Trustees

Should Mature Nonprofits Allow Board Micromanagement?

Should Mature Nonprofits Allow Board Micromanagement?

By: Eugene Fram              Free Digital Image

Accepted View of Micromanagement: “…Directors spend more time with the details of the operations instead of planning its short-term and long-term growth strategies. …
(http://linkd.in/1q84pMm)

The Need for a Micromanaging Board
Board micromanagement is an appropriate approach when a nonprofit is in a start-up stage. Financial and human resources are modest, and the volunteer directors must assume some responsibilities normally executed by compensated staff. The chief executive often has managerial responsibilities as well as a list of clients to service. It is not unusual to promote a person who is only familiar with direct service to become the first chief executive of the organization. In turn , this neophyte manager has to depend on board members for managerial counsel and direction. A culture of board dependency is created out of necessity. (more…)

How Seriously Does Your Nonprofit Board Take the Matter of Ethics?

How Seriously Does Your Nonprofit Board Take the Matter of Ethics?

By Eugene Fram                           Free Digital Photo

Most board members are aware of their obligation to ensure their nonprofit’s compliance with certain standard regulations e.g. making tax payments, submitting IRS Form 990s and/or avoiding potential fraud. But what I have found missing in the nonprofit environment is a sense of board member responsibility to provide for and sustain a viable ethics program. (more…)

The Succession Dilemma: Why Do Nonprofit Boards Fail to Plan Ahead?

The Succession Dilemma: Why Do Nonprofit Boards Fail to Plan Ahead?

By: Eugene Fram              Free Digital Image

There are many types of crises common to an organization. But one event seems to trigger a large proportion of the ensuing trauma. It frequently happens when a CEO or another top manager retires, resigns or leaves for other reasons.   The flow of leadership is about to be disrupted and there is no viable replacement for the departing executive.

This transitional panic happens in both for-profit and nonprofit organizations. The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) recently reported that 50 % of public company directors concede that CEO succession planning needs to be improved. * In the nonprofit environment, only 27% actually have succession plans to replace a suddenly departing executive. ** This demonstrates the low priority nonprofits place on over-viewing talent succession to prepare for unexpected vacancies.

Here are some insights (in italics) from the NACD report that are applicable to nonprofit succession planning, be it management talent overview or implementing the replacement process. (more…)

Time-Compressed Non Profit Directors – Recruit & Retain Them!

 

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

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!

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…)

Attention Nonprofits: If You Want to Avoid “The Squeeze,” Here’s the One Strategy That Can Help

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 Board Cultures Need To Be Defined

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…)

Once Again: How to Keep Nonprofit Board Members Informed.

Once Again: How to Keep Nonprofit Board Members Informed.

By: Eugene Fram

With high performing nonprofit organizations, board members will rarely be invited by the CEO to participate in operational decisions. As a result, management will always have more information than board members. Yet the board still needs to know that is happening in operations to be able to perform their overview process.
The name of the game is for the CEO to communicate the important information and to keep directors informed of significant developments. Still, there’s no need to clutter regular board meetings by reporting endless details about operations. (more…)

Dysfunction in the Nonprofit Sector—Reality or Myth?

 

Dysfunction in the Nonprofit Sector—Reality or Myth?

By: Eugene Fram         Free Digital Image

Judging from the vast literature on dysfunctional nonprofit boards and organizations (my own posts included!) one might conclude that the majority of nonprofits are struggling, incompetent and/or in crisis. I argue that this is not the case. Decades of experience lead me to believe that nonprofits have the same functional variables as profit making organizations—dysfunctional at times like Target or GM; efficient like Apple or Amazon. Everybody doesn’t get it right all the time.

Perceptions become reality to those who are quick to embrace popular labels such as the overused term, “dysfunctional.” Obviously, in the case of nonprofits, such perceptions are harmful. Once evaluated in this way the stigma persists and can seriously reduce the level of support that is so critical to the work of these organizations. (more…)