Nonprofit Board Recruitment: Can Google’s Process Apply to NFPs?
Following are Google’s hiring attributes that might be helpful to consider, if applied to nonprofit board recruitment as well as employee recruitment. * Nonprofits should especially consider them for board recruitment. Although nonprofits traditionally use an attribute matrix emphasizing skills such as finance, marketing and accounting, here are some others to consider. (more…)
Is Your Nonprofit Strategically Deprived? Updated & Revised
By: Eugene Fram
A vital concern to the future of any nonprofit organization is frequently neglected. Responsibility for the lack of strategic planning must reside with the chief executive, board members and the tactical challenges that inevitably flow to the board.
Before a nonprofit board can begin successful strategic planning, it must: (more…)
After the gift is received, announced and celebrated, where does a nonprofit board and its management go from there? And whose job is it to see that the donor remains meaningfully engaged and involved in the organization? These are questions that I have been thinking about after a friend brought facts of his donor experience to my attention.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eugene-fram/major-donor-has-remorseno_b_4783511.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eugene-fram/nonprofit-fraud-robs-char_b_4276111.html
“According to a Washington Post analysis of the filings from 2008-2012 … of more than 1,000 nonprofit organizations, … there was a significant diversion of nonprofit assets, disclosing losses attributed to theft, investment frauds, embezzlement and other unauthorized uses of funds.” The top 20 organizations in the Post’s analysis had a combined potential total loss of more than a half-billion dollars. One estimate, by Harvard University’s Houser Center for Nonprofit Organizations, suggests that fraud losses among U.S. nonprofits are approximately $40 billion a year.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eugene-fram/are-nonprofit-board-chair_b_4640044.html
Nonprofits can strengthen their governance procedures by experimenting with new ideas that have been successfully implemented in the for-profit sector. Whereas most nonprofit board chairs are independent directors (not part of management) and can be legally described as non-executive board chairs, some for-profits have two executive leaders: a board chair with management responsibilities and an elected independent “lead director.” The lead director is responsible for helping to focus the board on strategic planning and is empowered to call meetings of independent directors without the presence of management.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eugene-fram/the-real-story-of-nonprof_b_4676397.html
When the board and management talk about each other outside the boardroom their remarks are often good indicators of their working partnerships.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eugene-fram/the-real-story-of-nonprof_b_4676397.html
When the board and management talk about each other outside the boardroom, their remarks are often good indicators of the quality of their working partnership. After many years of viewing both sides of the fence via consulting assignments and board chair positions, I have observed verbal behaviors that clearly reveal how the two groups view each other. These attitudes, which I regard as critical to the nature of the board/management relationship, also can be a keystone to mission success. (more…)
Nonprofits can strengthen their governance procedures by experimenting with new ideas that have been successfully implemented…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eugene-fram/are-nonprofit-board-chair_b_4640044.html
frameugene@gmail.com
Can A Mission-Driven Nonprofit Be Blindsided?
By: Eugene Fram
Strange to say, a nonprofit organization and Board can become too dedicated to its mission! Such over-zealousness can cause them to overlook opportunities for strategic change. For example:
Nonprofit boards and their organizations offering mental heath counseling services are aware that new pharmaceutical therapies will certainly reduce the need for face-to-face counseling. They need to balance their current and long-term efforts to accommodate the progress that is being made in the pharmaceutical field.
The phenomenal success of the simultaneous broadcast as offered by the Metropolitan Opera has prompted the simulcast to begin to include Broadway theater productions. How will this expansion impact local the theater organization whose prime purpose is to import live Broadway touring shows? And to what extent are the local groups able to anticipate and plan for this new competition?
Travelers Aid’s original mission was to prove assistance to rail and bus travelers, now secondary travel venues. To keep current, the organization has adjusted its mission by offering a wide variety of social services, like homeless housing information, to clients in their local communities.
The following conditions can assist nonprofit boards and managements to be ready for the future:
• To develop farsighted business plans, nonprofit CEOs should have some backgrounds in accounting, marketing, branding, finance and strategic planning.
• One or more board members and the CEO need to be continually alert to global, national and local trends which may impact operations either positively or negatively. They should be able to apply these trends to the nonprofit’s current strategy and mission.
•The CEO needs to regularly present board reports on strategic changes being initiated by similar organizations and focus on those that are worth investigation.
• A board-staff committee, every several years, needs to answer the uncomfortable question, “What trends or organizations might impact the need for our mission and/or services?”
• The organization may occasionally employ a knowledgeable field consultant to critique the strategic posture of the organization.
• If the nonprofit is re-accredited, the board should meet with the visiting team’s to seek its views on what the organization should be doing to prepare for changes in the next three to five years.
Chinese admonition:“The wise man learns by his own experience, the wiser man learns by the experience of others.” Nonprofit boards and managements need to heed the Chinese admonition regularly to avoid being blindsided.
A Nonprofit Board’s Best Friend — A Robust Business Plan — Huffington Post Article
By Eugene Fram
The key to long-term success for a nonprofit board is to seriously evaluate business plans on a regular schedule, even if a status quo plan is desired.
http://huff.to/1kAh1gU
Nonprofit Management 