to provide the participating NFPs with a deeper understanding of how their organisation is performing relative to their peers, and to help them develop strategies and approaches to improve their operational effectiveness.

In this, the second year of the annual benchmarking exercise, we focused on 2015-16 performance, and looked at trends in performance across three years of data.

Selected insights from the 2017 study include:

  • Strategies haven’t evolved as much as expected
  • Increased sector investment in fundraising has not achieved the desired returns
  • Greater reliance on community income drives a need for greater administrative support
  • There are opportunities to achieve greater impact within the sector through partnerships
  • Communicating impact is an increasingly important challenge
  • Overall scale brings significant operational advantages

Our two studies represent a snapshot in time and, already, both studies have tracked changes in the sector and identified longitudinal insights.  Please reach out if you would like to participate in future editions of this study.

Read 2017 NFP Operational Effectiveness Study article

Read 2015 NFP Operational Review article

By Phil Noble /