Don’t Lose your EPBMs
One of the most common complaints that I hear is how hard it is to find good board members, meaning they can’t find the bodies. My comeback always is, if you do it strategically, the right way, it isn’t hard. On the other hand, it can truly be one of the more off-putting processes for that EPBM (eager, prospective board member) seeking GNB (great nonprofit board).
One of the most frequent complaints I hear from individuals seeking a board position is that they don’t know how Read more
March 23rd, 2012 0 Comment Don’t Squelch Happiness
There’s a happy face on the cover of the current issue of the Harvard Business Review. Never, ever thought I’d see that! It’s the come-on for the issue’s theme: happiness. Here is HBR, in many people’s minds one of the premiere business journals, doing a whole on happiness in the workplace: what makes people happy on the job, how happy employees work better, how happiness can increase the odds of being successful, how happy employees make for more profits, and more.
The idea is such a Read more
January 13th, 2012 0 Comment 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
A Tough Hybrid to Swallow – the L3C
My intent was to write about L3Cs—low-profit limited liability companies. Five states already allow them, several more have legislation pending, and many are encouraging the congress to create such legislation. Ever heard of them?
So I went looking for a simple, yet clear, definition of just what an L3C is. In the process, I got sidetracked by a table comparing an LLC, an L3C and a nonprofit.
According to the design and intent of an L3C, it is a cross between a for-profit and nonprofit organization: it Read more
November 19th, 2009 15 Comments Gimme a V
More than several times on these pages (wait, do blogs have pages?) I have expressed my concern—no, let’s call it what it is, my fear—that nonprofits are so focused on surviving this economic downturn that they are paying no attention to the future: in what condition will they arrive at the other end? Surviving, unlike being pregnant, does come in degrees. There is the degree of, “Phew! Just made it! We’ve got no staff, barely a program, a blind board, but we are still, Read more
May 29th, 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 The road not taken?
For the record, this will be the last blog post for 2008. The Nonprofit Center and I are taking a two week vacation to relax, re-energize, and come back afresh. Rather than end the year being all philosophical and pollyannaish, I thought I’d try being practical and positive. The hard reality is that many people are going to be looking for jobs in the new year. (And why, when the economy is already running roughshod over us, do we have to have scoundrels like Read more
December 18th, 2008 1 Comment 