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Transgender Employees: A Respectful and Legal Workplace Approach
Dear Rita: I manage a small team of employees in a close-knit office. Recently one of my employees told me in private that “he” is becoming a “she.” I’m not sure how to deal with this. Do I call the employee “him” or “her”? I think when the other emplo …
Fundraising in Nonprofits of Color
Almost all research on fundraising is done on mainstream nonprofits, and almost all advice and guides on fundraising are addressed implicitly to mainstream nonprofits. Yet because they have different development trajectories, nonprofits in communities …
The Founding Fathers Write a Grant Proposal
“Just look at this second sentence!” groaned Samuel Adams. “‘We hold these truths to be self-evident . . .’ This flies in the face of ‘evidence-based practice!’ We’ll never get funded!” Another delegate had a different complaint: “This mission statemen …
Hiring Job Candidates with Criminal Convictions: Unlock the Possibilities
Like many employers, you may follow a default position of not hiring job seekers who have a past criminal conviction, but such a one-size-fits-all policy can not only get you in trouble with the law, it could also eliminate some excellent candida …
Stance: The ED’s Role and Attitude in Strategic Planning
An overlooked — but crucial — element in strategic planning is the attitude or stance that the executive director takes to the process. Jeanne Bell of CompassPoint suggests a variety of roles and stances that will be appropriate: As we exp …
Coming Out as a Christian
Kim Klein is a legendary speaker on fundraising, taxes, social justice, and community-building. She is well-known as a leftist and open about being a lesbian. Here she comes out in a different way:Recently I shocked some colleagues whom I like a lot. T …
Questions to Ask Prospective Board Members
A coffee date isn’t a good idea only for beginning, tentative romances. A coffee or lunch date is an easy way to meet with individuals who may be good candidates for your nonprofit board. If you spend a few minutes ahead of time thinking about wh …
The Philanthropic-Consultant Industrial Complex . . . editor notes issue #74
You’ve probably heard of the 5% payout requirement for foundations . . . but most people mistakenly believe this means that foundations must grant out 5% of their assets each year. Actually, foundations must spend 5% of their assets each year . …
Firing Someone for Slamming Their Nonprofit Employer on Social Media: Legal Update
Dear Rita: I liked your article a couple of years ago about whether employees could be fired for what they posted on their Facebook page. Since then I keep reading about how a federal law, called the NLRA, is being used to regulate what action an …
Regrets of a Former Arts Funder
As Program Officer for Arts and Culture at the San Francisco Foundation, I and philanthropic colleagues often bemoaned how fragile many culturally specific organizations were. One person would wonder why there were so few financially stable Afri …
