organizational development – Page 16

Non-Profit Time Management: Managing Your Task List

June 5, 2012 DonorDreams leadership, organizational development, Planning

Yesterday was Monday, which can only mean one thing at DonorDreams blog . . . it was “Mondays with Marissa” and her post was titled “Non-Profit Time Management: Scheduling Social Media Updates“. After reading Marissa’s post, it got me thinking. There has to be a million-and-one ways for non-profit professionals to improve upon managing their time. In honor of Marissa’s awesome blog post, I will take the next few days to look more carefully at time-saving tips with regards to managing your agency and implementing your resource development program.

Let’s start this conversation off by simply looking at your task list.

In the last seven days, I visited with two non-profit executive directors who both expressed utter frustration with how many things are currently on their “To Do List”. As you can imagine, not being able to get to the bottom of your task list every day adds stress to the average person’s life. This stress turns into chaos and panic when the list grows exponentially every day. Having been in the same situation, I compare it to what I can only imagine drowning must feel like.

In an effort to help my friends, I pulled out and dusted off my old executive coaching textbooks. It was in a book titled “Coaching Questions” written by Tony Stoltzfus that I found the following nugget of good advice:

Make sure that EVERY item on that list adheres to the following four characteristics:

Clarity: I know exactly what to do
Datebook: This step can be scheduled at a specific time
Commitment: I know I will do this
Deadline: I’ve set a date for completion

I know this sounds simplistic, but when the item you’re adding to you task list doesn’t meet this four-part litmus test, then you have two options:

Go back and secure the information you need in order to satisfy the test, or
Don’t add it to your task list.

Tony also suggested that you re-think adding tasks to your To Do List when you hear yourself using language or phrases such as:

I could …
I might …
I’m thinking of …
If …

The reality is that times are chaotic for non-profit professionals. Donors are demanding that you do more with less. The simple prescription can be summed up in one word:

FOCUS

Good non-profit professionals, especially effective ones, know that they can’t do everything all at once. They seem to have mastered many of the simple aforementioned suggestions related to their task list.

How have you found focus at your non-profit agency as times have become more chaotic and demanding? Do you use a similar approach as described above? If so, how has that worked for you? What type of task list tools do you use?

Your time is in high demand and none of us should be re-creating the wheel every day. So, please scroll down the page and spend 60 seconds sharing a best practice or something that works for you with your fellow non-profit professionals.

Here’s to your health!

Erik Anderson
Founder & President, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC
www.thehealthynonprofit.com
erik@thehealthynonprofit.com
http://twitter.com/#!/eanderson847
http://www.facebook.com/eanderson847
http://www.linkedin.com/in/erikanderson847

Can’t change your non-profit ways? That’s just BS!

June 1, 2012 DonorDreams Fundraising, leadership, organizational development, Planning

Welcome to O.D. Fridays at DonorDreams blog. Every Friday for the foreseeable future we will be looking more closely at a recent post from John Greco’s blog called “johnponders ~ about life at work, mostly” and applying his organizational development messages to the non-profit community.

Today, we’re focusing on a post that John titled “The Cow Path“. In that post, he talks about cow paths that started hundreds of years ago and somehow have turned into urban roads we drive on today. Of course, there is a classic organizational development point of view at the middle of John’s post. In a nutshell, his point is threefold:

It is relatively easy for organizations to start new initiatives.
It is very, very easy for organizations to continue doing what they’ve always done.
It is downright difficult to stop doing things your organization (e.g. staff, board members, volunteers, and donors) have become accustom to doing.

If you haven’t done so already, please make sure that you take a moment to click over to John’s post because he does a very nice job of illustrating this point. Heck, he even uses a poem from Samuel Walter Foss in his post to drive home this point.

When I read “The Cow Path,” I had to chuckle because it describes so many small non-profit organizations that understand the need to change their resource development approach but don’t understand the threefold organizational development principle laid about in John’s blog post.

