Stress Test Your Nonprofit Strategic Plan With These Guidelines.
By: Eugene Fram Free Digital Image
Strategic plans need to be reevaluated as they are implemented. Left routinely attended only at year’s end, a nonprofit board’s long-range plans can quickly grow old during implementation. Following are four potential changes that nonprofit boards and managers can use to consider stress testing practice changes: The changes require those responsible to move: (more…)
Guidelines For Developing Authentic Nonprofit Board Leaders
By Eugene Fram Free Digital Image
The problems of Enron, Tyco and WorldCom have provided negative examples for future leaders, according to William George, Senior Fellow at the Harvard Business School. As an antidote to these and others serious problems that have plagued business and nonprofits in the last several decades, he cites the movement towards Authentic Leadership. He further lists six guidelines to identify behaviors in such leaders. Following are my views on how his guidelines can be useful to directors and managers in the nonprofit environment. (http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/authentic-leadership-rediscovered) (more…)
Time-Compressed Non Profit Board members – Recruit & Retain Them!
By: Eugene Fram
Every nonprofit board has had the experience of having board positions open and being unable to fill them with highly qualified people. The usual response from qualified candidates is that they are too busy to be accept a board position. However, the real reasons, never voiced, if speaking privately, are that they perceive the nonprofit decision process to be too slow, board agendas loaded with minutiae, presentations that take up more time than they should, unfocused discussion, etc. (more…)
Positioning Sustainable Nonprofit Organizations for 2019 & Beyond
By Eugene Fram Free Digital Image
Many nonprofits boards have just entered their 2019 fiscal years. From a “25,000 foot viewpoint,” following are three integrated nonprofit board functions that should have special focus to assure stakeholders that the nonprofit has long-term organization sustainability. (more…)
Stay on That Nonprofit Board!
By: Eugene Fram
Gene Takagi, noted San Francisco attorney, who specializes in nonprofit organizations published an article listing 12 reasons for resigning from a nonprofit board. It is worth reading. (http://bit.ly1r2M5Hi)
BUT
Nonprofit directors often become impatient with the slow pace of progress toward positive change. Here are some actions that may change the situation, improve service to clients and prepare the organization for any long-term mission disruptions. (more…)
What Can A Nonprofit Chair Do To Fix A Dysfunctional Board?
By: Eugene Fram Free Digital Image
There are times when the governing body of any organization may appear to be “broken.” The directors, whether for profit or nonprofit, may be polarized—progress is stunted – apathy and confusion replace purpose and efficiency.
A listing of ways to resuscitate dysfunctional business firms prompted me to expand on actions for nonprofits in similar condition. When a nonprofit is in trouble, any chair, who is aware of his/ her leadership responsibilities, should aspire to be the “fixer “of the fractured board. But there is just so much he/s can do. Some failures have deep endemic roots such as outdated structure, personality conflicts etc. The following actions are within the chair’s capability, and they can be useful in repairing board disruption. (more…)
How Do Nonprofits Determine CEOs’ Productivity?
By: Eugene Fram
Nonprofit organizations can’t have bottom line profits. If they did, CEO productivity determination could be less complicated. Determining a fair CEO benefit, based on productivity, can be a complex issue for a nonprofit board. Providing too little or too much can be dangerous for the organization and possibly the board members. Although the spadework for benefits needs to be done by a small committee, the entire board needs to fully agree on the rationale for the final decision. (more…)
With a competitive landscape in which spiraling demands are offset by a financing squeeze, nonprofits organizations have entered an era where only the strongest and best run will flourish, Prof. Eugene Fram, an author, consultant and nonprofit expert said in an interview. But that “strength” is easily attained, with a simple-to-implement game plan that strategically integrates the nonprofit’s board and executive staff.
“It’s a threatening squall – one I often refer to as ‘The Squeeze’,” said Prof. Fram, author of “Going For Impact,” a guide to nonprofit dominance. “Just think about what’s happening. On one hand, because of slashed government budgets, there’s a growing demand for nonprofits to solve community challenges and societal ills. On the other hand, there’s the escalating challenge that nonprofits face because of a funding squeeze. Declining tax receipts are crimping many government budgets. The merger wave has slashed the number of companies that were traditionally big sources of giving. Even the recent tax cuts are squeezing funding. The competition for those fewer dollars is brutal. And that’s just on the funding side. There are also new challenges that nonprofits must address – challenges ranging from cybersecurity to sexual harassment. The bottom line is that nonprofit boards – and their directors or trustees – must be more vigilant, more informed and more proactive than ever. The good news is that the nonprofits that embrace this will be the organizations that emerge as healthy, even dominant. And the strategy isn’t that tough to enact.”
Dr. Fram recently sat down with veteran journalist William Patalon III – ironically, one of his former MBA students – to talk about the “State of the Nonprofit Sector,” and to explore what philanthropic organizations can do to “beat the squeeze.”
Here’s an edited transcript of their talk. (more…)
Nonprofit Boards Should Consider the Implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
BY: Eugene Fram Free Digital Image
AI is rapidly being implemented in many environments, some with aggressive intensity. Walmart, for example, will be replacing 7,000 jobs with artificial intelligence powered technology. Foxconn will be replacing 60,000 factory jobs with machines. * While this is a minuscule portion of Walmart’s total employment, it presents a new reality—machines create fascinating outputs that require less energy to produce and do so at lower costs. They are capable of making decisions, regardless of skill level. *
What Nonprofit Skill Levels Might be At Risk (more…)
Nonprofit Board Cultures Need To Be Defined
By: Eugene Fram Free Digital Image
Over several decades of contacts with nonprofit boards, I have yet to find one that has spent any time trying to define the organization’s culture that delivers service. Yet every organization has one. It defines what the organization has done well and what needs to be changed. It can grow over years haphazardly or change quickly when new board members are elected or when a new CEO is appointed. Those newly appointed, for better or worse, can change the organization’s mission as well as its culture. Nonprofit staffs that work a few levels below the board and CEO organizationally are especially sensitive to cultural movements emanating from above. They know that a change in culture can affect their work and livelihood.
The reason that nonprofit boards rarely try to define the cultures of their organizations is that it is an amorphous subject. Ask a group of directors to define the culture of their board or the organization and quite different answers will be given. Yet there are commonalities that arise that can form the culture—conservative vs. liberal policies; legacy vs. future focused programs; operations are clearly defined vs. CEO dominance assumes board powers in a de facto manner; etc. But cultures need to be defined: Uber failed in the process, while Microsoft has an ambition to transform Microsoft from “a know it all” to a “learn it all culture” *
I recently found a list of 12 attributes of a strong organizational culture. ** Following are six that I suggest that nonprofit boards should consider in assessing their needs of the organizations. My comments provide some practical ways that each can apply to nonprofit boards and organizations. (more…)
Nonprofit Management 