Mission Impossible?
A former board president of a nonprofit recently confessed to me that she and the rest of the board had no idea what the full mission of their nonprofit was.
This comment is scary, for sure, but unfortunately, not surprising. For, truth be told, my best conservative estimate is that the majority of board members of nonprofits do not know the full mission of their nonprofits, do not know the full breadth and depth of the very thing they are charged with stewarding and protecting—the organization’s Read more
Board President: The Ball is in Your Court
Perhaps because I have spent the vast majority of my life in academic institutions or perhaps because as an adult, I started making my new year’s resolutions at Rosh Hashanah, I view September as the time of year to make new starts, new commitments, face new challenges. Thus, today, in preparation for the start of the new year, I write with a double challenge: to those reading this who are involved with nonprofits but not a board president and to board presidents everywhere.
To those who Read more
What’s a Yeppie?
As summer begins to wind down, students and parents everywhere begin to face the reality of the return to school. There is, however, a group of folks for whom returning to school is not on their minds – 2010 college graduates. Their sights, naturally, are set on finding jobs. In this simple statement there is an enormous opportunity for nonprofits everywhere; I only hope we are all smart enough to grab this brass ring.
The Corporation for National and Community Service, which runs both AmeriCorps and Read more
I Got the Blues
Recently, I wrote asking whether nonprofits need to take a higher moral ground because of the public’s perception of nonprofits. If, as so many assume, that the nonprofit sector is all about helping others and making the communities in which we live and work better places for all, oughtn’t we, I asked, adhere to the highest of moral and ethical standards?
Not being naïve, and wanting to be realistic, I am willing to lower expectations of others (though not of myself or those with whom I Read more
Nonprofits Go to the Mall
We talk all the time about business partnerships—we must find the win-win for the nonprofit and the business, we must develop these valuable partnerships, etc., etc., etc. (I can never say that without thinking of Yul Brynner). Most of the times, however, it is the nonprofit approaching the business with that win-win proposition.
While not at all the same win-win proposition mentioned above—as those are more like the theatre approaching restaurants in the town to provide a discount to theatre goers showing a ticket for that Read more
Don’t Let Sleeping Boards Lie
This is a most vulnerable time for nonprofit executive directors. Already stressed by having to do more with less, too many now are threatened by the very thing that should be their greatest partner—their board. Yet, in too many cases, rather than providing that vital assistance, boards are using executive directors as the scapegoat to hide their own ineffectiveness.
I have railed before about boards failing to do their job, either in whole or in part—and I am sure I will do it again in these Read more
This Message is for You
It is not often that the IRS gives us a clear “heads up” as to what are some of its favorite things to “catch” nonprofits doing wrong. But such a heads up has come in its interim report (released May 2010) on research it has been conducting on how well colleges and universities comply with reporting regulations. DO NOT STOP READING THIS JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT A COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY; THIS APPLIES TO YOU!
The IRS sampled 400 public and private colleges and universities offering Read more
The Road not Followed?
The world looks to the nonprofit sector as the caring, nurturing sector of the economy. We think of ourselves in that way, as well. But honestly, we do not have a lock on those descriptors. While there are many nonprofits that, regardless of their mission, do truly embrace, and live, a caring nurturing mantra for their clients, employees, volunteers, communities, and the world, there are for-profits that do so as well. And there are certainly many nonprofits and for-profits where ideas such as caring, compassion, Read more
Goldilocks is Getting Tired
This is the story of Goldilocks and the three executive directors, though there is no happy ending here. After all, this isn’t a fairy tale but real life!
For the last three years, I’ve been facilitating what we call CLEAR Circles (Cultivating Leadership Excellence and Responsibility) for emerging leaders. Emerging leaders are individuals who serve in management positions reporting directly to the organization’s executive director. CLEAR Circles started almost eight years ago for us as groups of executive directors who meet once a month for nine Read more
Who’s Teaching Leadership?
Leadership Ventures, a nonprofit in Indianapolis with a mission to build and support the volunteer and executive leadership of nonprofits, has only one message on its multi-page website. It is a “Dear John” letter addressed “Dear Friends.” As of 30 June 2010, Leadership Ventures will severe its relationship with the world, closing down, a causality, so they say, of the economy. To me, it is the causality of shortsightedness and a failure to understand.
I do not know Leadership Ventures; in fact, I only learned of Read more
