Nonprofits Must Monitor Diversity Opportunities
By Eugene Fram
Diversity on the boards and staffs of nonprofit organizations is no long a choice; it is a mandate. American demographic trends are clear. The US population is rapidly becoming more diverse, and increased global migrations will require nonprofits and NGOs to serve broader populations. In a 2011 analysis, two Harvard professors have made the following observations: (more…)
Program Reductions Are Mandated—What Can A Nonprofit Do?
The word from management is that the board of directors has decreed there will be program cuts. Regardless of the rationale, be it financial or mission-related, the proposed loss is a source of concern to directors and is a common nonprofit board challenge in the 21st century.
Reactions are varied and I invite you to share your board experience on the topic; here are some deliberations that I have encountered in the past: (more…)
Management Knows All: What’s A Nonprofit Director To Do?
Your nonprofit board has a management ‘dream team” in place. The team collective has superior knowledge and in-depth understandings of internal processes and issues. Without attempting to micromanage the nonprofit, what role should a director play … assuming h/she serves on the board for a purpose.
Nonprofit boards provide critical policy compliance & financial overviews of organizational issues and actions. Regardless of the board’s overview actions and perceived excellence of management personnel, board members also must be poised and positioned to:* (more…)
Markers For An Open Culture Within Nonprofit Boards
By Eugene Fram
Board Culture is really about having chemistry that works. Is there transparency, and by that I mean openness? It is very intangible but critical. Is there a spirit of inquiry? That means, for example, that a director can disagree with another director or with the CEO without actually being hostile or being viewed as hostile. All should be able to have civil but active discussions. Does the board have a few really insightful board members who spark real dialog? I’m talking about people who have an ability to smell and “opportunity” or “problem” or “roadblock.’ Do the organization exude creativity – from the CEO and from board members? (more…)
Why Are Some Nonprofit Boards Missing the Mark? What to Do?
By Eugene Fram
Stephen Miles of the Miles group (http://milesgroup.com) recognizes that many business boards are coming up short in performance. As founder and CEO of a strategy and talent development agency, Miles has identified five areas of potential improvement for commercial boards. I believe these categories are also quite relevant to nonprofit board operations in the following ways: (more…)
Retaining Excellent Nonprofit Board Members by Keeping Them Meaningfully Involved – Part I
By: Eugene Fram
In the 20th century, it was not unusual for nonprofit boards to grapple with operational questions related to buying new equipment, firing a custodian, hiring a new program director, choosing new furniture for the reception area, revising budget forms, revamping the accounting department, etc.
In order to retain desirable directors in the 21st century, the board only needs to be generally aware of these types of operational decisions, not make them, and then needs to focus its meeting times on questions such as: (more…)
Nonprofit Boards Can Drive Organizational Innovation & New Strategic Directions
Recently, Marla Capoozzi, Senior innovation Expert at McKinsey Company, provided some guidelines to assist business directors to help drive organizational innovations and lead to new long term strategic planning.* Following are my suggestions how nonprofit boards can adapt her guidelines.
1. Have a Defined mission A mission statement guides most nonprofits. However, few if any, have innovation as an inherent part of that statement. For example, a counseling nonprofit will want its staff to work with the latest treatment modalities. But few boards will want their staffs to actively seek ways to improve on these modalities. Budget constraints, related to staff costs, interfere. However talented staff members may develop new innovative practices within the confines of regular contacts with clients. These can lead to new strategic directions. To drive innovation, boards will need to stay on message to management and staff that innovation is desired outcome to support the mission statement. (more…)
Is Your Nonprofit Strategically Deprived?
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…)
Lifestyle & Behavioral Information – Critical in Seeking Nonprofit Directors
By: Eugene Fram
Over the last two years, I have conducted several nonprofit board recruitment projects. The boards with which I worked had rather similar challenges. (more…)
Management Expectations of the Board – The Nonprofit Story – Part II
I am indebted to Dr. Richard Leblanc of York University for the action headings used in this blog. The blog uses headings developed by Dr. Leblanc for his blog: “What a Board Expects from Management, and What Management Expects from a Board, January 27, 2013, York University Governance Gateway Blog. (rleblanc.apps01.yorku.ca) For reading simplicity, Dr. Leblanc’s specific quotations, which can apply to either FP or NFP boards, are noted in italics.
1. Candor
The board should speak with one voice and not send mixed messages to management (and staff when dealing with nonprofits). Nonprofit boards are usually composed of people with widely diverse backgrounds, as compared with for-profit ones. (more…)
Nonprofit Management 