Enhancing Accountability: Using Your Strategic Plan to Build Trust and Measure Progress

A grassroots NPO in KZN is currently struggling. The board is unsure if progress is being made and are demanding reports. The staff feel over-monitored and unable to focus on the actual work in the community. And the donors want impact stories and numbers, now, or they will cut funding.

Sound familiar? Accountability often feels uncomfortable — but it doesn’t have to be.

Why accountability matters in NPOs

In South Africa, NPOs carry deep responsibility: to communities, to funders, to staff and volunteers and to the public.

Let’s set the record straight. Accountability is about faithful stewardship, not control.

How a strategic plan helps

Your strategic plan is vital:  it creates shared clarity and answers these questions:

  • What are we trying to achieve?
  • How will we know if we are succeeding?
  • Who is responsible for what?

When expectations are clear, accountability becomes fair.

Knowing who is accountable

  • The Board: Focuses on strategic oversight, not daily operations, using the plan to guide decisions.
  • Leadership: Translates strategy into annual goals and reports progress honestly.
  • Staff and Volunteers: Understand how their work contributes, and feel valued rather than

Transparency builds trust

Here are some practical ways that you can use your plan for greater accountability:

  • Set annual goals linked to strategy
  • Review progress quarterly
  • Use simple indicators, not complicated reports
  • Celebrate progress, and name challenges openly

Healthy accountability strengthens internal culture, improves donor relationships and keeps the organisation aligned with its mission.

A strategic plan is not about perfection.

It’s about learning, adjusting, and staying faithful to your purpose.

EM Solutions’ coaches and mentors can assist you to unlock your NPOs potential for 2026 by helping you to review and consolidate your strategic plan. Give us a call today.

We hope this little series on strategic planning has given you lots of food for thought and some great practical tools.

By |2026-02-03T11:18:25+02:00February 3rd, 2026|Leadership, Strategy|0 Comments

Improving Resource Allocation: Using Your Strategic Plan to Focus What Really Matters

A real-life challenge

An NPO in the Mpumalanga has passionate staff and strong community trust. But every year, budgets feel tighter and burnout increases. Staff are busy — but not always effective. When asked why, the answer is honest: “We respond to whatever is urgent.”

Without a strategic plan guiding decisions, everything feels urgent.

The reality for South African NPOs

Most NPOs in our country operate with limited funding, small teams, high community need and lots of pressure from donors and partners.

This makes focus one of your most valuable resources.

How a strategic plan changes the conversation

A strategic plan helps leaders ask better questions:

• Does this activity support our priorities?
• Should we invest more here — or less?
• Are we funding what matters most?

Instead of reacting, you choose.

Practical ways to allocate resources better

Here’s how to use your strategic plan:

1. Budget with intention: Budgets are built around strategic priorities, not history.

2. Align staff roles:  Each role should clearly contribute to one or more strategic goals.

3. Smarter fundraising:  Fundraising focuses on what the organisation has decided is important (and that does not include chasing every funding opportunity).

4. Say “no” with confidence:  A strategic plan gives you a respectful, professional reason to decline non-aligned opportunities.

Putting resource allocation into practice

If your strategy prioritises early childhood development, then:

• Training, staffing, and funding flow there
• New projects are assessed against that focus
• Reporting becomes clearer and more honest

Tools that will help this focus include:

• Annual plans linked to your strategic goals
• Budget-to-strategy mapping
• Simple quarterly check-ins

You don’t need fancy software; you need consistency.

When resources are aligned, teams feel less stretched, impact improves and donors gain confidence.

And it becomes much easier to talk about accountability.

Next week in Blog 3: How to use your strategic plan to strengthen accountability,from the board to volunteers.

Our team at EM Solutions is available to assist you with evaluating your strategic plan and ensuring you can focus on what really matters. We believe in you, and in unlocking NPO potential.

By |2026-01-26T13:13:59+02:00January 26th, 2026|Leadership, Strategy|0 Comments

Strategic Plans – and how to create one that actually helps your NPO

A familiar NPO story

A small community-based organisation in Khayelitsha started with huge heart: supporting vulnerable children after school. Over time, opportunities came knocking. Food parcels, holiday programmes, youth skills training and even a donor asking about starting an ECD centre.

