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Yes, You Really Need One – Why Strategic Planning Matters and How to do it Better
During a recent call with a leader of a nonprofit organization, he asked a question I’ve been getting more and more. “Do we really need a strategic plan?” He continued, “It seems like a lot of work for some pie-in-the-sky document that ra …
In These Turbulent Times for Nonprofits
2017 has already brought many new challenges for the service sector, and we can expect more to come. So there is no time to waste in getting ready for whatever changes your nonprofit may face. As leaders, we are continually using internal …
A Fork in the Yellow Brick Road to Oz
Erik Talkin is the CEO of the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County. He has fun describing an approach to strategic choices that has us singing, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” . . . So you and your nonprofit stepped out onto the yellow brick road, hear …
Matrix Map Part II: The Strategic Imperatives
In this article, Steve Zimmerman continues presentation of the Matrix Map model from the book Nonprofit Sustainability: Making Strategic Decisions for Financial Viability: In our last Blue Avocado column, we introduced the Matrix Map, which you …
The Matrix Map Approach Part One: How to Create the Matrix Map
You may have heard of the Dual Bottom Line: the idea that strategic choices must serve both mission impact and financial viability. But how do you turn this idea into a quantitative decision-making tool? Blue Avocado columnist Steve Zimmerman sum …
Ditch Your Board Composition Matrix
You know the board matrix: it has a list of skills and competencies that are “supposed” to be on the board, such as legal, marketing, HR, fundraising, finance. And typically there are also demographic qualities, such as gender, race, age. The boa …
High Pay for Nonprofit Execs? Analysis of 100,000 Salaries
Everybody has an opinion about whether nonprofit executives are paid too little or too much, but almost nobody has any real data outside their own experiences. At last! Economist Linda Lampkin (left) analyzed 100,000 nonprofit CEO salaries and ha …
And Now for a Different Type of Board Agenda
Board meeting time is deeply precious time, and the fulcrum of board-staff opportunity or disappointment. Let's be smarter about how we use it. Bonus: board meeting cartoon at end of article.Every third Tuesday, or maybe four Wednesdays a year, a n …
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 …
Getting Real About Real-Time Evaluation
Every once in a while a field creeps closer to actually being helpful to nonprofits. Thanks to evaluators Clare Nolan and Fontane Lo for explaining a type of program evaluation — and how to make it work for you. Have you ever had an evaluat …