Let’s look at an example of a typical non-profit organization that I’ve worked with since the economic crash of 2008:

Start a resource development or annual campaign planning process (aka start a new initiative)? Responses range from a hesitant maybe to a lukewarm yes.
Stop pursuing more and more government money? Responses range from polite resistance to outright defiance.
Stop running so many special events (and stop trying to add “just one more event)? Responses range from polite resistance to outright defiance.
Stop recruiting board members who don’t want to fundraise and who don’t have any skills and experiences with fundraising? Responses range from polite resistance to outright defiance.
Continue writing grants, chasing government funding, running special events, and recruiting warm bodies to sit in the boardroom? You betcha! Full steam ahead.

Why is status quo normally the victor in 70% of change initiatives? Because “we’ve always done it that way” is the enemy of “OMG, there is an iceberg ahead and we need to change course immediately“.

In John’s post, he talks about an exercise he uses called “Stop-Start-Continue”. I’ve been through a similar exercise facilitate by Noel Tichy called “Rattlesnakes and Pythons”. Click here “to read a short description of it in Tichy’s book titled “The Cycle of Leadership”.

Unfortunately, my experience with “Rattlesnakes and Pythons” was similar to John’s findings with “Stop-Start-Continue”. Even when things were identified as needing to be eliminated or squeezed out, there was great resistance to it and sometimes it didn’t happen.

In the end, John is right. As always! There is only one person to blame when change is allegedly out of reach, and we continue doing the same thing over and over again with an anticipated different result.

What a load of BS! Grab that bull by the horns and make some change happen.

If you took 15 seconds and wrote down a few things that you know need to be eliminated from your non-profit organization’s modus operandi, what would be on your list? What process have you used in the past to identify things that need to change at your agency? How effective where you at eliminating those things? Please use the comment box to share your answers.

Here’s to your health!

Is your non-profit smarter than a fifth grader?

May 25, 2012 DonorDreams Board development, Fundraising, organizational development, technology

Today, we’re focusing on a post that John titled “The School Bus Won’t Wait“. In that post, he talks about an aging professional who ends up relying on an internet acquaintance to help him with technology challenges. As things turn out, his online friend turns out to be 12-years-old. As always, John’s post has multiple themes and meanings, but the main things I saw pertained to: “Technology. Adapting to change. And possibility.”

These themes are at play throughout society, and they are changing the non-profit sector in ways that couldn’t be predicted. Here are just a few examples that I’ve seen, heard of, or read about:

ePhilanthropy. Donors continue to contribute more via online channels. According to the most recent Blackbaud Index of Online Giving report, “… online giving increased by 9.8 percent for the 3 months ending March 2012 as compared to the same period in 2011.” Believe it or not, this has been the trend for quite some time.
The digital boardroom. Board volunteers are busier at work and the rate of retirement is rising. Time is a premium and some volunteers don’t want to take time out of their day to travel to a physical meeting. Retirees (esp. in colder climates) are splitting their time between their primary residence and a winter residence. Add technology into the mix and now board members are “conference calling” and using “Skype” to conduct board meetings. Documents are being distributed digitally and board members are casting proxy votes via email.
The paperless office? Ha! While that appears to have been a 1980s pipe dream, the reality is that there are tons of electronic tools at a non-profit organization’s disposal now. Donor databases replaced index card donor systems, volunteer files, and membership paper systems. One agency who I am very familiar with is upgrading their network server to include a few terabytes of hard drive space because a few gigs just didn’t hold everything. LOL

With change comes challenges. Isn’t that what life is all about?

Here are two tips that I hope you will take to heart as you read John’s blog post and contemplate “Technology. Adapting to change. And possibility.”:

Education doesn’t end when you receive your certificate or degree. If you want to survive, I encourage you become a “Lifelong Learner”. There are tons of free resource available to you on the internet. Carve one hour out of your schedule every week and visit an online resource like Network for Good’s Learning Center. There are tons of great articles there for you to read. There is even a section of this website where you can access pre-recorded webinars.
Plan to stay current. Technology is always evolving. Do you have a written technology plan in place to keep your systems from getting old? If you need help answering this question, then look at the computer sitting on your desk. How old is it? If it is 3-years-old or older, then you probably don’t have a plan in place or you aren’t funding it appropriately.

