Why asking ‘why’ turns charity strategy into true impact

The launch goes well, feedback is positive and for a while it feels like progress, but a few months later it’s hard to see any real change.

Often it’s because the question that matters most was never asked: Why?

The cost of skipping the ‘why’

The most effective organisations aren’t the ones that move fastest, they’re the ones that focus on the ‘why’.

When there isn’t a clear reason behind a project, decisions are often based on preference rather than purpose. Without a clear plan and strategy, charity project planning becomes reactive, timelines stretch, budgets disappear and scope gets reduced to make things fit. You end up making compromises that shouldn’t be needed and sometimes you might even find yourself redoing the same work sooner than expected, as it becomes obvious that nothing has really changed.

Everyone’s moving, but nobody is reading the map. It’s not because your team doesn’t care, it’s because they don’t have a shared focus.

Without a clear ‘why’, there’s nothing to measure success against and no way of knowing what is or isn’t suitable. There’s no shared understanding of what progress really looks like. The work might look good, but is it making the right kind of difference?

The clarity that comes from asking ‘why’

Asking ‘why’ doesn’t slow a project down, in fact we find that it speeds things up. When everyone understands the reason behind the work, decisions become easier to make and your team doesn’t need to second-guess anything. The right path is clear to everyone.

This clarity allows us to replace personal opinions with purpose and helps each part of a project pull in the same direction. Research focuses on what matters most and delivery becomes easier because the destination is agreed from the start.

When the ‘why’ is clear, the end goals are obvious. It’s not about what we deliver anymore, it’s about what that delivers for our cause.

How to start asking ‘why’

Taking some time at the start of a project to slow down, question assumptions and agree on purpose will help your team to find clarity. It’s a small step that saves a lot of time later on and the simplest way to do it is to use a shared framework.

Our Strategy Kickstart Canvas was created to help teams working in charities and non-profits to begin the conversation about purpose, audience and outcomes before any design or delivery starts. It helps everyone see the project in context and agree on what success should look like.

As you work through it, the discussion often reveals things that hadn’t come up before. Goals and opportunities become clearer and priorities might change. The early stage of a project becomes a space for exploration that leads to clarity.

If you’re planning a new project, download our Strategy Kickstart Canvas and use it with your team.

Download the Strategy Kickstart Canvas

Let us know your email address and we’ll send you the canvas along with some tips for how to use it.

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Finding your ‘why’

Every project is an opportunity to make a difference, but only if it starts in the right place. When you understand why you’re doing the work, decisions are easier and your team is more aligned. The end product is stronger and the impacts are far greater too.

That’s the difference a clear ‘why’ can make.

If you’d rather have an experienced team guide you through this phase, we’d love to help. Get in touch and let’s find your ‘why’ together.