I don't believe in wishing days away. None of the "I wish this week was over" kind of stuff for me. And....I'll be okay with moving on past 2020. As we lean into 2021, I feel so much empathy for those of you working and volunteering in the nonprofit sector. I was you for many [...]
There’s nothing like a pandemic to get nonprofits thinking more intentionally about who they need to lead the organization. I guess that’s one positive thing we can take from 2020. Whether your board is too small, too unfocused, has too many gaps in expertise, isn't fully engaged or whatnot, I’m going to keep this simple. [...]
As I’ve been connecting with Executive Directors and Board Presidents lately, I’m happy to see you focused on shoring up items related to your board structure. You’re reviewing processes and refining things like committee charters. Committee charters are considered a necessary part of good governance and are essential for several reasons: [...]
We’re in a pandemic. We can do very little socializing. Most of our interaction is taking place on phones or digitally. How in the world can we expect our board members to be ambassadors and engage the community now? It may not be as difficult as you think. We’ve seen creativity rule the day recently. You’ve [...]
In recent weeks we white folks have been trying to educate ourselves, we’ve been listening to gut wrenching stories to understand the narrative, to learn how we can do more than just post the hashtag Black Lives Matter and be powerful allies. We may feel emotions from rage to shame to deep sadness and everything [...]
The pandemic has forced many organizations to drastically adapt their business models to survive and serve. Naturally, you needed to focus on immediate survival. It’s tough to look into the future when things are so unstable. However, recovery planning needs to consist of the longer-term view too. It’s time to move from confusion to [...]