How is technology changing your non-profit organization? Are you adding fifth graders to your board development prospect lists? 😉 Please scroll down and share one quick example in the comment box below.

Here’s to your health!

Class of 2012 should inspire all non-profit professionals: Part 3 of 3

May 24, 2012 DonorDreams Fundraising, leadership, organizational development, Planning

On Tuesday, we started a three-part series about educational opportunities for non-profit professionals. The first post looked closely at North Park University and their Master of Nonprofit Administration program (M.N.A.). The second post in the series investigated the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University and everything they offer. Today, we’re zooming out and taking a wider view.

Lots of institutions

I invested the first two days of this blog series talking about two non-profit studies programs I think are really excellent. However, there are many different options available to those of you wishing to secure a certificate or degree in something related to the non-profit sector. The following is just a short list of other centers and institutes found in the United States:

Institute for Nonprofit Education and Research at University of San Diego
Center for Civil Society at University of California, Los Angeles
Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society at The City University of New York
Center on Philanthropy and Public Policy at University of Southern California
Helen Bader Institute for Nonprofit Management at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Institute for Human Services & Public Policy at Louisiana State University in Shreveport
Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management at University of San Francisco
Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies at Johns Hopkins University
Lodestar Center for Philanthropy & Nonprofit Innovation at Arizona State University
Nancy Bell Evans Center on Nonprofits & Philanthropy at University of New York

Don’t make a rash choice. Follow the advice that you received from your high school guidance counselor: “Do your homework and thoroughly investigate these programs to find the right fit for you.”

Lots of options

I like to joke with friends and colleagues that I went to the non-profit school of hard knocks to get my degree, but I’m really just being a joker when I say things like that. In reality, I attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and received both my BA of Urban Planning and Masters of Urban Planning.

Now some of you are probably wondering what urban planning has anything to do with the non-profit sector. I think Shannon Bond does a great job answering this question in her about.com article titled “A Guide to Nonprofit-Focused Graduate Degree Programs” when she said:

“Is there a program out there for you? You may be surprised at the variety of nonprofit-focused degree programs that exist. Here are descriptions of a few . . . MUP: A Masters of Urban Planning degree focuses on city revitalization, empowerment of impoverished areas, and environmental concerns. Graduates typically secure jobs in such organizations as the UN, USAID, the World Bank, local and state housing agencies and nonprofit organizations that assist the homeless.”

Shannon highlights a number of other graduate degree options including: Masters of Business Administration, Masters of Public Administration, Masters of Public Policy, and a Masters of Social Work. I encourage those of you who are seeking non-profit degrees and certifications to look at all of your options. Click here and start with Shannon’s article.

Of course, going to school nowadays has gotten really expensive. If you can’t afford to enroll in an institution of higher learning, I suggest looking more closely at some of the certificate programs that we talked about in the first and second parts of this blog series.

If neither a certicate or degree are in your future, you can always do it the old fashion way and get some “on the job experience”. The non-profit sector is always looking for good men and women regardless of their level of education.

Did you graduate from a higher education institution with a non-profit related degree? If so, please share more about your alma mater. If not, please share a non-profit experience from your past that you can honestly say helped shape who you are today. We can learn from each other.

Here’s to your health!

Class of 2012 should inspire all non-profit professionals: Part 2 of 3

May 23, 2012 DonorDreams Fundraising, leadership, organizational development

Yesterday, we started a three-part series about educational opportunities for non-profit professionals. Today, we’re taking a closer look at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

The Center appears to be broken into a few different parts:

The Fundraising School
Academic programs
Research and consulting services
An institute focusing on faith and philanthropy
An institute on women, wealth and philanthropy

Just like North Park University (see yesterday’s post), the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University offers certifications in Nonprofit Executive Leadership and Fundraising Management. They also offer Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, and Ph.D. degrees in Philanthropic Studies. Of course, if you’re like me and not looking for more paper to hang on your walls or letters to place after your name, you can always just sign-up for courses at the School of Fundraising or academic courses through the university. The following is a small sampling of course titles:

Giving and Volunteering in America
Law of Nonprofit Organizations
Developing Annual Sustainability
Planned Giving: Getting the Proper Start
Fundraising for Small Nonprofits

What I like about the last few examples from the Fundraising School is that they are available online.

