policy vs. paper clips

Suggested & Field Practices From Most Viewed 2015 Blog Posts

Suggested & Field Practices From Most Viewed 2015 Blog Posts

By Eugene Fram

Currently my blog-site has over 350 posts on nonprofit governance. Following are six 2015 posts that stand out based on viewer interest.

1. https://non-profit-management-dr-fram.com/2015/11/15/the-nonprofit-strategic-plan-is-finished-tools-to-move-forward/
The nonprofit’s 3 or 5-year strategic plan has been completed with the entire board management and staff reading from the same document. But what about the shoals that must be bridged before its benefits can be implemented? For example:

2. https://non-profit-management-dr-fram.com/2015/11/08/the-nonprofit-ceo-exceeds-hisher-authority-what-happens-then/
For a nonprofit organization, it is necessary to hire a president/CEO or executive in whom the board can place a high degree of trust. But along with the trust, the board must ROBUSTLY annually evaluate the CEO and the organization’s performance.

3. https://non-profit-management-dr-fram.com/2015/10/25/why-are-some-nonprofit-boards-missing-the-mark-what-to-do-2/.
For-profit organizations or nonprofit organizations, in my opinion, have five identical basic board guidelines. For Deloitte Partners, a worldwide accounting and financial advisory firm, these constitute board responsibilities that can’t be delegated to management. The board has responsibilities to have: a viable governance structure, annual assessments of (board and) organizational performance, driven strategic planning, improved management talent and assured organizational integrity. A relentless pursuit of these lofty goals will enable nonprofits to be “on the mark.”

4. https://non-profit-management-dr-fram.com/2015/08/02/how-often-do-nonprofit-board-members-need-to-question-strategic-norms/
Following are four nonprofit areas that call for strategic scrutiny and, if recognized by several other current board members as constraints on the future of the nonprofit, the process may allow individual directors to seek positive change:

5. https://non-profit-management-dr-fram.com/2015/06/14/once-again-how-to-keep-a-nonprofit-informed/
With high performing nonprofit boards, directors will rarely be invited by the CEO to participate in operational decisions. As a result, management will always have more information than the board. Yet the board still needs to know that is happening in operations to be able to overview them. The name of the game is for the CEO to communicate the important information and to keep directors informed of significant developments. Still, there’s no need to clutter regular board meetings by reporting endless details about operations. Following are some practical suggestions:

6. https://non-profit-management-dr-fram.com/2015/12/13/dysfunctional-levels-in-nonprofit-boards-organizations-2/
These data and comments can lead one to conclude that all nonprofit boards are dysfunctional. I suggest that nonprofit boards can generate a range of dysfunctional behavioral outcomes, but the staff can muddle through and continue to adequately serve clients.

Nonprofit Boardroom Elephants and the ‘Nice Guy’ Syndrome: A Complex Problem

Nonprofit Boardroom Elephants and the ‘Nice Guy’ Syndrome: A Complex Problem

By: Eugene Fram

An updated and revised viewer favorite post

At coffee recently a friend serving on a nonprofit board reported plans to resign from the board shortly. His complaints centered on the board’s unwillingness to take critical actions necessary to help the organization grow.

In specific, the board failed to take any action to remove a director who wasn’t attending meetings, but he refused to resign. His term had another year to go, and the board had a bylaws obligation to summarily remove him from the board. However, a majority of directors decided such action would hurt the director’s feelings. They were unwittingly accepting the “nice-guy” approach in place of taking professional action. (more…)

Nonprofit Risk and Crisis Management: Challenges for the 21st Century

Nonprofit Risk and Crisis Management: Challenges for the 21st Century

The nonprofit leadership literature recommends that every nonprofit organization have a comprehensive crisis management plan, but it has little focus on risk. Perhaps nonprofit boards are too risk averse and are really unable to maximize their resources to assist clients? Is it that nonprofit boards see little personal gains from taking reasonable risks fearing potential reputation and financial losses? I reviewed over 300 nonprofit articles related to nonprofit crises and related risks; only a handful centered on how a nonprofit board can respond to handling risk and crises in a strategic manner. A great deal seemed to depend on the position of organization of the nonprofit board and its culture, provided in these principles: (more…)

My Nonprofit Governance Blog-Site has reached a Landmark at 500 Followers! And here’s a sampling of the most viewed posts of 2014

My Nonprofit Governance Blog-Site has reached a Landmark at 500 Followers!
And here’s a sampling of the most viewed posts of 2014

By: Eugene Fram

Over the last several decades I have published about two dozen articles and four books related to corporate governance, most of them covering nonprofit governance. These have appeared in a range of publications including MIT’s Sloan Management Review and, more recently, in the Huffington Post.

