CLARITY: Defining The Core Business

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A Blackfish Success Story:
Supplying more than meals, they delivered a personal touch

– A cloudy mission statement put the focus on food not the people
– They needed to define their core values & standards
– With a new mission, they now deliver hot meals & heartfelt relationships

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CLARITY:
Defining The Core Business

The Problem:
In the nonprofit sector, easy money is good cause for pause. A sudden windfall of easy, “no-strings” donations put one very well-meaning nonprofit in a tough spot. When they realized what these “free gifts” were really costing their mission, they came to us to help them reassert their core business.
 
An outreach agency delivering meals to the homebound, this group had a smart CEO who recognized that cold, chemically produced meals on a doorstep weren’t cutting it. Paid drivers from other organizations were leaving frozen food on porches and driving away. Cold delivery was missing an important touch point in their ministry.
 
While accepting these processed meals was a big help financially, it was compromising the nutrition of their elderly and disabled recipients, and squelching the benefits of personal volunteerism. It took away the best parts – the “hey, we’re just checking on you” knock on the door and the warm hug folks might’ve been waiting for all day.  The ministry vehicle is food for shut-ins, but it’s much more than that to those who are being fed and to those making the deliveries.
 
This group’s core values were in need of some updating.  More than anything, they delivered relationships and hope.
 
What Blackfish Did:
We realigned their company and their mission. We changed their kitchen, their recruiting methods, and their board structure. In a bold superhero swoop, they turned down all government money and the free, easy food that came with it. They now deliver only hot meals, and only by volunteers. They develop relationships with the meal recipients, along with their family members and doctors. We helped this organization reassert who they were, and their mission is thriving because of it.