The research arm of the school is interesting and impressive. Your non-profit organization can hiring consultants to work with you on a variety of projects. Additionally, you can hire one of their research staff members to speak on a number of different topics pertaining to fundraising trends and donor communities.

The thing I love most about the research branch of the Center on Philanthropy is that there are resources available for consumption for people who are simply “lifelong learners”. For example, there is a link on their website titled “Academic Working Papers“. Using the interface on that page, you can find research papers and philanthropy data. The following are just a few examples of papers I found:

Executive Compensation and Gender: A Longitudinal Study of a National Nonprofit Organization
The Market for Charitable Giving
The Effects of Race, Gender, and Marital Status on Giving and Volunteering in Indiana

Here’s to your health!

Class of 2012 should inspire all non-profit professionals: Part 1 of 3

May 22, 2012 DonorDreams leadership, organizational development

Spring is in the air or at least that is what my allergy sensitive nose tells me. This can only mean one thing. Young adults (and even some not so young adults) are donning their mortar board caps and marching down the aisles at institutions of higher education. I really love this time of the year because it is full of hope and promise. So, in honor of the Class of 2012, I will spend the next few days talking about educational opportunities for non-profit professionals. Today, we’re taking a closer look at North Park University and their Master of Nonprofit Administration program (M.N.A.).

I don’t know about you, but “back in the day” my non-profit alma mater was the School of Hard Knocks. I learned how to manage volunteers by jumping in and doing it, succeeding in some cases, and making mistakes in other instances. I learned how to cultivate, solicit and steward donors in the exact same way.

I believe human resource professionals call this “learning on the job”. I know this might sound crazy, but I look back fondly upon all of those experiences (both successful and not so successful) and wouldn’t trade any of it in for all of the wealth in the world.

With this being said, I am excited to see that colleges and universities are now offering certificates and degree programs in a variety of non-profit professions. Here is how North Park University describes their M.N.A. program:

The M.N.A. prepares students for senior-level positions in the nonprofit sector. The curriculum responds directly to skill sets and knowledge required for nonprofit executives and leaders, including board governance, fundraising, financial management, and outcomes measurement.

Some of the classes they offer are packed full of information that today’s executive directors and fundraising professionals need to succeed. The following are just a few course titles:

Annual and Major Gift Fundraising
Measuring Outcomes and Assessment
Nonprofit Financial Decision Making
Human Resources Management
Nonprofit Board Governance and Volunteer Management

In addition to their degree program, North Park University offers a number of non-profit certificates including: Church Administration, Fundraising Management, Healthcare Management, Education Administration, Nonprofit Finance, Nonprofit Governance, Nonprofit Management, and Nonprofit Marketing.

Embedded inside of North Park University’s School of Business and Nonprofit Management is the Axelson Center for Nonprofit Management. It is here that non-profit professionals will find continuing education trainings, webinars, workshops, and an annual symposium. This year’s symposium is scheduled for June 4-5 at the Holiday Inn, Chicago Mart Plaza. While everything looks very engaging, a few of the more interesting training tracks in my opinion are:

Generating Resources
Next Gen
Growth Strategies

Click here for more information about this symposium and find out what they mean by “Reignite Your Vision”.

Did you graduate from a higher education institution with a non-profit related degree? If so, please share more about your alam mater. If not, please share a non-profit experience from your past that you can honestly say helped shape who you are today. We can learn from each other.

Here’s to your health!

Strike three . . . You’re OUT! Because you swung for the non-profit fences.