Each opportunity was good. Each was needed. But soon the team was exhausted, funding was stretched, and no one could clearly answer the question: What is our main focus right now?

If you lead a NPO, a strategic plan is essential.

What a strategic plan really is

A strategic plan is a simple, shared roadmap that helps an NPO decide:

• Why we exist
• What we are focusing on over the next 3–5 years
• What success will look like
• What we will not focus on (just as important)

In the South African NPO context where funding is tight, staff often wear many hats, and needs are overwhelming, a strategic plan is not a luxury. It is a leadership tool. If you lead a NPO, a strategic plan is essential.

What a strategic plan is not

Let’s clear up a few myths:

❌ It is not just a donor requirement

❌ It is not a long, complicated document

❌ It is not something only the board or a consultant owns

❌ It is not meant to gather dust on a shelf

A good strategic plan should be used, not admired.

Core building blocks of a strong strategic plan

Most effective NPO strategic plans include these five things:

1. Vision – the change you want to see in the world
2. Mission – what your organisation actually does
3. Values – how you work
4. Strategic priorities – 3 to 5 clear focus areas
5. High-level outcomes – what success will look like

(Tip: Keep it simple. Complexity does not equal impact.)

A practical way to create your strategic plan

You don’t need a massive budget or months of workshops. Here’s a down-to-earth process that works well:

1. Get the right people in the room: Board members, leadership, and key staff (not everyone, but the right mix).
2. Be honest about your reality: What is working? What isn’t? What is draining your team?
3. Clarify your focus: Ask: If we could only do three things well over the next few years, what should they be?
4. Agree on priorities and outcomes: Use clear language that everyone understands.
5. Write it down simply: A 5–10 page document is more than enough.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Trying to do everything
• Using vague language like “empower” without clarity
• Not reviewing the plan again once it’s approved

Why a good strategic plan matters this year

A solid strategic plan helps you move from reacting to leading. And once you have clarity, something powerful happens: you start using your resources better.

Next week in Blog 2: How a clear strategic plan helps your NPO allocate time, money, and energy more effectively.

As always, EM Solutions is available to assist you with putting together your strategic plan and helping facilitate your planning. We believe in you, and in unlocking your NPO’spotential.

By |2026-01-19T18:00:01+02:00January 19th, 2026|Leadership, Strategy|0 Comments

Leave Pay Provision

Annual leave in South Africa is governed by the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, which states that every employee is entitled to 1 day for every 17 days worked, or 1 hour for every 17 hours, or 21 consecutive days of paid annual leave per 12-month cycle.

What does this mean for you as an employer?

– Annual leave accrues as the employee works, and it must be granted in the cycle in which it accrues.
– If an employee’s contract is terminated for any reason, they must be paid for any unused annual leave that has accrued up to that date.
– The employee must take leave: By law, they may not receive a leave payout (unless their contract is terminated).
– Statutory annual leave carried over must be taken within 6 months of the end of the leave cycle, or it will be forfeited, and the employer is not obligated to pay out or extend leave.

As NPOs, leave is paid as part of a salary contribution and often covered by donor contributions. However, if there is unpaid leave when someone resigns, that leave is often not paid by the donor, but by the organisation.

How can you limit your NPOs liability when it comes to leave?

1. Set up a leave policy and ensure your staff are familiar with it.
2. Keep accurate leave records during the year and keep your staff informed as to how much annual leave they have used.
3. At the end of each year, calculate the cost of unspent leave days and include that in your budget for the following year (leave days unspent at year end x daily salary rate).
4. Encourage staff to take leave regularly, for their own mental and physical health.
5. Set up a policy to limit extension of leave (for example, your organisation can choose to have a policy that states that all leave carried over should be used up within 3 months, not 6 months).

 

Don’t get caught unawares by leave pay – make provision up front.

