Running head: SWOT ANALYSIS 1

Leah Lewis

SWOT Analysis

Wilmington University

August 24, 2019

AHS 8100

Shavonne Brathwathe

Professor
SWOT Analysis 2

Introduction

Every nonprofit organization should be conducting an annual strengths, weaknesses,

opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis. This type of an analysis provides an in depth view of

the organization as a whole and how it is operating. Hay views a SWOT Analysis as a tool that

“gives your organization confidence and a better idea of what strategic direction to go in, as well

as an idea of what issues need to be dealt with”(2017). It is important to be constantly planning

the growth of your nonprofit organization. Within the field of human services there is constant

competition. You compete with other organizations offering the same services to the same

clients. You compete with other organizations for limited funds to support your organization. It

is important to have a plan for the direction you are taking the organization, using a SWOT

Analysis gives a clear idea of where you currently are so that you have a starting point to develop

into where you want to go. By examining the internal strengths and weaknesses you can as a

team decide if a change is needed and how to implement the change with a timeline and steps to

achieve the goal included. Then you will examine the external opportunities and threats to your

organization. List all the possible opportunities that lay in wait within the community and how

the organization moving forward will pursue each opportunity. Break the goal down into steps

and have team members choose a task they enjoy or excel at. Some people are naturally outgoing

and have a natural ease in their communications with others, have this team member be the one

to meet and establish partnerships with other community organizations. As a team you will

problem solve solutions to the threats and how to still achieve with diminished impact by the

threats. A SWOT Analysis is not done to be critical of an organization or to point out all of their

flaws. It is instead an analytical method of viewing all internal and external positive aspects of an

organization and the areas that are in need of improvement.

SWOT Analysis 3

The organization that will be SWOT Analyzed is the Goodwill Lower Shore Career

Development Center. It is an affiliate of Goodwill Industries International but is locally operated

by a board of local community members. Goodwill has been established and operating within the

state of Maryland for the last one hundred years. They just celebrated their anniversary this

summer. Ogunjimi believes that “nonprofits with a long history have a good reputation in their

communities” (2019). Goodwill is one of these established nonprofits with a long history of

aiding the poor and disabled. This organization has continually evaluated themselves and made

changes so that they were helping groups of people that were identified as struggling to find

work. This year they were awarded grant funds to aid military veterans and their families

returning from deployment into transitioning back to civilian life by finding employment.

Goodwill International sets the standards and requirements that are to be followed by the Lower

Shore Goodwill. This was evident in the reports that stated the numbers of expected clients’

retained and the percentages of clients enrolled in each of the offered training courses.

Strengths

The Strengths section of a SWOT Analysis is to look at the “internal characteristics of a

nonprofit organization that give it an advantage over others” (Hay 2017). It will discuss the top

aspects of the organization that it does exceptionally well. It may be things that are noticed by

clients or by staff of the organization.

The location of the Career Center is one of its greatest strengths. It is in the middle of town

right on the main highway. It is easy to find and locate when travelling through town. For clients

that do not drive, there is a bus stop nearby so that public transportation can be utilized.

The Career Center provides valuable services to a community very much in need. With

poverty levels the way they are in rural America we see more employees applying for the same
SWOT Analysis 4

low skill jobs. The Lower Shore Career Development Center aids clients in finding jobs with fair

and competitive wages. Clients are paired with a case worker to identify their skills and

strengths. If a resume is needed, the case worker will partner with the client to assist in the

creation of one. Case workers meet with clients and discuss their options for employment, they

will give suggestions for jobs to apply for and show clients to the computer room where they can

apply for jobs. There are some times when a business is looking for applicants, Goodwill can

refer clients that meet skill requirements to that business for employment. Case workers do not

talk down to clients or hurry them along to see the next client. Each client is treated with the

utmost respect during their visit at the Career Center.

The Goodwill Career Center offers many classes and trainings free of charge to

community members to aid in continued education or job skill procurement. There are a range of

skills taught, such as clerical and Microsoft Office. You can become certified in retail, computer

programming, and medical transcription. These classes are self-paced and can be completed at

the Goodwill computer lab, some classes even have the availability to be completed at home or

using different computers.

Goodwill International is a financially stable organization. The donations given to the

Goodwill store are sold and the profits from those sales are funneled into the Career Centers. For

every dollar spent at Goodwill, 87 cents is returning to the community through the services

offered at the Career Centers. At checkout in the Goodwill stores, customers are given the option

to round their change up to the nearest dollar as a donation as well.

