From Possibility to Potential The Patterson Foundations Margin and Mission Ignition Learning Lab 2 Puts Ideas to the Test

Editor’s Note: Larry Clark and Mike Oxman are Managing Partners and Principals at No Margin, No Mission, a national consulting firm that has partnered with The Patterson Foundation since 2013 to help nonprofits on Florida’s Suncoast become stronger and more thrivable through earned income and social enterprise. Learn more about The Patterson Foundation’s thrivability initiatives here.

 

Exploration was in full swing on August 19th as nonprofit leaders, board members, and staff from across Florida’s Suncoast gathered in Sarasota for The Patterson Foundation’s Margin & Mission Ignition (MMI) Learning Lab #2 — a lively, full-day session focused on helping organizations move their earned income and social enterprise possibilities closer to potential.

Building on the exploration that began during Learning Lab #1 and continued through individual consulting sessions, the convening marked an important next step in the MMI journey: moving beyond generating ideas to thoughtfully evaluating which opportunities may be the strongest and most viable to pursue.

Facilitated by No Margin, No Mission’s Larry Clark and Mike Oxman, the session combined real-world insights, practical tools, hands-on work, and collaboration to help participating teams answer an increasingly important question: Which possibilities have the greatest potential to generate both margin and mission impact? The gathering began with organizations sharing one of the earned income possibilities they are currently exploring, giving participants a glimpse into the wide range of entrepreneurial thinking taking shape across the group.

Learning From Those Who Have Been There
Participants also had the opportunity to learn from three MMI alumni leaders — Jennifer Bowser, Executive Director of Arcadia-DeSoto County Habitat for Humanity, Erin McLeod, President and CEO of Senior Friendship Centers, and Rick Yocum, Executive Director of Humane Society of Manatee County. Drawing from their experiences with Bulldog Corner, Living Room, and Clinical Services, respectively, the panelists shared how their earned income possibilities emerged and the process they used to narrow their options for opportunities worth pursuing.

Their insights reinforced the importance of looking beyond revenue potential to consider market demand, mission alignment, organizational preparedness, and other key factors when determining which opportunities are the strongest and most viable to pursue.

Putting Possibilities Through Their Paces
The heart of Learning Lab #2 was about vetting. Throughout the day, teams worked with a series of practical tools and frameworks designed to help them examine their leading possibilities from multiple perspectives. They considered the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and potential risks associated with their ideas, along with important factors such as market demand, customers’ willingness and ability to pay, operational complexity, speed to development, margin potential, and mission contribution.

Teams then took the exploration a step further by considering their possibilities through the two lenses at the heart of MMI: margin and mission. Looking at both the potential financial contribution and alignment with an organization’s mission helped participants begin prioritizing opportunities that could deliver on both fronts. Together, the exercises encouraged organizations to move beyond enthusiasm for an idea and begin developing a more informed understanding of its feasibility, potential, and fit.

The Opportunity Is Only Part of the Equation
Learning Lab #2 also reinforced that identifying a promising earned income opportunity is only part of what it takes to succeed. The organization behind the opportunity must also be prepared to pursue it. Teams explored their preparedness through the lenses of LWRCC (leadership, willingness, readiness, capacity, and culture), considering how alignment in these areas can influence an organization’s ability to launch, implement, sustain, and grow an entrepreneurial venture.

That broader perspective is an important part of the MMI exploration process. A potentially profitable idea may not be the right opportunity if it stretches an organization beyond its capacity or fails to advance its mission. Conversely, a highly mission-aligned idea may need additional refinement if the market opportunity or potential margin isn’t strong enough. The goal is to find the intersection where marketplace potential, organizational preparedness, margin, and mission come together.

From Exploration Toward Action
By the end of Learning Lab #2, participating organizations had done much more than brainstorm. They had challenged assumptions, compared possibilities, applied new tools, learned from experienced peers, and moved closer to identifying the opportunities with the greatest promise. The next step is to continue refining and testing those possibilities as the MMI Learning Lab journey continues, with Learning Lab #3 helping teams move another step closer to determining what may be ready to advance toward business planning.

Because when it comes to earned income and social enterprise, the objective isn’t simply to find a good idea. It’s to identify an opportunity with the potential to generate greater margin, greater mission impact, and greater thrivability — and to ensure the organization is positioned to bring that opportunity to life. Learn more about The Patterson Foundation’s Margin & Mission Ignition initiative and No Margin, No Mission.