When Nonprofit Missions Get Muddled
By: Eugene Fram
It happens over time. A passionately conceived mission starts to drift from its original intentions. Stakeholders begin to view a nonprofit’s purposes from a different angle. There is a discrepancy between how the organization is committed to act and external perceptions of its current actions. Nonprofit boards need to be on the alert to such misalignments that can go unnoticed in the perceptual “fog” of daily challenges. (more…)
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…)
A Nonprofit Board’s Most Important Job!
By: Eugene Fram
Many people believe as I do that a nonprofit board’s job is to find the best possible person to act as CEO of the organization, then stand back and let that person manage. If your board is in agreement, here are guidelines for action: (more…)
Bibliography: Articles Related to For-Profit & Nonprofit Governance – September, 2013
By
Eugene Fram, Professor Emeritus
Saunders College of Business
Rochester Institute of Technology
frameugene @gmail.com
Remembering it is the beginning of the school year, I have developed the following bibliography for those needing references on corporate governance. It is a list of articles I have published over the last several decades. You can easily access most by listing article title via a Google search. If you have problems accessing any, please send me an e-mail. Several additional articles are scheduled for publication, and I will add to this bibliography as they are published. (more…)
Important: Robust Evaluations of Nonprofit CEOs
By Eugene Fram
Like any group, the vast majority of nonprofit CEOs are hardworking managers dedicated to the mission, vision and values of their organizations. The nonprofit evaluation processes of the past, typically involving a cursory examination of the financials plus a simple questionnaire to directors, simply isn’t sufficient for the 21st century. A much more rigorous process is needed if to keep the public’s faith in nonprofit world. I have been involved with these types of evaluations, and the professional CEOs involved understood their necessity.
Following are the steps I consider necessary for a robust CEO evaluation. (more…)
Nonprofit Directors Can Be Effective Ambassadors
By: Eugene Fram
Directors are definitively not rock stars! Yet business boards are suggesting greater visibility for those individuals whose names are on their letterhead, according to a recent article in a Canadian magazine. * The commercial rationale behind this growing trend is that well regarded and knowledgeable directors can make the best ambassadors to a wide variety of stakeholders, the most important group being stockholders.
The nonprofit board, in my opinion, is uniquely qualified to emulate this new corporate board focus. (more…)
Reflections on Nonprofit Success Stories
By: Eugene Fram
As a veteran business professor, former students occasionally contact me to recount how I may have impacted their lives. Some have become senior executives in Fortune 500 companies, others have become attorneys, have founded profitable businesses and a few successfully have followed in my footsteps into the academic world after some years of business experience.
I recently reviewed the comments on my book, Policy vs. Paper Clips, listed on Amazon.com and thought my blog post viewers might like to see some abstracted comments, showing successful use of the governance model in my book. Eight out of ten reviews were top “five star” ratings.
My boards recognized the danger of fiddling with paper clips while strategy burns.
We had no board turnover (because) of the change (moving to the Corporate Model of Governance.)
The model is intended to convey a sense of professionalism, discipline and organizational skill.
We were able to start acting on the core idea (focus on policy not operations) immediately.
The board’s most important job is to find the best possible person to manage the organization, then stand back and let the person manage.
An added benefit is that a Leader’s Guider is available (free from the author) to facilitate discussion.
But he (the author) gets you to think about things the board needs to address.
After 15 years, the board members love (the model) because they are engaged at a strategic level.
For more details see: http://amzn.to/eu7nQl
The Challenge of the Nonprofit Board Meeting: Some Tips for Board Chairs
By Eugene Fram
The new director sits down at his first board meeting and turns to the director sitting beside him. “What am I supposed to do?” he asks the more experienced director who replies, “Pity the Board Chair!”
One of the biggest challenges for a president or board chair is to run a tight and meaningful meeting. Without careful planning and new approaches, the obligatory periodic 1.5 hours with the directors can also be a major frustration. Directors often either don’t show up or appear to be bored, tired, disinterested clock-watchers during this important effort to collectively oversee the state of the organization.
Here are some ideas- some innovative, some old stand-byes- that may help the chair ”Preside” more effectively. Be sure to sit down with the CEO well before the scheduled meeting to set the agenda, establish meeting goals and brainstorm the format. Anticipate the inevitable “bumps in the road’ and how best to handle them. Agree to try a new idea occasionally to facilitate discussion, nurture participation, and generally engage the directors. (more…)
What Is The Level of Your Nonprofit Board’s Behavioral Quotient (BQ)?
By: Eugene Fram
Most viewers will have a working knowledge of Intelligence Quotient (IQ), a predictor of academic achievement or Emotional Intelligence (EI), an assessment of a person’s social skills and intelligence.
I would like to suggest that nonprofit boards, as a team, assess their behavioral intelligence (BQ). BQ involves the acknowledgment that how leaders behave will directly impact the success of the organizations they lead. Following are some critical BQ questions for the board team.* Answering all these questions openly will enable a board to develop its own BQ. (more…)
Too Little Board Deference to CEOs – Typical of Nonprofits?
By: Eugene Fram
“Most nonprofit staff leaders still struggle to have a bona fide seat at the board table as a respected peer,” says Brian Foss, nonprofit consultant. He hypothesizes that this lack of respect is not so apparent on for-profit boards. “I rarely see nonprofit CEOs receiving the same deference. …they would enjoy in the for-profit setting.” Foss also notes that the situation has not changed appreciably during the 25 years in which he has served as a consultant.*
Attitudes in a working relationship such as Board/CEO are often deeply ingrained in board culture. Yet I am convinced that with the right oversight and approach they can be improved. Developing a new and mutually respectful management atmosphere will in time yield superior outcomes for the organization. Here are some basic thoughts for both boards and CEOs that I hope will upgrade the quality of the partnership. (more…)
Nonprofit Management 