Are You Special Ops?
The cover story of the February 23 issue of Newsweek was all about stress—the pluses (yes, apparently there are some benefits that can be had from stress), the minuses; who handles stress really well (special ops!), and who not so well, and so forth. Actually, a bit more than I really wanted to know about stress as I tried to figure out whether I was in the special ops group or not. While all the time, yes, you got it, Read more
March 20th, 2009 0 Comment Da Vinci Was An Engineer Too
I am desperately trying to find something positive to blog about, but I fear I cannot. So, maybe this could be perceived as a mixed message.
The Conference Board recently surveyed corporations to understand the current thinking on corporate giving. So, the predictable bad news: 45 percent of the 189 companies that responded said they’d already reduced their corporate giving budgets for 2009 and another 16 percent anticipated doing so. But the not so bad news: that leaves another 40 percent that Read more
March 13th, 2009 0 Comment 1.5 Million is Enough
Bad enough that I had to learn this morning of another nonprofit board that thinks it can do away with its executive director, thereby saving money, and just let board members run the organization. (That was last week’s rant, I mean blog.) Boards can’t do their own job! What makes them think they can do fulfill both the management and governance functions at once and still do well by the organization?
But now I have to see organizations and individuals all over the country Read more
March 6th, 2009 0 Comment Nickel & Diming Nonprofits
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Dateline Vermont: if you work at a nonprofit that receives more than 50% of its funding from the state and you earn more than $60,000, there is a bill pending that would require you to take a 5% salary reduction. (This money would Read more
February 27th, 2009 2 Comments Heads in the Sand (Again)
Last week, we sent out an e-mail blast with the subject line: Does your board want to be the best? While we always receive responses, there was an immediate one that was unique in both content and brevity. It read, simply: “No!”
After I stopped laughing, my concern kicked in: I stopped and thought: oh, maybe the writer was being serious. Maybe he, let me call him Bob, and the board had zero interest in doing things right. As opposed to how I Read more
February 20th, 2009 0 Comment Why Can’t They Be More Like Us?
Earlier this week local public radio’s Radio Times featured a columnist from the Philadelphia Business Journal and an editor and senior writer for Business Week. The topic was the value, potency, impact, etc., of President Obama’s mandate of a cap on the compensation of senior executives at companies receiving federal bail out money.
It took the first comment of one of the guests to have me fuming. He was discussing how executive compensation consultants are already advising people on how to get Read more
February 13th, 2009 0 Comment Do You Heart Volunteers?
> It is one thing when you say something and someone actually listens. It’s even neater when you say something and discover that others, whom you don’t even know, are saying the same thing. But when the President of the United States says what you were saying, well, that’s just way too cool! (And I am very jaded when it comes to Presidents of the United States.)
President Obama is urging Americans–whether employed or not–to volunteer, pitch in, give back, help out. Others have been Read more
February 6th, 2009 0 Comment Ask Not What Your Nonprofit Can Do For You
Though President Obama (that feels so good to say and write!) wasn’t specifically addressing members of nonprofit boards of directors in his inaugural speech, I hope they were listening. “The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works …. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. Those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account — to spend Read more
January 23rd, 2009 0 Comment Passing the Smell Test
What makes a nonprofit a nonprofit? There are so many ways that people answer this question, most of which are incorrect. There is, however, little argument that for many, it is the IRS 501(c)(3)designation is the determinant. Technically speaking, I’d agree: IRS approval is essential in announcing yourself as a nonprofit. But does that really make a nonprofit a nonprofit? I’d have to say no. All it means is that you have passed the paper review by the IRS. Theoretically, in Read more
January 16th, 2009 0 Comment Very, Highly, Truly, Rather, More Unique
It seems like such a platitude to start out the new year with a blog about new year’s resolutions. So, I’m putting out a suggestion, planting a seed for folks to consider. And that is this: get over yourself! You are only hurting your organization and the client base you profess to want to serve. No exaggeration, but conservatively, 80% of nonprofits we work tell us they are unique. Their challenges are unique, their situation unique, their issues unique, etc. “It is hard for us Read more
January 9th, 2009 0 Comment 