volunteers – Page 5 – The Healthy Non-Profit

May 2013 Nonprofit Blog Carnival

May 29, 2013 erik Board development, Board governance, Fundraising, organizational development, technology, volunteers

Step right up . . . step right up! It is time for the May 2013 Nonprofit Blog Carnival.

You will be amazed by what many non-profit experts had to say in an open letter they composed to non-profit board volunteers.

What is even more unbelievable is how some of this month’s carnival participants were able to skillfully weave Dr. Seuss inspired ideas into their posts.

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” ~Dr. Seuss

Jeff Brooks at Future Fundraising Now wrote his letter to board members who don’t like your fundraising program. Did I mention how much he seems to like eating green eggs and ham?

The always positive and upbeat Marc Pitman (aka The Fundraising Coach) addressed the issue of board volunteers who are reluctant to fundraise. He included a neat link to a free asking styles profile tool at the end of his post. You gotta check it out!

On mBlog, Jenifer Snyder wrote her post to board volunteers on the value of getting more involved in mobile. I was especially impressed with this post because it is composed 100% in Dr. Seuss rhyme format. Big gold star for Jennifer!

Susan Chavez also earned a big gold star for writing her post in rhyme and offering social media advice to non-profit board volunteers.

Over at Wild Apricot blog, Lori Halley’s letter was written from the perspective of a new volunteer who openly wonders why veteran board volunteers sometimes resist new ideas and cloak themselves in the old fashion “that’s not how we do it here” defense.

Two Plus Two Can Be Five blog wrote their letter to board volunteers from the perspective of an ex-board volunteer who is one of those silent volunteers who has much to offer but never gets properly engaged. They ask the always powerful question: “Have you ever wondered why people resign from the board and move on like I’m going to?”

Sandy Rees at Get Fully Funded blog also took inspiration from a variety of different Dr. Seuss quotations. Her letter was written to new board volunteers and offered a treasure trove of advice on how to be a great non-profit board volunteer. She ends her post with an awesome training link that speaks to the topic of basic board roles and responsibilities.

Terri Holland wrote her letter from her own perspective as a fundraising professional. She ticks off four very common things that get in between boards and resource development staff, and she asks for their understanding and cooperation. This post is very honest and refreshing.

While not in the form of a letter, our friends at Big Duck blog offered “Three tips to help reinvigorate your board meetings“. This post reads like a letter to board volunteers. I included it in the Nonprofit Blog Carnival because I thought some of you might want to share it with your board governance committee and board president.

Love letters to board volunteers

One of my favorite bloggers of all time, Joanne Fritz at about.com, wrote “A Love Letter to My First Board of Directors“. Joanne undoubtedly speaks for all of us who’ve had the luxury of hindsight to look back at our past experiences.

Over at Non Profit Evolution, Dani Robbins also penned a love letter to her former board and exclaimed from the mountaintops: “I am the leader I am today because of the tools you gave me. I promise to pay it forward.”

At the Laramie Board Learning Project blog, Dr. Debra Beck penned an Open letter to an exemplar board expressing her appreciation to a board for allowing her to study their work, their learning processes and their motivations to serve (and serve well) for her doctoral dissertation research.

But wait . . . there’s more!

As many of you know, DonorDreams blog dedicated the entire month of May to non-profit professionals and volunteers who wanted to write anonymous letters to their boards.

There were a ton of great entries, and I encourage you to click over and start reading. However, for those of you with limited time for reading blogs, the following were the top six most popular posts:

Again, these submissions were not from bloggers. These letters were from real, live non-profit professionals and board volunteers. Their honesty is a window upon which you can see the things with which the non-profit sector struggles every day.

So what should you do next?

Dr. Seuss reminds us:

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who’ll decide where to go.”

In yesterday’s DonorDreams post titled “I meant what I said and I said what I meant! ~Dr. Seuss,” I encouraged everyone who wrote letters (and those of you who have unwritten letters in your heads) to take it a step further and TAKE ACTION. Take a moment to click over to this post and give some consideration to what you’re next steps should be. Architects for change (as was Dr. Seuss) would consider this moment of reflection necessary if you plan on growing the organizational capacity of your agency.

