Business Case for NFP Organisation

Task

You will prepare a business case for the board of your chosen NFP, to seek endorsement of a proposed new marketing program aimed at making a social impact. Your proposal could be for a new health, environment, or education program for the NFP you have selected (it is not a proposal to establish a new organisation).

Background

Preparing a business case for a for-profit business and an NFP involves similar processes, as discussed in Module 3 (see Strategic planning and business cases). Both types of organisations have limited resources and opportunities come at a cost. In pursuing their missions, both types of organisations continually need to ask, "What projects should we invest in? What products, services, or programs should we offer? How do we best utilise our resources?" The answers are not always simple, and they need to be supported by research. To facilitate decision-making, research that supports certain decisions is presented as a business case.

Think of your business case as a sales document to your NFP board. The board will be asking, "How do we justify accomplishing this means?" In this assessment, you will create a business case for your chosen NFP that will impress your board of directors, convince these decision-makers that a particular course of action will result in the best possible outcome for the NFP and ensure that the organisation delivers on its mission.

Learning outcomes

1. Demonstrate advanced understanding of the regulatory environment, contemporary issues and contexts, and managerial competencies required within the NFP sector.
2. Critically evaluate and reflect on the effective management and governance structure for organisations operating within the NFP sector.
3. Research and apply relevant methods and frameworks to address strategic, operational, and tactical decision problems in organisations operating within the NFP sector.
4. Create and communicate an evidence-based business case for various stakeholders within the NFP sector.

Requirements

The required word length for your business case is 3000 words (plus 10% allowance excluding the cover note for submission as a board paper, executive summary, table of contents, references, and appendices).

Provide a rationale for each of your decisions/strategies and use references to support your choices. Use the Business case template (.docx) provided, which contains specific guidance about how to approach each section and pinpoints activities in the learning materials to help you. 

In your introduction (125 words), explain what will be in the body of your business case:

• Give the background context to the business case, including the founding purpose of your selected NFP (its mission and vision), stakeholders and regulatory context, and explain why the business case is useful.
• State the aim/purpose and objective/s of the report, mention any limitations and present a very brief summary of the sections. 

In the body of your business case, include the following:

• Purpose (250 words): Using the theory of change, explain the rationale for initiating the proposed social marketing program. Identify the social issue your program is seeking to address, any underlying assumptions you have made, and any external factors that may influence (improve or hinder) the results of your program.
• Solution (625 words): Develop a social marketing plan for one program that is the proposed solution to the issue you are seeking to address, identifying the strategy and tactics, including the target audience/s, goals and objectives, positioning, 4Ps and activities. (Note: often in practice, options are proposed for consideration. For the purposes of this assessment, identify only one social marketing program.)
• Strategic and competitive benefits (625 words): Discuss the strategic and competitive benefits of implementing the program, including:
  • its direct outputs, intended outcomes, and long-term impacts
  • the expected synergies with existing operations and how well it aligns with the NFP's vision and mission—if there is mission creep, it will need to be justified.
• Financial analysis (625 words): Justify the social return on investment required in terms of the benefits, needed inputs (resources), and funding. Include a 12-month budget using the Business case budget template (.xlsx) provided.
• Implementation and timelines (625 words): Discuss how you will measure success and manage the implementation of your program if it was to be approved, including:
  • relevant indicators (markers) and validated tools to measure your success indicators and gather your data
  • timelines (3 years)
  • reporting
  • risks
  • ethical considerations
  • any opportunities.

In your conclusion (125 words), summarise the report, including key recommendations and justifications, and make a call to action for board approval.

Format

All written papers should be submitted as Word files (.docx). Word is available from your AIB Office 365 account.

In terms of structure, presentation and style:

• • Follow AIB's standard report format. Use the AIB-preferred Microsoft Word settings (see the AIB Style Guide).
  • Use author-date style referencing, which includes in-text citations and a reference list (see the AIB Style Guide).

• Use at least ten (10) academic references from credible sources such as books, industry-related journals, magazines, company documents, company websites, and academic journal articles. Ideally, relevant academic journal articles should be used for academic discussion.
• Your grade will be adversely affected if your assessment contains no/poor citations and/or reference list and if your assessment word length is beyond the allowed tolerance level (see Assessment Policy available on AIB website).