You are browsing: Strategic Planning
Psst! Want Your New Executive Director to Succeed?
Let’s turn our attention away from the departure of long-time executives to the arrival of the next executive directors. Here are 12 easy and important ways for board members to help a new executive get started fast and on the right foot: …
Firing My Friend, the Founder
Blue Avocado's recent article, "The Board Just Fired Me, and I'm the Founder!" generated a huge reader response. For this issue we interviewed a board member from a different organization:My wife became friendly with someone she knew …
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 …
The 7 x 7 Board Member Briefing
Very often the only time a board member is given the "microphone" at a board meeting is when he or she is making a committee report. But wait a minute! Why do we ask people onto boards because of their knowledge and perspectives, but never gi …
Board Insurance: Do You Really Need It?
We wanted an expert’s view on what nonprofits need to know about Directors & Officers (board) liability insurance, so we asked Susan Bradshaw, VP at the Nonprofits Insurance Alliance Group. (And don’t miss the link to a free booklet on D&O at t …
Three Instant Improvements for Board Agendas and Accountability
We're talking here about something even easier than what's on the agenda: here are three instant ways to improve meetings simply by what you put on the piece of paper titled "Board Agenda:" 1. Put your mission statement at the top of …
Can I Be Held Personally Liable for Misclassifying an Employee as Exempt?
Dear Rita: I am the administrative manager for a small nonprofit. The executive director (ED) recently hired a new administrative assistant (AA) and wants to classify her as exempt to avoid paying her overtime when she attends evening board …
Benchmarking and Analyzing Salaries: A Fast How-To
Everyone’s heard of benchmarking and salary analysis, but what are some easy tools to use? This article is adapted from a chapter in The Nonprofit’s Guide to Human Resources by Jan Masaoka, to be published by Nolo Press in the fall of 2011. …
Blue Ribbon Nominating Committee for Your Board
Use this method to recruit 3 – 5 new board members in the next 6 months: “Who do we know?” When board nominations comes up on the meeting agenda, this plaintive question is usually not far behind. While some boards have highly detailed ma …
Lucky 7: The Casino Industry and Philanthropy
In some states, casinos are required by law to give a portion of their profits to community foundations which, in turn, are required to grant it out as well as allowed to put a portion into their endowments . . . just one of the overlooked fundraising …