14 July 2025

By |2025-12-17T13:16:14+02:00July 14th, 2025|Financial Management, Strategy|0 Comments

10 mistakes of referral marketing

“Referral is the highest form of flattery” This is the by-line of Majestic

interactive and has become the cornerstone of what we do. In fact, this is what
my seminars and the Majestic Network are achieving every day in ways that
will bring tears to your eyes. Unfortunately, what nearly all businesses don’t
understand is that referral marketing must be a formal process. In other
words… you need to measure it.
So, here are the top 10 mistakes that South African businesses make in their
viral/referral marketing initiatives:

They don’t understand the concept. Referral marketing is about leveraging
trust from one person to another. It is inherently the purest form of business
honestly one can have. Referral marketing is NOT just some scam to bring in
business for free.

They think that referral marketing just happens. Less than 10% of
referral business “just happens”. People DON’ T want to talk about you or your
product at parties and they DON’T want to run around telling all their mates
how great you are.

They don’t formally measure it. If you don’t have a formal process to track
referral leads, then don’t bother.

They don’t report on it. You need to show the person who referred you what
the result was (especially if there is commission owing). You also need to know
at a glance who referred who and where each person is in the sale process.

They don’t ask for referrals. It’s unbelievable, but nearly all businesses are
too scared to ask the simple question: “could you please give me a referral?”

The timing of their request for referrals is bad. If you ask for a referral
before the relationship is strong enough, then you don’t have much chance of
success. However, ask at the right time and you may just get more business
than you can handle!

They run campaigns that rely solely on referrals. Referral initiatives are
there to SUPPLEMENT other marketing initiatives, not REPLACE them. They
should be part of the campaign, not the campaign itself.

They don’t make a referral process part of their day to day business.
Referrals should be part of your life, not an occasional flurry when your
business is having a bad month.

They let the referee down. Someone puts their name on the line for you and
you don’t have the courtesy to follow it up? Or worse, you provide shocking
service to the lead?!? This makes me want to get violent.

They don’t offer commission (or are unwilling to pay for leads). For
crying out loud, this is BUSINESS. Business is about money. Referral
commissions are the most critical element of the whole show. They’re not
always necessary, but you’ll lose out if you don’t offer it. Don’t believe me?
Amazon.com is built on referrals – that’s what makes them number one in the
world.

All this leads into the concept of lead generation and ROI (Return on
Investment) marketing and one of the key lessons in my book: do not spend
money on marketing, unless you are guaranteed a return on investment.

By |2018-07-18T15:04:59+02:00July 18th, 2018|Strategy|0 Comments

The VAT Effect

One of the most common buzz words in South Africa right now is the VAT increase. Individuals and corporates are wondering what effect this will have on the bottom line and if they will be able to cope with the consequence. We discuss the basic history of VAT and implications of this increase and how the VAT system works.
The origins of VAT date back to 1919 in Germany. France later introduced production tax; a form of VAT which was replaced with the producer’s income-based tax in 1948 and consumption tax in 1954.
The Statement of Standard Accounting Practice (SSAP, 1993) defines VAT as “a tax on the supply of goods and services which is eventually borne by the final consumer but collected at each stage of the production and distribution chain.”
VAT is charged on the supply of all goods and services made in the course of a business by a taxable person unless they are specifically exempt. VAT is levied at each stage of the supply chain, from the manufacturer to the wholesaler, to the retailer, taxing the value added by businesses at each point in the chain. For instance, raw wheat becomes more valuable as it moves along the supply chain to eventually be manufactured into bread or whatever the end product may be. This reinforces the principle that VAT is a tax borne by the end user in the economy, which are households. The increase in VAT from 14% to 15% increases inflation, as every supplier in the value chain adds 1% to their price, and thus the end user bears the brunt of that multiplied price increase.
Businesses are required to register for VAT if their turnover of taxable goods &/or services is above a given threshold, which is currently R1million. A registered business will pay input tax; which is VAT on its purchases and in turn, charges Output tax; which is VAT on its sales. VAT is not a business expense for a registered vendor, but a cost that is ultimately passed on to the end-consumer when they buy the final product. Vendors thus act as collection agents, collecting the tax on behalf of the government.

By |2018-03-15T13:56:13+02:00March 15th, 2018|Strategy|0 Comments

Do I have the right to Copywrite or should I Trademark?