May 18, 2012 DonorDreams leadership, nonprofit, organizational development

Today, we’re focusing on a post that John titled “My Last At Bat“. In that post, he talks about his last Little League game as a child. As a baseball fan, I immediately fell in love with this blog post. As a fan of the non-profit sector and organizational development, my mind has been spinning for almost a week about how many different ways John’s post applies to non-profit agencies.

I don’t want to give anything away (you really need to go read his post for yourself), but the story is about how John approached his last Little League game with an understanding of what he was “good at doing” and tried to play within his capabilities. His friend took a very different approach and got very different results.

Looking back over the last 15 years, I’ve seen this dynamic play out in many different ways. Here are a few examples:

A non-profit board needs to fill an executive director vacancy. Rather than looking at competencies, skill sets and past experiences, the search committee gets WOWed by a charming big personality. Or they hire the internal candidate who has been a great front line program staffer, but doesn’t have any past experience with fundraising, board development, or financial management.
An executive director needs to hire a development director to provide thoughtful leadership and direction to the agency’s comprehensive resource development program. Rather than identifying what competencies, skill sets and past experiences are necessary for this person to excel and succeed, they interview a hodgepodge of fundraising people including direct mail professionals, grant writers, special event coordinators, and marketing people. Again, they end up hiring a special event person and ask them to do something that they don’t have a track record of doing.
The board development committee needs to recruit a new class of board volunteers. Rather than complete a gap analysis to determine what skill sets and experiences incoming board volunteers need in order to help move the agency forward, the committee puts together a list of “friends” who they know will likely say YES if asked. In the end, the wrong people are sitting around the table. They are all well-intentioned, but the boardroom feels dysfunctional and engagement is lacking.

Why do so many of us in the non-profit sector ask people to do things that are outside of their immediate capabilities?

I know that you can hit a single, but I need you to hit a home run today!

The silly thing is that stringing together a few singles puts a few runs on the scoreboard in the same way that hitting a home run will do. Translated into “non-profit speak” . . . asking people (employees and volunteers) to do what they do well will advance your cause as much or more than asking them to do something that they haven’t done before.

Here are just a few suggestions to get our conversation going:

Don’t ask a volunteer who hasn’t done any fundraising to join your board.
Don’t hire an executive director who hasn’t been an executive director before.
Don’t ask a volunteer solicitor to ask a donor for a significant contribution unless they’ve also given significantly.
Don’t hire a special event person to write grants unless they’ve been successful at doing it somewhere else.

I am sure that some of you are bristling at these suggestions and have good examples of when you might want to do one of these things. Please know that these suggestions are not meant to be “absolutes”. However, if you plan on asking someone to do something that they don’t have much experience doing, then you must adjust your expectations. You need to expect failure at first. You need to view it as a “project” and invest in training and professional development, accordingly.

Do you ask your employees and volunteers to “play within their abilities”? Or are you someone who is always encouraging them to hit home runs for your agency? How do you guarantee that you’re hiring and recruiting the right people for the right jobs? What would you add to the list I started a few paragraphs ago around Do’s and Don’ts? How have you managed your employees’ and volunteers’ disappointment when they fail to hit the home run that you asked them to hit?

If you haven’t done so yet, please go read John Greco’s post “My Last At Bat“. When you’re done, circle back to this post and share your comments, thoughts and answers to some of the questions I’ve posed using the comment box below. Let’s learn from each other.

Here’s to your health!

What won’t non-profits do to excite their board volunteers?

May 17, 2012 DonorDreams Board development, leadership, organizational development, Planning, volunteers

I ran across an awesome article while “Googling around” the other day. It was titled “Nine Keys for Reinvigorating Board Leadership,” and it was written by Paul Connolly, a Senior Vice President of TCC Group. While digesting this article, my mind first turned to those executive directors who I’ve seen in the last decade that actively try to disengage their board volunteers. After mentally traveling down that road (ugh … and it is an ugly road), I got more positive in my thinking and focused on all of the crazy things I’ve witnessed in the name of “board engagement”.