Our fellow blogger Febe Galvez-Voth at www.thecaseforsupport.com might have summed it up best when she submitted the following Dr. Seuss inspired entry about developing your organization’s case for support (which I encourage you to read in a broader context of developing a case for addressing any of these board issues):

Wherever you are

State your case
On a bus in a fuss
Tell the world that you care
Tell the world why you share

State your case
In a chute in a suit
Make your smarts lead the way
Make your smarts sway the nay

State your case
In a home with a gnome
Speak with love and respect
Speak with love and connect

State your case
In a room with a broom
Lead away from the fray
You’ll go up, up and away

State your case!

“Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.” ~Dr. Seuss

OK . . . I am stretching this quotation from Dr. Seuss a little far. There is not another Nonprofit Blog Carnival tomorrow, but there will be another one in June (as there is every month).

Lori Halley at Wild Apricot blog will be next months host the next Nonprofit Blog Carnival. The theme will be “Data for Good“. Click here for more details and how to submit your blog entry for consideration.

As I say at the end of all my blog posts . . .

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

“I meant what I said and I said what I meant!” ~Dr. Seuss

May 28, 2013 erik Board development, Board governance, volunteers

For those of you who regularly follow DonorDreams blog, you know that for the last month I’ve been publishing real letters from real non-profit people. These letters have been anonymous and all center on the theme of things that non-profit boards do that drive the letter writer a little nuts. Rather than just making this a good old fashion “rant,” each author was asked to incorporate a suggested solution into their letter.

I hope you enjoyed this month’s series. If the data analytics for this site are any indication, it looks like many of you enjoyed it A LOT!

As you can see from all of this month’s posts, I incorporated a “mask” theme for a few reasons.

This theme was inspired by the fact that I am the Nonprofit Blog Carnival host this month, and I thought incorporating masks as a visual would tie the ideas of “carnival” and “anonymous letters” together perfectly.
Additionally, humans have used masks for an assortment of things for millennia including ceremonies, protection, medical protection from plagues, disguise, and performance.

Interestingly, I’ve been on an Alaskan cruise for the last two weeks (I just got home last night), and everywhere I turned in all of the gift shops I encountered native Alaskan masks. So, for your enjoyment, I snapped a whole bunch of pictures and included them at the bottom of this post for your enjoyment. (Keep scrolling down below my signature block to enjoy those pictures)

Tomorrow is Wednesday, May 29th, and it is the day we’ve all been waiting for. Tomorrow is the day we celebrate the Nonprofit Blog Carnival. As you know, I asked the nonprofit blogosphere to consider writing an open letter to non-profit boards about something concerning to them along with a suggested solution. I also challenged them to incorporate something from Dr. Seuss into their post because this iconic children’s author is considered by many people to be an “architect of social change“.

If you couldn’t tell, I am hoping this month’s series of posts culminating with tomorrow’s Nonprofit Blog Carnival will become a blueprint for “change” regarding how you engage your non-profit board on a variety of issues.

I titled this blog post with an inspirational quotation from Dr. Seuss that I believe sums up this entire exercise.

“I meant what I said and I said what I meant!“

Now that we’ve got whatever it was off of our chest, I encourage you to shift your thinking to the following questions:

What will you do about it?
How will you tactfully engage your board in addressing the issue you’ve identified as critical?
Can some of these issues become generative questions and conversations that get incorporated into your board meetings?
Do you have a board governance committee that does more than just recruit new board volunteers? If so, what is their role in addressing some of these issues?
How can you use this exercise to develop a system focused on continual organizational improvement?
Have you given any thought to asking your board volunteers to write anonymous letters to you with suggestions on how to improve aspects of your job?

I hope you’re looking forward to tomorrow’s Nonprofit Blog Carnival hosted here at DonorDreams blog. I’ve seen the submissions, and I’m hopeful that you will enjoy them as much as I have. In the meantime, please start thinking about the questions I just posed and use the comment box below to weigh-in with your thoughts keeping the following quotation from Dr. Seuss in mind:

“Step with care and great tact. And remember that life’s a great balancing act.”

Here’s to your health . . . See you tomorrow at the carnival!

If you are a lover of this kind of art from the Northwest coast, then I suggest you visit Hill’s Native Art online to check out their large selection.

