Ah, Symbiosis
“Are you biased?” asked the MBA student the first night of our Nonprofit Management class offered as an elective in La Salle University’s School of Business MBA program. Good question!
The basis of our question: Do I think nonprofits are better than for-profits? Do I prefer nonprofits to for-profits? Let’s not equate enthusiasm with bias. My mindset isn’t one of opposition, competition and tension, but one of symbiosis.
How often do you read somewhere in the literature of nonprofits that part of the Read more
June 2nd, 2008 1 Comment 7 down…639,993 to go
So often when I go to write these posts, it’s from a position of simultaneous dismay and negative amazement—are nonprofits organizations really doing that? could boards really believe that what they are doing is right?do donors really think one number tells it all? Today, I’m happy to say, I have nothing but high hopes.
What, you ask, has prompted this seeming 180 degree shift?A group of seven, amazing women currently working in supervisory roles, though not as executive directors, in the nonprofit sector and—get this—each seems Read more
The Most Money for the Least Amount of Work
Recently, I’ve been brain kneading (the visual I have as my brain works over an issue—the repetitive process of kneading bread, bringing it up to fold it over only to push it down and turn the dough a quarter to go through the same motion, over and over until the dough is ready) this whole issue of compensation in the nonprofit sector, piqued (or was it peeved) by the recent report saying that younger employees are looking to nonprofits for the same kinds of benefits Read more
May 9th, 2008 0 Comment IRS Form 990 Regulations – Compliance Schmompliance
Earlier this week, we hosted our first session explaining the new IRS Form 990 to nonprofits. Have you ever seen a group of deer in headlights?
Not a pretty sight. Nor is it going to be a pretty sight to get your board ready to answer all of its pages of questions with the “right” answer, and answered honestly. After all, it is one thing to answer a question “yes” with a yes that means, “Yes, we have a policy. We think we know where it is.” Read more
May 2nd, 2008 2 Comments Exceeding Expectations – It’s Not Such a Small World
In the short life of this blog, I have hit often on the message that nonprofits must be more business-like in their operations. And though as I write or think that phrase I generally am referring to finances, human resources, and overall management, I also include customer service. And just as many businesses could take a page or 10 from Disney’s and Nordstrom’s customer service books, so could many nonprofits, particularly those larger ones.
Two diametrically opposite experiences last week have me going on Read more
April 25th, 2008 0 Comment Chicken Little was wrong
To most, if not all, in the nonprofit sector, September 11th was doubly devastating.There was the sense of horror, loss and disbelief that everyone in this country suffered.And later there was the fear for the health and well-being of their own nonprofits. Would it survive? Would donors be willing to give to 9/11 efforts as well as the organizations they had given to before? Would they, depending upon their mission, be able to handle the increase in demand for services as people tried to Read more
April 18th, 2008 0 Comment Do Executive Directors Still Want to Learn?
Do as I say, not as I do. Is that the message executive directors are sending the rest of the employees and the board of the organizations they lead? Our anecdotal evidence has me worried.
After many months of market research and planning, The Nonprofit Center launched Executive Director University (EDU) in March. EDU is designed to meet the call that we heard from executive directors: “we want to learn in groups of just other executive directors and we want topics tailored to our needs, Read more
April 11th, 2008 1 Comment Cogito, ergo sum
One of the positive things about writing a blog is that it gives the author time to stop what she is doing, sit back and, OMG, think and reflect. For those who read blogs and respond, (and the response is the critical part here), the same thing is true: you sit back, contemplate an issue, form a response, and share it with the world. Giving oneself permission to stop work (that is, doing your share to deliver on the Read more
April 4th, 2008 4 Comments Is Public Service Indentured Servitude?
Last week, Harvard Law School announced that it would start paying the tuition of third year law students who promised to work in government or for nonprofits for five years post graduation. Apparently Harvard heard that the nonprofit sector isn’t attracting folks like it once did, and surmised that graduating with only $82,000 in debt (as opposed to more than $123,000, which would be the current cost of paying for all three years of law school) might make it easier for those inclined to public Read more
March 28th, 2008 0 Comment Is Doing Good Good Enough?
I’m taking advantage of the fact that today is Good Friday to talk about good—not in a religious context, but in the context of its meaning as virtuous, right, commendable.
Goodness seems to come in all shapes and sizes in our society. It comes in writing the large check and in dropping a few coins in the donation box at the check-out counter. It comes in volunteering once a year on a special day and in a once a week commitment of several hours Read more
