David's Blog
Social Entrepreneurship: What Is It and Why Should I Care?
You may have attended a conference where there was a workshop on it. Or maybe you noticed an article about it in some professional journal. And someone at a recent board meeting suggested (in passing thankfully) that your organization should be engaged in it. But the question that you want answered and are afraid to ask is: What is everybody talking about…What is social entrepreneurship? And perhaps, added to that is the question of why you should be interested.
A Definition of the Concept
So You Think You Want to Do a Capital Campaign
Over the years, I have noticed that being a veteran of a capital campaign tends to bestow a badge of honor on executive directors and directors of development. And so it should be. Successfully completing one is a very significant – and exciting – accomplishment for the key people involved. Especially for those new to the process, they are far more demanding than is usually anticipated. Here I offer a short primer on capital campaigns so that if you are dreaming of one, you can also start planning for one.
Leadership Teams
The Right Positions in the Right Configurations
The Executive Committee
No matter how small or involved the Board of Directors as a whole is, it is always still prudent to have a formally recognized Executive Committee. Even when boards meet as often as monthly, matters develop that require more immediate, authoritative attention. Moreover, if a board is large or meets infrequently, then it behooves an Executive Committee to plan and prepare for the full board’s meetings so that those meetings are as productive as possible. These situations point to the basic purpose of an Executive Committee – to guide the larger body and to act on its behalf as necessary.
Annual Performance Reviews
First, face the reluctance.
Ah, the annual performance evaluation! Let’s face it. Nobody likes to do them. If the person has done a great job all year, the individual probably knows it and so do you and it all seems rather tedious and time-consuming.
Or, in contrast, if the person has not done such a good job all year, then it is a task you put off in your calendar and at the bottom of the pile of papers on your desk. Who wants to wallow in all that old, bad news? … If you are the least bit conflict-avoidant, you would rather do three drafts of the budget than do a tough evaluation once.
Recommended Standing Committees for Boards of Directors
Who needs yet another regular meeting shoehorned into an already over-extended schedule? No one, I realize. Especially in the world of small to midsize nonprofit organizations, where so many of us play multiple roles, just preparing for the regular board meeting can be a real challenge. Yet the truth is that boards can in fact accomplish more if their meetings are not always meetings of a committee of the whole. A few key committees with clear mandates can result not only in more productive board meetings but also more productive boards of directors over all. So here is my list of standing committees that I recommend for nearly all boards
Recommended Standing Committees for Boards of Directors
Five Foundational Development Practices
# 1: The Donor/Prospect Database
On Job Design and Descriptions
But First … Why Bother?
There is a reputable school of thought which argues that position descriptions are obsolete as a concept. The theory goes that organizational life is changing too swiftly for time to be spent profitably on the exercise. They become out of date too quickly and are inherently inflexible.
Communications
The Best Kept Secret in Town
“We are the best kept secret in town!” I can’t tell you how many times I have heard this phrase used to describe a church wanting to welcome newcomers or a program opening a new office or an organization seeking a higher profile. It is among the most common self-diagnosed shortcomings in nonprofit life. We just don’t tell our stories as much as we should.
Leadership - What It Requires and What It Offers
What Leadership Requires
In their excellent book, Leaders Who Make a Difference – Essential Strategies for Meeting the Nonprofit Challenge (1999), Burt Nanus and Stephen Dobbs name four basic qualities necessary as the most important by far for successful leadership: being honest, forward looking, inspiring, and competent. While other traits certainly add to a leader’s effectiveness, these, they argue (and I agree), are all essential.
New Year...New Plans?
We have now turned the corner on the new year and with it may come a mix of anxiety and excitement about what it will bring for ourselves and our organizations. Every year has its pleasant surprises and satisfactions and its disappointments and frustrations.
To tip the odds in favor of the former, most of us recognize that doing some planning about where we want to go or what we want to achieve will help. Yet, for many of us, the term “strategic planning” brings to mind elaborate processes and obfuscating jargon that hinders more than helps.
