Four is Not Enough
Last week I got a call from a reporter from another part of the country asking for help. The reporter, whose normal beat is science and medicine, was stuck looking at a 990. And while she had gotten a lot of good information from the form, she wanted me to look at to see what I thought, see if she was on the right track, etc. One of the first things that easily caught my attention was the list of board members. Read more
July 2nd, 2009 2 Comments Calculating the Risk of Risk
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It is funny Read more
June 25th, 2009 0 Comment Of Baby Boomers and Boards
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According to Linda Crompton, President and CEO of BoardSource, the number of nonprofit board members needed each year is 26 million. Yup, you read that correctly: both the size of the need and the frequency of the need.
This in and of itself is a huge challenge. Couple Read more
June 18th, 2009 0 Comment Survival vs. Sustainability
As the daughter of two writers, I gained early on a deep appreciation for words. I learned early on the power of words and how subtle—and not so subtle differences—could be made by the mere substitution of one word for another. Meetings can energize or enervate, and I worry for those who equate the outcomes.
But my worry ascends to angst as I consider all of those in the nonprofit world who are making the mistake of seeing survival as a synonym for sustainable. They Read more
June 10th, 2009 0 Comment Supersize me?
True confession: I was not always a popular feminist, even my feminist peers. I didn’t believe that just because we wanted to be regarded as equal to men—we already knew we were, if not superior to—that we had to be the same as men. We didn’t need to mimic them, working ridiculously long hours, barking orders, wearing suits, being cut-throat; but rather, we could be just as successful if we played to our strengths and did things our way, bringing Read more
June 5th, 2009 0 Comment 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 Viability at any age
Locally, the news is out: thanks to Chris Hepp, a The Philadelphia Inquirer reporter, news of our recent economic impact survey of Delaware Valley nonprofits hit the streets this week. From Philadelphia Mayor Nutter’s office to an astute board president to folks just wanting to know more, it’s getting attention. I just hope it isn’t too late!
Why would I say such a thing? Because I am worried. One of the most troublesome outcomes of our survey is the revelation that the Read more
May 22nd, 2009 0 Comment When it’s not good for nonprofits to emulate for profits
Behind as always in my reading, I just caught an amazing statistic in the March 30 edition of Newsweek. I was scanning the article, as I confess to being quite bored with the debate as to whether Washington or Wall Street is to blame for the current economic situation.
The Newsweek story featured both sides of the debate. Skimming each short snippet on the writer’s opinion, I came across one from Jim Chanos, “In 1998 Business Week put out Read more
May 15th, 2009 0 Comment Be Your Own Stimulus
I love Alaska. It is the one place I’ve always wanted to visit that has so far eluded me. So, don’t get me wrong when I say this: finally, something good has come out of Alaska! In fact, it is so good, I wish I’d thought of it first. Well, I’d thought of it, and, in fact, even said it; I just didn’t bother to write it down. What is it? A warning: stimulus dollars may not be good for the Read more
May 8th, 2009 0 Comment Built to Last
Last Friday, The Nonprofit Center was fortunate enough to have Billy Shore, founder of Share our Strength, Community Wealth Ventures and author of numerous bookshttps://www.lasallenonprofitcenter.org/educational/shore_articles.php, articles, contemplations, etc., be the keynote speaker at our annual Nonprofit Strategies Forum. An entertaining public speaker, he intermingles the right amounts of humor and seriousness to keep his audience entertained and cerebral, both at the same time. And his messages are ones that need to be heard, regardless of the economic times.
For example, he asked the question, Read more
May 1st, 2009 1 Comment 