Dear board volunteers . . . let’s get on the same page, please?

May 27, 2013 erik Board development, Board governance, volunteers

DonorDreams blog is honored to be hosting the May 2013 Nonprofit Blog Carnival. The theme this month is “Dear board volunteer . . .” and the idea is “If you could write an anonymous letter to a nonprofit board about something they do that drives you crazy, what would that letter look like and what suggested solutions would you include?” If you are a blogger and would like more information on how to participate and submit a post for consideration, please click here to learn more.

I wanted to expand the Nonprofit Blog Carnival concept in May. So, I reached out to real non-profit professionals and asked them to also write an anonymous letter to their board volunteers. These people are executive directors, fundraising professionals, board members, donors, community volunteers, consultants and front line staff. I promised everyone anonymity in exchange for their submissions.

We will celebrate May’s Nonprofit Blog Carnival on Wednesday, May 29, 2013. Up to that fun-filled day, I will publish real anonymous letters every day from real non-profit professionals right here at DonorDreams blog.

I hope you enjoy this real look at real issues that our community deals with on a daily basis.

Here is today’s letter:

Dear Board Volunteer:

Together, we share a partnership. We are in this together.

I realize that you can only devote a portion of your life to our mutual cause and that it is my full-time responsibility, and then some. I am mindful and respectful of your time, and I hope that likewise you are respectful of mine. However, if and when (probably more like when) we are in “crisis mode” when we need each other, then we are available for one another regardless.

Our relationship needs to be one that is open, honest, and brutally frank. We both want the best for our organization and we both work hard to achieve excellence. I will always tell you the absolute truth, never hiding any information or embellishing it on all topics. I expect the same from you.

I can’t do the job by myself. I rely on our staff and I also rely on you as well as our other volunteers to make it work. Working together collaboratively gets a lot more done and in faster time.

If you’ve had issues as an organization before I got here, don’t expect that just by hiring me that the problem will all quickly go away. I know how to fix them, but I will need your support and the staff’s support to really get the job done — and it will take time because we are dealing with a cultural change of doing things differently to improve the results. Some “sacred cows” will have to be slaughtered along the way and not everybody will be happy, but the organization will be stronger in the end as a net result.

You are paying for my leadership, experience, advice, and expert counsel. Please pay attention and follow my recommendations to help improve the organization. These recommendations are based on years of experience, sound business principles, and best practices.

Our board should be composed of people of influence and affluence. We can have other groups that are “working groups”, but our board needs to be the absolute top of the community power structure for our organization to thrive. If we have a board composed of less than that, then we will not be maximizing our organization’s full potential.

My view is that the board establishes a vision for the organization, oversees its governance, approves an annual budget, raises funds for the organization, and employs the Executive Director. The staff is hired by and reports to the Executive Director to execute the plan for the organization. The staff runs the day-to-day operation of the organization within the confines of the established budget and resources. The staff does NOT report to the board, but to the Executive Director.

There will come a time when we disagree with one another on something important. To the best of our abilities, we will do so privately, iron out those differences behind closed doors, and then come out publicly with one agreed upon course of action.

Thank you for being a board member of our great organization!

Best regards,
Your Executive Director

If you have some advice for the author of our anonymous letter, please share it in the comment box at the bottom of this post in a respectful manner. If you want to submit an anonymous letter for consideration this month, please email it to me at the address in your signature block below. If you are a blogger looking to participate in this month’s Nonprofit Blog Carnival and want to learn more, then please click here.

Here’s to your health!

Dear board volunteers . . . tips from the outgoing CEO

May 24, 2013 erik Board development, Board governance, Fundraising, Planning, volunteers

I wanted to expand the Nonprofit Blog Carnival concept in May. So, I reached out to real non-profit people and asked them to also write an anonymous letter to their board volunteers. These folks are executive directors, fundraising professionals, board members, donors, community volunteers, consultants and front line staff. I promised everyone anonymity in exchange for their submissions.

We will celebrate May’s Nonprofit Blog Carnival on Wednesday, May 29, 2013. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this real look at real issues that our community deals with on a daily basis.