Weaknesses

The weaknesses section of a SWOT Analysis is to assess the “internal characteristics of

your nonprofit that give it a disadvantage compared to others” (Hay 2017). It will assist the
SWOT Analysis 5

organization in discovering areas that need a plan for improvement so that they are no longer

considered weaknesses. The goal is to have as few weaknesses as possible and if there are any

weaknesses, you will be working to make them a strength for the organization or to have a

neutral impact.

A weakness within the Goodwill career center is that there is a high client turnover rate.

Clients once placed are not remaining in a job placement for 120 days after placement. Goodwill

International’s client placement standards have caseworkers check-in with clients that have been

placed at 60, 90, and 120 days. Caseworkers are finding that clients are not staying at placements

the desired length of 120 days and in most instances, Goodwill is losing touch with clients before

than due to phones being cut off or numbers being changed.

A solution to this weakness would be to create a client retention program. Data must be

collected to discover when the greatest percentage of clients are exiting the program. This can be

done be creating a monthly job placement log. This will show at which point clients are exiting.

Once the point of exit is identified, the cause of exit can be explored. Changes can be made

within the program to provide additional support or check-ins once clients are place in

employment to decrease the number that leave a job before 120 days.

Another weakness that was identified is that the program director has an open door policy.

When clients or other staff are in the office with her, other staff members will interrupt to ask a

question or tell some news. This distracts the program director and interrupts the conversation

and focus of topic. Once the interrupter departs, it takes a moment for the director to refocus and

some of the conversation must be replayed to assist her with remembering what was being said

prior to the interruption. It also seems unprofessional when meeting with a client to be
SWOT Analysis 6

interrupted, it makes it seem as though the needs of the client are not important enough to have

their own designated time.

A solution to this weakness is for the program director to shut her door when meeting with

clients or other staff. This will allow her to focus her time and energy to the task at hand and will

keep her meetings short because conversations will not have to be replayed. If the staff has needs

they can wait until the door is open to have them addressed. Shutting the door when working

with someone shows them that you are 100% focused on assisting them with their needs and not

distracted by other things going on in the office.

Another weakness of the program is that there are no social media platforms being utilized

to spread awareness of the types of services offered by the organization. Goodwill International

does have a social media presence and use that presence to inform the public about the career

centers that it sponsors. The International page however, does not reference how to find career

service locations in your area. Occasionally someone would enter the career center thinking that

it was a part of the Goodwill store. Realizing that it was not the store, they would always ask

what it was. When they found out it was a career center they would state that they had no idea it

was there.

A solution to this weakness is to establish a social media presence. Facebook is one of the

more widely used platforms of social media, so that would be the best starting point. By starting

a Facebook page the organization would begin to reach more people. They could advertise the

page at the location and then clients would like the page to stay connected. Friends of the clients

would see their activity on the page and could like the page their self or refer another friend to

the page because they saw someone who was receiving services at the career center. The
SWOT Analysis 7

Facebook page could feature helpful job search tips, events occurring at the job center, and

classes available to receive certifications for.

A weakness that was noticed is that the members of the staff are resistant to change. The

current program director has been in her position for the last year and yet she is still having

trouble to get the staff to change how they are doing things. An example of this is the graduation

held twice a year for the clients gaining certifications. As graduation was being planned for, the

director mentioned that she wanted to make it simpler by serving lite fair after graduation. In the

past a buffet lunch was served. The food was ordered and set, just some slider sandwiches, chips,

veggie tray, cake and drinks. The staff member that runs the computer lab and is the mc and

presenter during the graduation insisted that there needed to be more food. When the program

director explained that she wanted to keep things simple moving forward, the staff member said

she would just get some pizzas herself and that is what happened. On the way to graduation, she

stopped at Little Caesars and bought 6 pizzas.

A solution to this identified weakness is to sit the staff member down and explain how you

as the program administrator want to run the operations. If you want to simplify the graduation,

then that needs to be said very directly to this individual. They need to be told that it is not a

financially related decision and it is not expected that anyone pay for additional items out of

pocket. The reasoning for only serving lite fare is to have a simple graduation ceremony. The

ceremony should not require that the organization be closed for most of the day, the ceremony

should only take a few hours for set up, handing out certificates and refreshments.

Another weakness is that there is poor planning and program management by staff. Each

staff member operates within their own bubble, only to emerge to interrupt the program director
SWOT Analysis 8

when she is meeting with someone. They are like individual cogs in their own machines instead

of cogs working together to run the same machine.