About two years ago, I decided to “become modern” and use social media to generate comments about my (sometimes controversial) ideas for improving corporate governance. There are now over 250 blog posts available on my site. I am amazed at social media’s drawing power and the daily reports of “likes” and professional comments about my ideas. The work has been fun and has allowed me to reach people worldwide, sometimes in as many as 12 different countries daily.

I am happy to share this list of my followers’ favorite posts. Feel free to forward it to others, especially nonprofit CEOs and board directors.
Blog site: http://bit.ly/yfRZpz

# Most Viewed Posts -1/1/2014 to 5/15/2014

Can Nonprofit Boards Suffer From Agenda Deficits? -272*
A Special Relationship: Nurturing the CEO-Board Chair Bond – 178*
Is Your Nonprofit Board Ready to Recruit a Transformational Leader? – 195*
Do Today’s Business Leaders Make Effective Nonprofit Directors? Revised & Updated – 145*
What Nonprofit Boards Are Not Doing – But Should! Revised & Updated -256
When Will Nonprofit Boards Learn to Plan for Succession? – 236
Does the Nonprofit CEO Need to Go?? – 469
Is Your Nonprofit Board Fundraising Committee Strategically oriented? Revised & Updated – 305
Nonprofit Boardroom Elephants and the “Nice Guy” Syndrome: A Complex Problem – 578
A Nonprofit Board’s Most Important Job! – 347
Major Donor Has Remorse — Nonprofit Board/CEO Failed to Meaningfully Engage Him? -350
Once Again! Should a Nonprofit CEO Become a Voting Member of the Board of Directors? – 208
Nonprofit Boards 2014 – Two Recurring Concerns of Directors & Managers – 326
A Nonprofit Board’s Best Friend — A Robust Business Plan – 276
An Action Agenda for Nonprofit Board Management Discussions -211
* Current posts receiving views and comments.

Can Nonprofit Boards Suffer From Agenda Deficits?

Can Nonprofit Boards Suffer From Agenda Deficits?

By Eugene Fram

In a recent study of 772 for-profit and nonprofit directors from around the world, McKinsey & Company found that 25% of the sample assessed their board impact as moderate or low, “… while others reported having a high impact across board functions. “ http://bit.ly/1iFEINR

Following, in italics, are brief abstracts from the study, followed by my analysis of the importance of the information to nonprofit boards. (more…)

Is Your Nonprofit Board Fundraising Committee Strategically Oriented? – Revised & Updated

Is Your Nonprofit Board Fundraising Committee Strategically Oriented? – Revised & Updated

By Eugene Fram

Nonprofit boards have struggled for years to develop effective board fundraising committees and strategies. According to the BoardSource 2012 Governance Index, 46% of nonprofit CEOs gave their boards “D” or “F” grades for their fundraising efforts and fundraising is the lowest ranked of 10 board board responsibilities.

Simone Joyaux in a NPQ Newswire* raised 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 bold. 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. After all, not all nonprofit directors have a strategic orientation. (more…)

Imagine Warren Buffett and/or Charlie Munger on Your Nonprofit Board…

Buffet and Munger, close partners for 54 years are sometimes described as “being joined at the hip.” Two Stanford professors have developed an analysis of Munger’s comments on good corporate governance. (http://stanford.io/1fP454c) Using Munger’s words, abstracted in italics from the Stanford analysis, here is what I estimate might motivate either of them to join a nonprofit board.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eugene-fram/your-nonprofit-board_b_4975787.html

Nonprofit Boardroom Elephants and the “Nice Guy” Syndrome: A Complex Problem

At coffee recently a friend serving on a nonprofit board reported plans to resign from the board shortly. His complaints centered on the board’s unwillingness to take critical actions necessary to help the organization grow.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eugene-fram/nonprofit-boardroom-eleph_b_4916469.html

A Nonprofit Board’s Most Important Job!

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:

Topics Covered
* Recruit Widely
* Understand the Partnership
* A Nonprofit Board Has an Overview Responsibility
* Organization and CEO Measurement
* Nobody Does His/Her Job Perfectly
* The Board and CEO Must Partner on Fundraising

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eugene-fram/a-nonprofit-boards-most-i_b_4839012.html

Nonprofit Board Recruitment: Can Google’s Process Apply to NFPs?

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…)