Here is today’s letter:

Dear Board of Directors,

I want to thank you for my time and opportunity with your organization and community. I have learned a great many things during my time here. My hope is that you share these things with your new Executive Director, so that he/she may succeed and serve the clients who need us the most.

First, they’ll need your attention. You need to give them your attention inside and outside the board room, paying attention to key metrics – are we meeting the mission? Are we raising enough financial support – money – to allow the staff to meet that mission? Are you responding to hard and soft metrics with a cause of action – simply put, are you doing things daily/weekly/monthly that help our clients?

Second, they’ll need your advocacy. Are we visible in the community – staff & board together – as advocates of our cause? Are you proud to tell your friends, co-workers and associates that you’re part of our organization? Do you bring people to see our mission in action, either during events or during our day-to-day operations?

Third, they’ll need your aspirations for the organization. Do you think about where we should be in five years? Can you share that with them? Can you share that with your associates? Can you put that into action?

The successful organizations in your community are doing these things, and are thriving. In fact, your lack of attention, advocacy and aspirations are noticeably absent to many others in the community. I’ve been told many, many times during my time here that my passion was appreciated by many, but wasn’t visible in any noticeable quantity from the board leadership. That sent a clear message to them that if our clients weren’t worthy of your passion & talents, as the true leaders of the organization, theirs wasn’t either.

My hope is that you find the staff leader that you’re looking for, as well as that they find the leadership in you that they’re looking for and need as well.

Respectfully,
Your Former Executive Director

If you have some advice for the author of our anonymous letter, please share it in the comment box at the bottom of this post in a respectful manner. If you want to submit an anonymous letter for consideration this month, please email it to me at the address in your signature block below.If you are a blogger looking to participate in this month’s Nonprofit Blog Carnival and want to learn more, then please click here.

Here’s to your health!

Dear board volunteers . . . Your community isn’t as UNIQUE as you think.

May 23, 2013 erik Board development, Fundraising, volunteers

We will celebrate May’s Nonprofit Blog Carnival on Wednesday, May 29, 2013. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this real look at real issues that our community deals with on a daily basis.

Here is today’s letter:

Dear board volunteer:

If I hear you say one more time, “This process may work everywhere else in the country, but it won’t work here because we are different. Our community is unique.” I think I am going to explode. Guess what…you’re community isn’t different because in the end it is made of people and people are more or less the same wherever you go.

You have the home grown people that have been in the community for 50+ years and know everyone. You have the implants that have been in the community longer than they have been out, and the newbies; both groups who will say that unless you are from here, you are treated as an outsider.

You have people who are political, people who are generous, people who are mean, people who need your services, people who are religious, people who don’t care, people who are leaders, people who are followers, people who say they will do something and don’t, people who will take action, people who say they will take action and don’t, people who work and people that don’t work.

I go crazy when a board volunteer says, “that is great that you can raise that kind of money in that community, but you can’t do that here because we are different.” You’re right; you can’t do it HERE with that attitude.

If you would only realize that because something DOES work somewhere else, with the right leadership and strategies, IT WILL more than likely work here.

So, please quit being the one putting on the brakes and get off the bus.

I know that change is not easy, but we need to push forward towards a solution. Here are just a few simple suggestions that I have: 1) let’s move a few of our more resistant board volunteers off of the board and onto another task force or advisory council; 2) let’s shake up our board leadership; 3) let’s add a few fresh faces by recruiting two or three new board volunteers; and 4) let’s find a donor who is willing to make a challenge gift that is tied to implementation of our original plan.

Sincerely,
Your friendly neighborhood Spiderman

If you have some advice for the author of our anonymous letter, please share it in the comment box at the bottom of this post in a respectful manner. If you want to submit an anonymous letter for consideration this month, please email it to me at the address in your signature block below.If you are a blogger looking to participate in this month’s Nonprofit Blog Carnival and want to learn more, then please click here.

Here’s to your health!

Dear board volunteers . . . Can we stop the paralysis by analysis, please?

May 22, 2013 erik Fundraising, volunteers

I hope you enjoy this real look at real issues that our community deals with on a daily basis.

