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Passion Meets Professionalism: Transitioning from Volunteer Leaders to Paid Staff
Imagine executives from the six largest school meal programs in the country, sitting around a table discussing how, together, they could make a difference in school food. By leveraging their buying power, they can change the industry. They decide to be …
The Growth Paradox for Nonprofit Organizations
We have been talking about the Overhead Myth and the Nonprofit Starvation Cycle for many years, but there has been only modest progress on donor demands that result in underinvestment in nonprofit infrastructure, and malnourished organizations. But if …
To Solve the Problem, Focus on the Desired Outcome: A Formula for Nonprofits
The gala attendance for your nonprofit is down, year over year. So, you ask, How can we fix our gala attendance? Naturally, this leads to ideas to make the gala snazzier. However, that doesn’t actually solve the shrinking attendance problem. …
The Worst Way to Share an Idea is to Say, “I Have an Idea.”
How nonprofit employees can help ideas be heard and embraced Bryan has an idea for something he thinks might help his nonprofit. His supervisor, Wanda, already has a lot on her plate at the moment. When Bryan says, “Here’s my idea,” it feels lik …
How Nonprofits Can Return to In-Person Board Meetings and Retreats as the Covid-19 Pandemic Winds Down
It’s Spring 2021 and your board retreat approaches. Half of your board members—and all of those over 65 or with chronic health conditions—have received a Covid-19 vaccine. In this near future, perhaps new Covid-19 cases have dropped below 60,000 …
Making Strategic Planning (Relatively) Painless
Strategic planning time! Do I hear groans or cheers? In my experience sitting on nonprofit boards and employed as a nonprofit staff member, I typically hear some grumbling when the topic of strategic planning comes up. Volunteers (or very minimally pai …
Strategic Planning 101 for Nonprofits: Strengthen a Nonprofit’s Board-Executive Director Relationship
When I talk to nonprofit leaders about strategic planning, they often voice some of the obvious benefits of aligning teams around organizational identity (mission, vision) and organizational priorities (goals). In contrast, they rarely voice a benefit …
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 …
