This is what I’ve been talking about as a missing step in Strategic Planning. Instead of including “resource development” in your exploration of various goals and strategies, and plugging in reasonable extrapolations of what you are already doing now – or worse, instead of paring...
The level of your giving also sends a signal to the public. Donors – including you – think of different organizations differently. When you, as a board member send $100 or less, or even $200 or $500, you signal how the Board considers this particular...
So, without throwing the baby out with the bathwater, let me suggest that we find other ways of recognizing (and equally valuing) other contributions. Listing everyone who gives to a special project, for example, without regard to how much they gave. Recognizing volunteers (major gifts...
This might even be the single most important criteria. It is always a mistake to recruit a board member and hope that they fall in love with the organization later. Giving money is a big clue, though it’s not the only one. People who self-select...
The systems you have in place right now either were created or evolved on their own to support the current status quo. If you want to change the status quo, you’re going to need to change the systems that support it – first....
5. When cuts are necessary, have a very clear projection, activity by activity, of what will be spent and what the projected return will be. Instead of reducing expenses by some arbitrary percentage across the board, reduce them by eliminating a particular activity entirely. ...
People give money because they want to see something done. Strategic Planning is an opportunity to go ask them directly what they like about what you’re doing; what’s important to them. Including them in the process is a wonderful way to engage them in the...
You may be hurting your organization is unseen ways by allowing financial illiteracy to go unchallenged on the Board. Donors make big giving decisions based on gut, and they will have fed their gut on months and years of little impressions. This post is about...
This weeks’ post is about shooting yourself in the foot. And in each case, the cause is related to an overreaction to a complaint. Worse, sometimes the person complaining is someone internal to the organization and who therefore should know better....
To create board members who are fully prepared to make the strategic, critical, and wise decisions we ask of them at every meeting, my idea is to create a Scavenger Hunt – one that will take a year and a Guide to complete. Create a...