Here is today’s letter:

Dear Resource Development Committee,

I would like to thank each and every one of who have given so much time, effort and discussion to our new Resource Development Plan. The countless meetings and suggestions on what the appropriate sponsorship level should be for each event has truly been riveting. I am glad that we spent 28 months analyzing the numerous drafts. I also consider the six months of research on organizations within a 625-mile radius a productive use of my time.

I understand the concerns expressed by several board members that if we increase the hole sponsorship or foursome by the astronomical sum of $25.00, we might jeopardize the fundraising of the entire organization. “I told you so” is always a possibility, but if we get unanimous approval, I am confident that we can overcome the steep increases and have successful special events that will generate sufficient income for us.

Maybe we could analyze this plan for a few more months before bringing to the full board and wait for the Marketing Committee to roll out their plan. I am so confident that the new PR plan will be so well received that our RD plan will be a perfect fit. We probably will not have to make any of those dreaded face-to-face asks and not even bother with the time consuming thank you letters.

The goal of a 1.8% increase in giving is not a reach if we stick to the plan and depend on my staff to accomplish it. We are more than willing to make the calls for you due to your hectic schedule and being uncomfortable with asking for money.

If this plan does not work (in which case I would be shocked), I do have a few suggestions for the next one:

No more paralysis by over analysis. Let’s create a plan knowing that it is not perfect and we may have to “tweak” it once or twice.

Make it an action plan with specific steps and dates and hold Directors accountable to them.

Cultivate and get to know our potential donors so we know what they want and what motivates them to give (one size does not fit all when it comes to giving).

There is no “magic” marketing plan . . . show the outcomes of the organization but most importantly show the donor our facility.

Complete a 12-month stewardship calendar for different levels of cultivation.

I have a few other ideas, but those will have to wait just in case our original plan succeeds.

Thank you for all your support,

Sincerely,
Really? All that over a $25 increase?

If you have some advice for the author of our anonymous letter, please share it in the comment box at the bottom of this post in a respectful manner. If you want to submit an anonymous letter for consideration this month, please email it to me at the address in your signature block below.If you are a blogger looking to participate in this month’s Nonprofit Blog Carnival and want to learn more, then please click here.

Here’s to your health!

Dear board volunteers . . . Please stop selling us short to your friends.

May 21, 2013 erik Board development, Board governance, Fundraising, volunteers

I wanted to expand the Nonprofit Blog Carnival concept in May. So, I reached out to real non-profit people and asked them to also write an anonymous letter to their board volunteers. These people are executive directors, fundraising professionals, board members, donors, community volunteers, consultants and front line staff. I promised everyone anonymity in exchange for their submissions.

We will celebrate May’s Nonprofit Blog Carnival on Wednesday, May 29, 2013. Up to that fun-filled day, I will publish real anonymous letters every day from real non-profit people right here at DonorDreams blog.

I hope you enjoy this real look at real issues that our community deals with on a daily basis.

Today’s anonymous letter is a little different from Wednesday and Thursday’s submissions. This contributor decided to take on the persona of the iconic advice columnist Dear Abby.

Here is today’s letter:

Dear Board Member,

First, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for your good intentions. I know that your good will toward our organization and your personal investment is sparked by a desire to make a difference. I appreciate that you have invested energy, time, and resources generously.

But why on earth, after making that kind of investment in us, do you constantly sell us short to your friends and colleagues?

If you truly value our mission, why do you assume others won’t? If you really believe in our work, why do you approach those in your sphere apologetically, with a hat-in-hand posture that telegraphs an attitude of begging? Don’t you realize that the message you are sending is that you, as a board member, don’t believe the organization is worthy of their investment? That you expect to receive only whatever crumbs may be leftover after all their “important” investments have been made? If you as a friend, colleague, and person they respect and as a member of the governing body of our organization, communicate that expectation, how could they reach any other conclusion?

If you truly believe in the value of our work, why do I constantly have to fight to keep you from lowering our standards?

You recruit new board members, telling them, don’t worry, we’ll take whatever you have to give. Any amount of time, any amount of dollars. If you are too busy to attend meetings, that’s OK. We’ll send you the minutes. You tell them, if you’re uncomfortable asking your colleagues to support us, we understand, but just let us put your name on our letterhead. How can you imagine this leads anyone to believe there is value in what we do?

