Conducting a Need and Opportunity Analysis
A Need and Opportunity Analysis enables organizations to identify their niches and develop solid, strategic approaches to addressing core social problems. The Need and Opportunity Analysis is made up of two main components: A study of the trends contributing to the target social problem—or social need—along with the current work being done to address it; and a description of an opportunity that your organization has identified for providing a new approach. Ultimately these two components constitute the basis of an argument that explains: why your approach and why now?
As an independent analysis, this work will allow an organization to begin to sharpen the focus of its programs and activities, while polishing its pitch for funders or investors. It can also be part of a full business plan, in which it lays the groundwork for developing sound and well-informed strategies for achieving maximum social impact.
A Need and Opportunity Analysis typically covers the following topics:
- General History: A summary of the past efforts to address your social problem and the general history of the problem itself, including the root causes contributing to the problem.
- Current Trends: An overview of the current social, political, and economic trends affecting your target social issue, including quantitative data whenever possible. How might current trends differ from the factors affecting your target social problem in the past? How do they intersect with your own approach to your target social problem?
- Peer Organizations: A description of the work of other organizations in your field—the competitive landscape—and of the gaps that still remain in addressing the social problem. This analysis of the competitive landscape will include a description of what makes your approach unique—or how your organization might be able to address an aspect of your target social problem that has not received sufficient attention.
- Benchmarks: Data from exemplary models established by other organizations working in your field, which demonstrate best practices for your organization to learn from in honing its approach to addressing its target social problem.
- Key Barriers: A discussion of the challenges to making progress in addressing your target social issue, in the context of the trends and work of peer organizations described above. How might your organization begin to remove one or more of these barriers?
- Opportunity: A summary of how the above information points to an opportunity for accelerating progress in addressing your target social problem, which your organization is uniquely positioned to take up.
Ask a Root Cause Consultant: What does it mean to define a social problem in terms of not just need, but also opportunity?
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Any organization striving to create enduring social impact must understand the importance of seeking opportunity within a target social problem. Opportunities occur when an organization sees the way to meeting a social or environmental need that is currently unmet, or that could be better met, within what we call the Social Problem Value Chain— all current efforts by existing social and economic institutions to address the target social problem. Identifying a new opportunity requires finding your niche within the Social Problem Value Chain, by viewing a social problem from a new angle and uncovering a new possibility for tackling it. The Boston-based nonprofit Close to Home, for instance, has begun contributing to the Social Problem Value Chain that addresses domestic violence by creating community networks to prevent and reduce domestic violence. In this way, the organization hopes to build a new model for addressing what has typically been considered a private rather than community issue.
Within every social need, there exist opportunities for meeting that need in a new way—and potentially advancing a far more effective, efficient, and sustainable solution. The Need and Opportunity Analysis is designed to help your organization identify such opportunities by gaining a clear understanding of your field and what you have to contribute.
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