Before we get into the meat of this discussion, let’s define what these two entities are: Copywrite and Trademark. Both are forms of intellectual property protection, but each protects different types of assets:
A Copywrite is used to protect the rights of an author or creator of one of the following: written stories, books, artwork, songs, films and radio or television programmes. The ownership of such items normally lies with the creator, unless a contract states otherwise and is valid for 50 years from the end of the year in which the item was created.
A Trademark is a legally registered ownership over a picture, signature, colour, numeral, shape, configuration, pattern, container or any combination of these. Normally a trademark will be used to protect a brand, product or related slogan and logo. A Trademark is valid for blocks of 10 years at a time.
A Copywrite protection can be issued by the creator or owner at any time simply by stating this on the works or by association to that creator or owner.
A Trademark needs to be registered with the Trade Marks Office and should or must be registered using a legal company to ensure that you file the correct forms and against the correct class of product group related to your item. There are 45 different classes under which you need to select from – see them here
The process will first require a detailed search of what currently exists, as any similar or conflicting applications will not be registered. You can do a preliminary search here: http://esearch.cipc.co.za/ first before you incur any legal fees and potentially waste your money on lawyers doing what you can do yourself.
Once the application is registered it can take up to a year for final registration. This is mainly due to the backlog and slow process of the registration offices. Once registered you have the right to use and prevent others from using your slogan or brand etc.
Is it a good idea to register a trademark?
Yes: if you have something that will be used to make money or that can be sold as an asset later. A Trademark ads value to the item and will be valuable in sale negotiations. But if you are just creating smaller items, products or brands, do not waste time or effort going through the process. It is best to chat with someone and get advice on your circumstances. Just remember that if you ask a Trademark Lawyer if you should register a Trademark, guess what they will say….
Please remember as, in all legal issues, there are exceptions to what I have stated above, so do not use this as a legal binding guide on IP.
Next week we chat about Patents and Designs.

By |2017-11-08T09:45:03+02:00November 8th, 2017|Strategy|0 Comments

When should I worry about Protection?

No this is not a blog about sex, but just as important: protection for your business idea. When do you need to start working on protecting your new product idea in order to maximise the capital return on your investment?

We start a new series today on an Intellectual property as it relates to small innovation businesses. Now, if you chat to different people you will get different opinions on what to do. Your IP lawyer will say, “File for protection for everything” – mostly because that is what they do to make a living. Your true entrepreneur will say, “First to market will save the day and beat out the competition”. Both are right, but careful consideration needs to be taken in providing a good cover and legal protection for your idea.
So let’s unpack some of the concepts:
Any new idea that will earn you money, whether it is a new product, service or just a way of doing something old in a new way is worth protecting. But not everything can be protected by law, and not everything that is protected can be enforced. So we need to tread a careful line here so that you do not end up spending millions on lawyer’s bills and end up with a bunch of papers that add no value to your business.
IP or Intellectual Property is an umbrellas term used for Patents, Trademarks, Copy write and Designs. Each has numerous categories and subcategories, each with a different process. We will unpack some of these over the next month in this series. But to start off with here are some basic rules to follow before you speak to a lawyer and spend money:
1. Is your idea unique in design or function – unlike anything else?

2. Is your idea worth protecting locally or internationally in order to make you more money?

3. Is the name you are using for your brand or product going to add value to the product in marketing and brand identification for your customers?

4. Do you have resources to pay for protection?

If the answers of any of the above questions are Yes or Maybe, then I urge you to come chat to one of our team and see if there is a case of IP for your idea. It is better to be sure than to find out later that someone has copied your idea and is now making all your money for themselves. And yes, it does happen.
But for now: do not talk to anyone, if you do, sign a Non-disclosure Agreement and keep copies of everything: designs, emails, sketches, models and related documents.
Next week, we unpack the Trademark vs. Copy write issues.

By |2017-11-01T12:23:09+02:00November 1st, 2017|Strategy|0 Comments

Our final business growth strategy for you

This week concludes our four-part series on business growth strategies. In this video, we chat about some of the myths and strategies in small businesses for both processes and money. You may be surprised at what you believe to be true and again how easy it is to get things right and back on track to develop a mindset of growth in your business.

By |2017-10-27T08:59:07+02:00October 27th, 2017|Strategy|0 Comments
Copyright © EM Solutions 2025