The following are just a few quick things I’ve seen over the years:

Of course, many organizations have turned to the good old fashion “mission moment” as part of their board meeting agenda.
How many “board retreats” have I seen organized all in the name of “engagement”? Ugh … too many!
One organization I worked with decided that social opportunities such as “Happy Hour” should be a part of their engagement solution.
I’ve heard some boards talk about putting together a mentoring program that hooks new board members up with tenured ones.
One organization I know even rented a trolley, loaded up its board volunteers and donors, and drove it from site-to-site as part of a facilities tour strategy focused on getting key stakeholders re-engaged in mission.
Oh yeah. You can’t forget about the “big conference” strategy where the executive director takes a board member (or a few) to one of those big inspirational conferences. When everyone returns, those board members are asked to “make a presentation” back to their fellow board members about what they learned. Hopefully, sparks of excitement ignite interest and activity.

Oh, the things I’ve seen. I could go on and on and on. I doubt that there isn’t anything an executive director, who actually wants an engaged board, would do to achieve this goal. Of course, when this topic of conversation usually comes up, there is an overwhelming desire to bypass “strategy” and go right to “tactics”

When I read the article by Paul Connolly, I had a moment of clarity because he didn’t go right to tactics. He focused on the following nine strategies:

Encourage board members to tell each other what motivates them to serve.
Educate board members about the organization and their responsibilities.
Hold the board accountable for its own performance and conduct a candid board assessment.
Compel the board to continually plan for the future and focus on results.
Infuse board meetings with more meaning.
Add some new board members and graduate some existing ones.
Nurture future leadership.
Develop a synergistic board-CEO partnership.
Consider alternative models for governance.

Ohhhhhhh! Ahhhhhhh! Has your curiosity been piqued? I know mine was. If you are intrigued and want to learn more about more deeply engaging your board volunteers, then I have two suggestions:

First, I strongly urge you to read Paul Connolly’s article “Nine Keys for Reinvigorating Board Leadership“.

Second, circle back here to DonorDreams blog and engage your fellow non-profit professionals in a discussion using the comment box found below. We can all learn from each other, especially if we share examples of what we’re doing and what has worked (or not worked) for us.

So, are you one of those executive directors who focuses on deepening board engagement? If so, why? If not, then why not? What things have you done or seen others do in the name of board engagement? Did Paul Connolly’s article trigger any ideas? If so, please share.

Here’s to your health!

Should social service non-profit organizations ever own property?

May 16, 2012 DonorDreams Fundraising, organizational development

For the last few weeks, I’ve been working pledge cards for one of my favorite charities. I must admit that I’m having a blast. The conversations with local philanthropists and donors are so engaging and thought-provoking. Frankly, I’ve been surprised by what some donors believe and in some instances those encounters have turned into interesting blog posts. Today’s post was inspired by one donor’s passionate belief that social service non-profit organizations shouldn’t ever own property.

Oh sure . . . hospitals and colleges are non-profit corporations, and there is little question that those organizations need to own the property and buildings in which they operate. However, some donors in my hometown of Elgin, Illinois don’t believe that the same is true for social service agencies.

Why? Well, this is an interesting question that comes with a long answer.

Let’s just say that more than 10 years ago one of Elgin’s more stable non-profit agencies ran a capital campaign, expanded their building (dramatically), and couldn’t afford to operate within such a dramatically expanded building footprint. Long story short . . . the new building was “sold” within a few years of opening, and the agency had to merge with another organization from outside the community to ensure services continued.

So, what is this really all about? I think it is about donors having LONG MEMORIES. Additionally, the following old expression keeps echoing through my head:

“Fool me once shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me!”

As you can imagine, I did my best to engage this donor in a conversation. Here were some of the highlights of what I said:

Not all non-profit organizations go out-of-business.
Not all non-profits conduct business that can be accommodated by existing rental opportunities.
Not all non-profits have an unstable revenue model or operate under a cloud of financial uncertainty.

