The Golden Fleece Lives on
I don’t know if the late Senator William Proxmire and Thomas Szasz, MD, ever met, but they had a lot in common. Proxmire was a Democratic Senator (and Hill School graduate) from Wisconsin from 1957-1989. He’s perhaps best known as the creator of the Golden Fleece Award which he gave to government funded research projects that he thought were a waste, as they merely demonstrated what everyone already knew. Szasz is a psychiatrist and academic who long ago infuriated many of his colleagues in psychiatry Read more
A Framework for Culture Change
Culture change is hard; there is no getting around that. But if you have reached the point where you are talking about culture change—or if you like the softer euphemism of culture shift–you are past the point of needing one. So now the challenge is to do it.
What am I talking about? Oh, I’m talking about that culture of no accountability that allows some people to not be accountable for doing all of their job while others work double time. I’m talking about that culture Read more
Who is Sean Coffey and Why Should I Care?
I don’t know Sean Coffey—don’t know anything about him—but if I were a resident of the State of New York, he’d have my vote for Attorney General—hands down!
Let me go on record saying that I am generally not a one-issue voter. It just isn’t smart electoral behavior. But I am so sick and tired of lawmakers who abuse nonprofits for their own benefit and, in so doing, damage the reputation and work environment of the millions of nonprofits who work so hard to do such Read more
Take the Oath
In May 2009, a group of Harvard MBA graduates of the Class of 2009 created the MBA Oath, intended to be the management equivalent of the Hippocratic Oath. By signing the MBA Oath, that MBA graduate is promising to abide by a number of standards, from not advancing” personal interests at the expense of [her/his] enterprise or society” to upholding both the letter and spirit of laws and contracts to refraining from business practices “harmful to society,” among other things. And a signer understands that Read more
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