A solution to this weakness is to have weekly team meetings for goal setting and progress

reports. This will ensure that all staff is on the same page moving forward. Team meetings would

also be a perfect time to introduce and implement any program changes that the program director

wants to make. Then if staff is having a difficult time adjust to the change, they can be pulled

aside and spoken about it. In the event that the staff is still resistant to changes, they can be

written up or the conversation of letting them go will need to occur. Change is a natural part of

any business staying relevant.

Opportunities

The opportunities section of a SWOT Analysis is to analyze “external elements that your

nonprofit could use to its advantage” (Hay 2017). These are ways in which the organization can

grow by developing partnerships within the community.

An opportunity that the career center can take advantage of is developing relationships with

more businesses in the area to provide additional job opportunities. There are many large

businesses and organizations located on the Eastern Shore. More partnerships need to be

developed so that Goodwill can act as a pre-employment screening and refer eligible candidates

to these companies. This would benefit the job seekers so there is less wait time between

applying for a job and actually being hired. This would benefit businesses by cutting down on

the resources used during the hiring process. This would benefit Goodwill by attaining more job

placements for the monthly totals that must be attained. Hopefully retention rates would increase

due to job placements for clients into positions at businesses with competitive pay and the option

of benefits.
SWOT Analysis 9

Another opportunity is all of the clients whose lives have been impacted by job placements

or through career job skills training at the certification classes. There are some clients that would

be happy to tell their own story about the help and support that they have received at the

Goodwill Lower Shore Career Development Center. These stories could be used as a marketing

campaign with the permission of the client to spread awareness about the programs and services

offered at the career center. These testimonials could be used on social media platforms from

time to time to be an example of how your life can change by receiving assistance through the

career center.

Threats

The threats section of a SWOT Analysis is to assess “external elements in the environment

that could cause trouble for the nonprofit” (Hay 2017). These are causes or influences that do or

have the potential to negatively impact the organization.

The greatest threat to the organization are the multiple other agencies that offer career

services in the area. Two other agencies specifically are threats. One is located at the America

Job Center which also houses multiple other human service agencies under the same roof. People

receiving assistance are walking right by a career center, it is more likely that they would stop at

receive assistance there rather than travel across town to receive the same services from

Goodwill. Another agency has developed partnerships with some major businesses in the

community. They have also, partnered with the local community college to sponsor

apprenticeships for people looking for jobs that their salary will grow with their skill level.

The Goodwill Career Center can better compete with other job service agencies by offering

trainings or certifications that are very desirable and not available at the other agencies. A recent

addition to the certifications is Medical Billing and Transcription, maybe partnering with the
SWOT Analysis 10

hospital and local doctor’s offices that could be a program where clients complete the

certification and then are referred for a job in the field locally. Another way to compete for the

same clients is by marketing the services offered by the organization. Contact some of the areas

local radio stations and see if they will run commercials for the agency events or have the agency

sponsor a segment of the show so the station will do a shout out and tell the public about the

services offered. Goodwill Career Center could attempt to structure a partnered apprenticeship

program with the community college but in a different field. Goodwill could focus on fostering

heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) apprenticeship relations while the other agency

offer welding as an apprenticeship.

Conclusion

It is understandable that nonprofits may not have the resources to be continually running

SWOT Analysis on their organizations. With the daily hustle and bustle, reports that must be

submitted, clients that must be served and all the other things that must be taken care during

operating hours. Even if you can’t commit to running an in depth SWOT Analysis, maybe just

brainstorming during a staff meeting and jotting down a basic SWOT Analysis on a white board

would show areas where the organization is successful, areas that need development ,and areas

where partnerships could be potentially developed. According to Hay “”the elements of your

SWOT should form the core of your organizations strategic plan” (2017). This will lead the

organization through continued success and allow them to grow with their community.
SWOT Analysis 11

References

Hay, Kristen. (2017, Nov. 12). How Nonprofits Can Use a SWOT Analysis. Bloomerang.com.

Retrieved from: https://bloomerang.co/blog/how-nonprofits-can-use-a-swot-analysis

Ogunjimi, Angela. (2019, May 10). Nonprofit SWOT Analysis. Bizfluent.com. Retrieved from:

https://bizfluent.com/about-6588184-nonprofit-swot-analysis.html

Quincy, Ronald; Lu, Shuang & Huang, Chien-Chung. (2012, Sept. 1). SWOT Analysis: Raising

Capacity of Your Organization. Socialwork.rutgers.edu. Retrieved from:

https://socialwork.rutgers.edu/sites/default/files/brochure_2.pdf