In the end, there was no changing this donor’s mind, and it is easy to understand why. He invested and now feels burned. He passionately argued the following powerful points:

Too many social service agencies lack organizational capacity and are stretched too thin. Funding expansion of an agency that has a culture of operating on a shoe string can be like stretching a rubber band too far.
Too many social service agencies don’t operate within a culture of transparency. They sell donors on a capital campaign contribution. Their operations expand, and the agency is back in no time asking for more operating cash to fund their larger footprint. If this was all explained at the same time as the capital campaign solicitation, then that would be one thing, but when that doesn’t happen it leaves a bad taste in the donor’s mouth.
What is the real estate market suppose to do with buildings that are built specifically around specialty functions of a social service non-profit agency? These buildings aren’t just office spaces with cubicles that can be re-sold to any number of potential buyers. Oftentimes, social service organizations are building spaces unique to their services.

I get it . . . I get it . . . Fool me once; shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me! I may not agree with this donor, but I definitely get it and respect his feelings.

So, what are your thoughts? Do you think social service non-profits should place a premium on renting rather than owning their home? What would you have said to this donor that I might not have? Is there a more donor-centered fundraising approach that should be used when soliciting for a capital campaign so that future annual support won’t be jeopardized? Any suggestions on how a donor like this one can be re-engaged? Please use the comment box below and share your thoughts. We can all learn from each other.

Here’s to your health!

Should Development Directors be allowed in the boardroom?

May 15, 2012 DonorDreams Board development, Fundraising, organizational development

A resource development colleague called me a few weeks ago. They were upset and pissed off after a recent board meeting, and they just wanted to vent their anger. As a good friend who was just asked to lend a shoulder to cry upon, I shut-up and listened. I didn’t offer any advice because it wasn’t asked for; however, the situation that was shared with me has been burning on my mind for weeks. It is such a serious issue that I thought I’d share it here and open it up for discussion.

In a nutshell, here are the facts that color this story:

The development director is a fixture in the boardroom and gives a “development report” at every meeting.
After delivering their report, a board member asked a question about what the development department might look like in the future.
While the development director had talked with the executive director about this issue in passing on a few occasions, neither of them had formally engaged on this subject in a meaningful way.
The answer caught the executive director off guard a little bit, and they jumped into the conversation with a “sharp tongue”. This response felt demeaning to the development director, and they felt “put in their place” in front of the board of directors.
In the days following the board meeting, the development director was verbally reprimanded and given what HR people would describe as a “verbal warning”.

I am very sympathetic to my resource development friend. It feels like the response was harsh; however, as a former executive director, I hated surprises in the boardroom, and I was a bit sensitive to how my employees interacted and engaged with board members.

All of this aside, I wonder what is the appropriate role for resource development professionals inside the boardroom. Is there one? Should the boardroom just be a place for an agency’s chief executive officer and the board of directors?

I am sure there are a number of you ready to share your thoughts about how important it is for fundraising professionals to have access to board volunteers and how strong relationships with volunteers are the key to a strong resource development program.

While I will be the first to agree with you, I keep wondering why does that need to occur in the boardroom?

Don’t resource development directors “have access” at resource development committee meetings? Special event planning meetings? Over a cup of coffee or lunch?

Isn’t the boardroom a sacred place where board members and their sole employee — the executive director — get to have frank conversations about the agency and its strategic direction?

There are so many other tangent conversations I could bring into this blog post such as:

What role should an executive director play in the agency’s resource development program when there are fundraising professionals on the payroll?
What should the communication protocol be for agency employees who report to the executive director and need access to board members?
Should development professionals guard against sharing their opinions with board members when the executive director hasn’t been fully brought into the conversation? If so, how? If not, why not?

However, I want to stop the conversation just short of those topics and just focus on the boardroom question. What staff are allowed in your agency’s boardroom? What function do they serve? What protocols are in place to ensure situations like the one I just shared with you don’t happen?

Here’s to your health!