Recently, I received an interesting phone call from a client who works for an Israeli based nonprofit organization who asked me the following question, “We just received a grant from the Chaya Foundation in Chicago. They want us to sign a contract that stipulates any legal disagreements will be settled in the State of Illinois. Should the organization sign this agreement with this specific clause?” (In order to protect the privacy of the foundation the name and state have been changed.) When I heard this a red light went off in my head. I immediately thought of the nature of the relationship between the funder and the recipient organization. What goes into establishing the ground rules for receiving a grant from a foundation? What are appropriate requests that a funder can make of a recipient … Continue Reading

Several clients requested my assistance in assessing the need for a staff workshop that would not address the day-to-day activities of the organization. In each case either the director or the supervisor felt the need for the opportunity to address issues that were outside their normal work purview. Often the staff of nonprofit organizations feels competing pressures when needing to respond to requests for services and having to implement programs. At times the impact on the staff can be overwhelming. In light of this, the initial enthusiasm a social worker, community worker or teacher has for their job soon becomes lost in the pushes and pulls of a regular work day. When this happens one of the ways of counterbalancing this is to provide an opportunity for the staff to remove themselves from … Continue Reading

Many organizations depend on employees to remember decisions that were once made and the implications of those decisions for the organization. That is a mistake. Even if we trust in our staff, there is always a risk involved in depending on the memory of any one person or even of several people in an organization. Not too long ago I received a telephone call from “Sarah,” an administrative staff person at ABC organization that had leased space to the nonprofit I worked for years ago. I was asked if I remembered principles of the last lease agreement between ABC and the nonprofit that I had directed. I found it quite interesting that no one in the organization I worked for or in ABC had documented the details of the lease agreement. It was fascinating to me that Sarah was calling on me, a … Continue Reading

Your organization has embarked upon and completed a strategic planning process. You have clarified and strengthened your mission and have developed a strategic approach to implementing the mission while building the board of directors. Your professional staff and volunteer leadership have all “signed on the proverbial dotted-line” and are enthusiastic about moving forward. Now what? What enables an organization to move from the conceptualization process to actually seeing the plan become a reality? What must come next is a clear vision of what needs to be accomplished and a realistic time line for reaching specific milestones. In other words, a work plan or implementation plan that spells out the steps that will be used to achieve the agreed upon goals that were detailed in the strategic … Continue Reading

All nonprofit organizations are concerned with developing their financial resources and raising funds for their ongoing budget, capital projects and endowment funds, among other purposes. It is not unusual for there to be a difference of opinion among the members of the board as to what comes first: Does an organization plan for its future once there is a sense of financial security or does it achieve financial sustainability only after utilizing a strategic planning process? This question is asked by both chief executive officers and volunteer leaders. Quite frequently, one or more people involved in a nonprofit organization will balk at spending the time, effort and funds on a planning process when they have to stretch to complete the month in the black. Their reasoning is that they cannot … Continue Reading

Today’s environment lauds and extols partnerships and cooperative relationships involving nonprofit organizations. When two or more organizations find a way to join forces and either co-develop programs or coordinate their providing services, it is applauded by contributors, funders and stakeholders. It is a smart way to avoid duplication, limit competition and capitalizes on agencies’ knowledge and expertise and has become an accepted part of the nonprofit landscape. It also sends a strong message to the community at-large about efficiency and resourcefulness. When organizations decide they want to explore working together, whether it be in a cooperative relationship or a partnership, it is imperative that they define upfront what each wants from the relationship and how each agency can … Continue Reading

Consultants are often thought of as magicians who can make problems disappear and fix almost any situation. In the face of tough situations involving boards of directors or organizational challenges, the first step is identifying the most appropriate suitable and best consultant. The consultant is usually approached at these times because there is a sense of crisis and the professional and volunteer leaders are not sure how to resolve these immediate challenges. Many times, there is a big difference between the reason the leadership reaches out to a consultant and the real problem confronting the organization. Another way of conceiving of these two aspects is to refer to the first as the presenting problem and the latter as the identified problem. True, sometimes they are the same, however, in … Continue Reading

Fostering an Important Relationship: Bringing the Chair and the Donor Together Last week, I accompanied, G, one of my clients from abroad, to meet with an Israel-based organization she funds. The director of the organization had arranged a wonderful site visit that included visiting one of the agency’s youth clubs and meeting with a number of people such as the supervisor of the network of clubs, the coordinator of its youth club and a number of the club’s young participants. The schedule was perfect and the use of time could not have been designed more efficiently. The director thought of every detail and even arranged for A, the new chair of the board, to pick up my client and me and drive us to club for the site visit. After introducing himself, A took the drive to the site as an … Continue Reading