Who in a nonprofit organization is responsible for fund-raising? Should the CEO follow or lead the board?
By Eugene Fram
The CEO is the advance guard when it comes to fund-raising. First and foremost, he/she has to be alert to all places where the CEO can raise funds on his/her own initiative. (more…)
Can a board member ever hold a staff position in the same nonprofit organization?
By Eugene Fram
Sometimes a board member acts not as a director but as a different kind of volunteer. For example, Director Z has a particular accounting skill and wants to utilize it to help the nonprofit. The CEO agrees.
In this instance the board member is not a board member, but a volunteer working under the direction of the CEO. This distinction is easy to understand if you think about the example of a Boy Scout leader who also serves as a board member on a Boy Scout regional council. As scoutmaster, he follows scouting guidelines and directives provided by the organization’s professionals. As a council director, he helps to set policy for the Scout movement in the geographic area. In only one instance does he act as a director.
Whether or not he/she should receive a payment for the work is subject to various state law nonprofit laws and approval of the board.
Source: Policy vs. Paper Clips, Third Edition, 2011, pp.231-232.
How does a president/CEO turn down advice about operations or internal structure from the board.
by Eugene Fram
With difficulty. It all depends on the type of culture that has been established by the board. Ideally, the president/CEO should be comfortable saying, (more…)
Do boards set a dollar limit on the president/CEO’s fiscal discretion?
The chief executive should have complete discretion as long as he or she works within the budget and budgetary guidelines. However, if any major changes are needed, the board must approve them. For example, (more…)
The Special Relationship:
Nurturing the CEO-Board Chair Bond
By Eugene Fram
Here are tips to assure the best possible partnership between the board chair and CEO.
Keeping boards focused on strategic issues is a major challenge for nonprofit leaders. One problem is that (more…)
Rochester Institute of Technology
RIT Alumnus Donates $3 Million to Establish Endowed Chair in Critical Thinking
Gift honors professor emeritus Eugene Fram from the E. Philip Saunders College of Business
Nov. 18, 2011
by Marcia Morphy
A Rochester Institute of Technology alumnus has donated a $3 million gift to establish The Eugene Fram Endowed Chair in Critical Thinking in RIT’s E. Philip Saunders College of Business. (more…)
Designating a ‘Lead Trustee’ Can Help Boards Improve Their Operations
Originally published by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, June 2, 2011, p. 34
By Eugene H. Fram
Few nonprofit boards do a great job of overseeing their organizations. Both nonprofit board members and CEO’s share that concern: Asked to rank their performance with academic-style grades by the nonprofit group BoardSource, chief executives gave their boards a C+, while board members gave themselves a B. (more…)
YOUR DYSFUNCTIONAL NONPROFIT BOARD – WHAT TO DO
Is your nonprofit board operating on two cylinders instead of six cylinders
needed for our current turbulent economic times? The updated and expanded third edition of Policy vs Paper Clips (http://policy-vs-paper-clips.com) on nonprofit governance is one vehicle to help a board to remedy this operating gap.
Thousands of nonprofit executives and board members, by reading the first two editions, have: (more…)
Contents of “Policy vs. Paper Clips” – Third Edition (See Amazon Books)
The book is about developing a governance model which is professional, flexible, and efficient, has a simple structure (3 standing committees), requires a secure chief executive, (more…)
Policy vs. Paper Clips is back!
Uh, ok you might say. What are you talking about? Well, (more…)
Nonprofit Management 