Human Services Organization in Your Community. Then,

¶ … human services organization in your community. Then, describe two potential stakeholders related to the organization. Finally, explain the value and influence of these stakeholders in the organization's success. Be specific and use examples to support your explanation.

Stakeholder analysis of nonprofit organization: The Girl Scouts

"Nonprofits are challenged to fulfill the demands of these different stakeholder groups, as well as those of the clients they serve. Although the need to demonstrate responsiveness to multiple stakeholder interests is not unique to nonprofit organizations, it can create an incentive for organizations to devote more time and attention to some stakeholders than others" (LeRoux 2009: 159). One continual tension between stakeholders with different interests is that of the population the nonprofit organization serves and the organization's need to remain financially solvent and retain the support of its donors. "A stakeholder is a person, group or organization that has an interest in your organization. Stakeholders have needs and expectations and can be internal or external to your organization" (Copeman, n.d.). Often the needs of stakeholders must be carefully balanced to ensure that the organization remains functional while still serving its mission. Compromise is essential.

The American Girl Scouts is designed to enrich girls of different backgrounds and to bring them together in a sense of community. It does so through various local organizations, in which the girls participate in organized field trips, crafts, and other educational activities. These may span from the very traditional (such as sewing and camping) to more modern skills. To ensure that membership remains relevant to young girls today, the Scouts continue to modernize. The Scouts have released new books and online resources to reflect the needs of contemporary girls, as well as developed new types of badges. Some of the new badges include: Digital Movie Maker, Public Speaker and Financial Literacy, and a Geotracker badge (Girl Scouts modernize & update badges, 2012, WLTX).

The Girl Scouts must satisfy the mission of their organization to educate girls but they must also address the needs of the organization to remain financially solvent and retain good public relationships with donors, parents, and the community. Selling Girl Scout cookies has long been considered an ideal way to empower girls through encouraging them to make sales and to build better relationships with the community. However, some have criticized these sales, suggesting that they send a wrong message regarding obesity. Others have complained about the ingredients of the cookies, which contain palm oil, a substance which has been linked to environmentally-unfriendly harvesting of the rainforest (Hurowit 2011). The Scouts were also taken to task for their censoring of posts complaining about the cookies' ingredients on their Facebook site. There is a tension between the Scouts' need to uphold its positive image (which is linked strongly to selling cookies) and changing ideas about how and what is acceptable to eat.