When the budget is tight, instead of calling on community leaders to invest in this life-changing work, you suggest we shift to fewer full-time and more part-time staff, who will work for minimum wage. Really? Do you really believe the work they do is no more significant than flipping burgers or dishing up soft-serve ice cream? When we were hiring a new Executive Director, you wanted to advertise for the lowest possible salary to be “fiscally responsible”. Really?? Is our product (keeping in mind that our services saves lives) truly worth less than a car or a computer or a landscaping job or anything else that is produced for a profit? Why would we not want to hire the best possible leader for this critical work?

If you believe our work has value, please, adopt a posture of worthiness in everything you do on behalf of this organization. If you are struggling with that, let me suggest you do two things:

Visit our sites during service hours. If you get to know some of the kids whose lives we are changing, you’ll start to understand that they are worthy of this chance.

Get familiar with our outcomes. They are in the board reports we review each month and they are proof of the results this work is yielding

This should convince you that we are worthy! If it does, please stop apologizing for asking your friends to support us.

If you do these things and still don’t believe we are worthy, please do the right thing and invest your effort somewhere else.

Stop demeaning the work of the rest of us on the board and of our professional staff.

Sincerely,
Your Board Chair

If you have some advice for the author of our anonymous letter, please share it in the comment box at the bottom of this post in a respectful manner.

If you want to submit an anonymous letter for consideration this month, please email it to me at the address in your signature block below.

If you are a blogger looking for more information on how to participate in this month’s Nonprofit Blog Carnival, please click here.

Here’s to your health!

Dear board volunteers . . . accountability should be a two way street

May 20, 2013 erik Board development, Board governance, volunteers

We will celebrate May’s Nonprofit Blog Carnival on Wednesday, May 29, 2013. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this real look at real issues that our community deals with on a daily basis.

Here is today’s letter:

Dear Board volunteers . . .

I write to you today with a heavy heart, as it was my hope & aspiration to lead your organization for the rest of my working life. I’m still a bit in shock, as releasing me from my obligations to the organization and the community was the first time I saw you do something together as a group. Please let me explain.

I was hired to do a job, but really to lead. I asked years ago if you were ready to lead together – board & staff leadership – and bring the organization to a place where we could serve more people and be a true community asset. You said yes. I asked if you were ready to provide your time, talent and treasure to the effort & cause. You said yes. I asked what I could do to help you achieve these goals. We agreed on those things and moved forward. Or so I thought.

We spent a lot of time talking about what that meant. Hours, days, weeks months talking about board & staff roles. During this time, we increased services while we debated about who, what, where and how we should do things, while reducing income. We spent much time aiming at the target, but no time pulling the trigger. The organization kept growing serving. Promises of increased involvement ensured, but never materialized.

There were some of you who wanted to help. People joined the board on the promised of fulfilling that mission and making a difference. Once they saw the lack of accountability within the group, the lack of action and poor leadership, they left. They may have had “extenuating circumstances” and “life events” that prevented them from serving on the board, but they were honest with others in the community when they said “I just didn’t want to sit around a table with people who wanted to talk more about something rather than doing it”. Those that remained promised more time or to complete tasks, but when those things didn’t happen, they were never mentioned. There was no accountability.

I did everything I could do. I brought in consultants, both from our national affiliate, state experts and local leaders. Time and time again they stated the need for board members to be active, engaged and supportive – both with talent & treasure – and for follow through on tasks. We would agree, sign covenants and job descriptions, and look each other in the eye and agree that we would hold everyone accountable. But those things never happened. I thought if I worked harder, the job would get done, and you’d be motivated to work hard too.

When the staff finally had enough, and told you so, you looked for the one place everyone could agree was at fault – your CEO. It must be the head cheese, after all, he’s got all the tools and makes all the decisions. If things aren’t getting done, it must be their fault.

I realize that boards never fire themselves. I realize that a change in leadership – whether in a political arena, business or sports – is needed sometimes to start over. However, without you co-leading the organization, they’ll be set up for failure as well. Sometimes drastic changes are needed; are you ready to make those changes with the board as well?

I wish you the best as you provide the services our clients desperately need.

