Do Nonprofit Boards Have Viable 21st Century Options?
By: Eugene Fram
Based on what has transpired so far in the 21st century, the typical nonprofit board in the United States appears to have acquired more constraints and fewer options to maneuver. Although charitable giving rose moderately in 2012, financial options remained constrained as increased operating costs and increased client needs cloud future prospects. (more…)
Do Nonprofit Board Fundraising Committees Really Work?
By Eugene Fram
Nonprofit boards have struggled for years to develop effective board fundraising committees. According to the BoardSource 2012 Governance Index, 46% of nonprofit CEOs gave their boards “D” or “F” grades for their fundraising efforts.
Simone Joyaux in a current NPQ Newswire* raises some pertinent questions related to the “struggle to get the board to carry out its fund development role.” I have listed her questions below in italics. My overall response to her questions is that fundraising committees are not always necessary for effective fund raising! Where the committee is doing a poor job (graded average or below), it is best to cultivate and support a few board members to drive fundraising. (more…)
The Nonprofit Overhead Myth – Devil Is In the Details?
By: Eugene Fram
Do nonprofits have to consistently report low overhead percentages for administration and marketing to satisfy donors? Do these modest overhead percentages do more long-term damage to the nonprofit’s ability to fulfill it mission than short-term good? * (more…)
Nonprofit Board Responsibility Social Media – What Needs To Be Done? Revised & Updated
By: Eugene Fram
Nonprofit boards, for several years, have been struggling to find proper uses for social media. Many of the decisions on this issue will become strategic board decisions because they will require using alternative promotional strategies, experimental trials and infusion of capital and human resources. The December 8, 2012 issue of the NACD Directorship* cites a Stanford study concluding that for-profit boards should develop a better understanding of this new phenomenon. Following are how I think the steps should be applied to smaller and medium sized nonprofit board decisions:
Assess current capabilities. (more…)
Nonprofit Chief Executives Should Have Title: President/CEO, Updated & Expanded
When nonprofit organizations reach a budget level of over $1 million and have about 10 staff members it is time to offer the chief operating officer the title of PRESIDENT/CEO. In addition, the title of the senior board volunteer should become CHAIRPERSON OF THE BOARD, and the title of EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR needs to be eliminated. Experience has shown that with a reasonably talented PRESIDENT/CEO at the helm, he/she can provide the following benefits: (more…)
Attn: Nonprofit Directors – Overview Points of Engagement
By: Eugene Fram
Any nonprofit organization has a series of critical points of engagement. The nonprofit board has to make sure it is carefully over-viewing the most important ones. >
Spreading the Good Word: Nonprofit Board Protocol Needed?
By: Eugene Fram
One of the pleasures of nonprofit organizational accomplishments is to communicate the very favorable impacts to their communities or trade/professional associations they serve. Yet frequently these positive results are hidden behind the proverbial bushel! The board and management lose sight of the progress made over a long time period, and the year-to-year successes are construed as routine occurrences internally and externally. (more…)
Harvard Grads Subsidized to Take Nonprofit Jobs: Good, Bad or Irrelevant?
By Eugene Fram
According to the May 31, 2013 issue of Bloomberg Businessweek, the Harvard Business School Leadership Fellows Program, a special MBA program, supplements its grads’ beginning nonprofit salaries of $45,000 with another $50,000. Over the last 13 years only 106 students have been placed with a total of 47 organizations. However, the 19 grads in the 2013 group is the largest one ever.
Is this a “canary in the mine” singing about coming changes in the backgrounds needed for nonprofit management? (more…)
Are Powerful CEOs Right for Nonprofit Organizations?
By: Eugene Fram
David Larcker and Brian Tanya, Stanford University Professors, have come to the following conclusions about CEO power and raise some pertinent questions the role of the board, based on research mainly centered on for-profit organizations.*
The research literature clearly shows that having a powerful CEO creates the potential for him or her to abuse this position to extract personal benefits or engage in excessive risks activities. At the same time, the research also shows that (CE0) power is often critical to the successful completion of tasks and the achievement of corporate objectives (and missions). To this end, powerful CEOs can ultimately be a success or a failure. Are shareholders (stakeholders of nonprofits) better or worse off with a powerful CEO?
While it is the role of the board of directors to oversee management, at some point the board must empower management to make decisions. Where should it “draw the line” between giving its CEO discretion and providing appropriate oversight? How much power is too much power?
My Response Related to Nonprofit Organizations:** (more…)
Gold Standards for a Strategic Mission Focused Nonprofit
By Eugene Fram
The following is Google’s mission statement:
To organize the world’s information and make it universally assessable and useful.
This twelve-word expression of purpose should serve as a shining example to nonprofit boards that wrestle with the development of their own mission statements. Typically the process takes huge amounts of time as boards struggle to accommodate a wide range of viewpoints.* Too often the resulting statements tend to be complex and hard to understand.
Here are some approaches that are of fundamental importance to building strategic strength in a mission-focused nonprofit: (more…)
Nonprofit Management 