Sincerely,
Your former CEO

If you have some advice for the author of our anonymous letter, please share it in the comment box at the bottom of this post in a respectful manner. If you want to submit an anonymous letter for consideration this month, please email it to me at the address in your signature block below.If you are a blogger looking to participate in this month’s Nonprofit Blog Carnival and want to learn more, then please click here.

Here’s to your health!

Dear board volunteers . . . Please join for the right reasons.

May 17, 2013 erik Board development, Board governance, volunteers

We will celebrate May’s Nonprofit Blog Carnival on Wednesday, May 29, 2013. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this real look at real issues that our community deals with on a daily basis.

Here is today’s letter:

Dear Board volunteers . . .

I have served on this Little League board for 5 years. In these 5 years, I’ve seen many board members come and go. I feel to have an effective board, members should serve at least two consecutive terms. The first term will be a learning curve and in the second you will be aware of what needs to get done. You will be in position to take a new member “under your wing” and continue to improve the board.

In the past 5 years, I have seen 80% of board turnover in member who were “one and done”.

I know sometimes life just happens (e.g. change in job, kid does not play baseball anymore). However, a majority of the board member were on it for the wrong reasons from the start.

In one example, board members applied for the post season all-star manager job. Their kid had never made the all-star team and by all indications should not have made in that year. Luckily, as a board, we voted another candidate to the position. So I ask, why did you go out for the board? What were your intentions?

Another person had a daughter of age who could work in the concessions. The Mother had applied to serve on the board even though she did not have a child in the program. When the season started and all of the previous year’s concession workers returned, there were no jobs for her daughter (but she was placed on the wait list). The Mother quit the board. Again, why did you really join the board? What were your intentions?

This is my point . . . the purpose of any volunteer, non-profit board is focused on the good of the many and not the few. The league is about all the player, workers and officials, not your kid and your agenda.

There are so many ways to contribute, which will show your kid the art of giving back and make the organization better over all. If you’re a handy person, there is always something that needs to be fixed or repaired. If you are a great sales person, you can sell raffle tickets for the cash drawing on opening day. If you have a connection with a food supplier, we are always looking for ways to cut costs and increase revenue.

So, I will end with this……….make this season about the league. Make it the best league in the country. Work as a team. The bylaws are clear. You don’t need to reinvent the league . . . just refine the small stuff.

Sincerely,
Casey at Bat

Here’s to your health!

Dear board volunteer . . . A few questions first.

May 16, 2013 erik Board development, Board governance, leadership, nonprofit, volunteers

We will celebrate May’s Nonprofit Blog Carnival on Wednesday, May 29, 2013. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this real look at real issues that our community deals with on a daily basis.

Here is today’s letter:

Dear Board Members,

The Board Development Committee has presented three potential board members for your consideration at the next meeting. Each of the candidates lives/works within our service area and brings particular experience/expertise to the board. Each of them has been recommended by one or more of you. But before the vote is taken, I would like you to consider the questions I believe need to be asked of potential board members and should be asked periodically of all board members.

1. Why do you want to be on our board? Looks good on your resume’? Want to ‘give back’ to the community? Know someone who needs our services? Used our services? All of these are good reasons but, I really want you to turn your initial reason into an informed commitment. Be honest with yourself and with us about the level of your interest and your commitment.

2. Are you willing to ASK? Let’s be honest—are your willing to use your contacts for the good of the organization? ASK your friends, family, and business partners to share their time, energy and money to benefit this organization just as you do? If you are shy about ASKing…..will you share the info so that others can make the contacts?

3. Can you take the HEAT? Board members are ultimately responsible for the stability and success of the organization. Will you devote the time necessary to hiring and evaluating a qualified Director? Will you be involved in and responsible for all financial policies/decisions and evaluate how well the organization is meeting the service needs of the community? And, if trouble should come, are you prepared to stand by and speak up on behalf of the organization?

4. Are you prepared to JUST DO IT? Decide what you can do –serve on a committee—attend meetings—participate in the discussion—contribute to fundraising and friendraising. And if and when you decide you cannot fulfill a particular commitment let the board president know as soon as possible.

We depend on you to do what you say you are going to do.

Sincerely,
Your number one fan and biggest supporter

Here’s to your health!